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Setting Budgets? You will need to know your Pension Staging Date. To find this use this link to The Pensions Regulator. The clock is ticking!
Ante natal appointments
Employed fathers (or the mother’s partner) will be given the right to take unpaid leave to attend two antenatal appointments. The right will come into force on 1 October 2014.
Nationals of Bulgaria and Romania, the “A2″ countries who joined the EU in 2007, had their restrictions on working in any EU Member State lifted from 1 January 2014.
Changes to spent convictions – the period during which certain convictions need to be disclosed to potential employers was reduced from 10 March 2014. The Ministry of Justice has published guidance on the changes.
The regulation freeze will continue and is extended to businesses with fewer than 50 employees. These businesses will be exempt from some new regulations if there is any evidence that they will result in disproportionate burdens that could impede growth. Applies to new regulations which come into force after 31 March 2014.
The maximum civil penalty for illegally employing an immigrant is expected to rise from £10,000 to £20,000 if approved by Parliament, from 6 April 2014.
The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees with 26 weeks’ service from 30 June 2014.
If you wish to discuss any of these matters in more detail, please contact Denise Reece:
01327 264540 or email hrm@stklarereece.co.uk.
Employers have been aware that since the amendment on 1st May 2004 to the Asylum & Immigration Act 1996, all new employees must have their Right to Residency & Right to Work checked before commencing work.
As a reminder this entails checking the new employee’s Passport or Birth Certificate plus official documentation showing their National Insurance Number and keeping a photocopy of the originals on the personal file. These records can be checked at anytime without warning by the Border Control Agency and hefty fines imposed for each person to be found working illegally.
Your processes should also include reminders for those people working under Work Permits or Visas, as when they expire, so may the workers right to remain.