Despite the success of the vaccine programme, the impact of the pandemic on businesses will continue for some time. For example, when the furlough scheme ends in the autumn, it is expected that the number of employment tribunal claims will rise and case law will take even longer to filter through to policies and practice.
The official Government message encouraging people to work from home is expected to end with the final step out of lockdown. For many employees though, homeworking is here to stay. According to a recent BBC survey, 43 out of 50 big UK employers will not bring staff back to the office full time. Instead, employees will mix homeworking and coming into the office.
While the predicted lockdown baby boom has not materialised and the birth rate is similar to 2020 (down just 0.5%), family caring responsibilities have been more evident in the last year as home-schooling affected many families and some children even made an appearance in professional video-calls..
Employers need to be familiar with family-friendly rights and the impact of the pandemic on parents and pregnant workers. Employers should be aware that not complying with family-friendly rights can lead to expensive and time-consuming tribunal claims.
The statutory definitions of the three categories of employment status have long been criticised as being unclear, and over the years a body of case law interpreting these definitions has grown up. Despite this, it remains difficult to set out a definitive list of criteria to allow employers or employees to determine whether an individual’s status is that of employee, worker or self-employed.
After postponements in 2019 and 2020, the 6 April 2021 is the third date scheduled for the off-payroll working rules to be extended to the private sector. The purpose of the change is to increase compliance with tax rules known as IR35. This change has implications for:
Can Employers insist Employees get Vaccinated?
The rollout of the vaccination programme has been welcomed as the beginning of the end for the Covid-19 pandemic. For many employers, ensuring their workforce is vaccinated is an important step in getting their business back to operating as usual. However, the effects of ‘vaccine hesitancy’ and the anti-vaccine movement may mean that some employees refuse to be vaccinated.
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