
With the Christmas and New Year celebration period behind us and now being well back into the swing of things, it is time to look forward to 2022 and start planning for the business year ahead. Here is our list of changes to be aware of;
Current government advice
With England relaxing again slightly, with the current Coronavirus advice for Wales remaining as social distancing, mask wearing and working from home where possible, many businesses (including us!) have had to review their working practices and re-implement precautions. If you need advice on this or need a Pandemic policy or Hybrid Working Policy for your organisation, please get in touch. That being said, we are looking forward to largely a return to normal and helping businesses continue to recover from the pandemic. Let’s stay positive!

Holidays
As mentioned in our previous blog, there is an extra Bank Holiday in June (yay!) for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. While this is good news for many it may create problems for some, so again please let us know if we can help with any advice! Did you know we can track and manage your team’s holidays for the year??
Family friendly law
A new bill should be passed in 2022, which concentrates on statutory neonatal leave and pay for parents of babies requiring extra care, and the increase of the redundancy protection period for employees on maternity leave to up to six months longer.

We also await the introduction of carer’s leave as a statutory right. Employees with caring responsibilities will be automatically allowed up to one week of unpaid leave every year. We will update our clients on these changes as and when they occur and of course bring up-to-date any relevant policies.
Medical notes
It is important to note that until the end of January, employees will be able to self-cert for sickness for up to 28 days, instead of needing a medical note from a week’s absence onwards. This is a temporary change to take the pressure off GPs during another covid peak. From February, it will revert back to the usual 7 days. Please contact us with any questions around sick pay.
Third party harassment
Enhanced protection against third party harassment should also be covered under new UK employment law later this year, with alleged victims having a longer time in which to claim.
Changes in Statutory pay rates

From April, the National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage will change to;
23+ year olds – £9.50
21-22 year olds – £9.18
18-20 year olds – £6.83
16-17 year-olds – £4.81
Apprentices – £4.81
Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, and parental bereavement pay will increase to £156.66 per week, with sick pay increasing to £99.35 per week. The lower earnings limit for to qualify for these payments is also increasing to £123 per week.
As ever we will keep you updated with all of the above and any other changes as they happen, and will help you prepare and implement these new rules. In the meantime if you have any queries do not hesitate to get in touch, that is what we are here for!