Good Work Plan
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| The Modification Order in 2019 Under the modification order as it stands, which concerns the length of employment for employees working in a local authority. The regulation stipulates that as long as there is no more than 1-weeks employment for an employee, between local government employment that it is counted as continuous employment. This regulation modifies the Continuity of Employment in Local Government, etc (Modification) Order 1999 (SI 1999/2277), so that those moving from body to body are able to claim continuous employment for items such as calculating the two years' service required to be eligible for a statutory redundancy payment and for calculating the amount of that payment in turn. Furthermore, articles such as entitlement to annual leave, the occupational sickness scheme and the occupational maternity scheme are all directly calculated by length of employment. Beyond local government, the aforementioned modification order is designed to cover employees in similar sectors of employment, such as the police and certain universities/colleges/schools. The present ‘Employment Rights Act 1996’ Under the ‘Employment Rights Act 1996’ to claim continual service at the same employer, the window in time between the end of one contract and the beginning of a new one must be less than one week, this is calculated from Sunday to the following Saturday. How the ‘Good Work Plan’ seeks to change employment The proposed amendments to legislation, as being put forward by the ‘Good Work Plan’ aims to extend the length of time in which an employee can claim continuous employment from the present 1-week to a much more significant 4-weeks. At this time it is unknown when the Government plans to actually publish these regulations, or when they plan to put them in force. How will this effect me? With the increase in the window in which an employee can take to secure the start of a new contract and the end of another quadrupling, from 1-week to 4-weeks, it is fair to say that the changes will be significant. With the amount of employees able to benefit from continuous employment potentially drastically increasing across the UK, we should see an increase in the amount that employees are able to claim in redundancy payments increasing, and for some being able to claim them in the first place. This change could also effect entitlement to annual leave, sick pay, and maternity pay in cases that continual length of employment couldn’t be established for those that have had gaps larger than 1-week in their employment. With this in mind employers will need to have a system in place so that they can confirm whether or not a new employee has been in employment with another organisation that subscribes to the aforementioned modification order. Unfortunately this appears to be more administrative work for employers, where there was only a need to check for this information over the last week, compared to the 4-week process being proposed. With all of the above in mind, PACT HR will be keeping a close eye on the developments of the ‘Good Work Plan’. We recently discussed these effects in our booked out February-19 Briefing Sessions, and will provide an update in our upcoming April-19 Briefing Sessions. To register your interest and be one of the first to receive an invitation to our upcoming Briefing Sessions, speak with one of the team on 01274 436644, email us on Pact-HR@bradford.gov.uk, or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter for more information on how PACT HR may help you. |
