by Andrew Macmillan | Sep 8, 2026 | News
Just a quick reminder in this bulletin. Effectively, the qualification period for unfair dismissal claims has now dropped from two years down to six months for all new employees who started a job on or after 1st July. Therefore, this means your opportunity to address...
by Andrew Macmillan | Sep 2, 2026 | News
From 31 October 2026, Section 21 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 inserts new subsections into Section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 which makes employers liable for third-party harassment. The new test tribunals are likely to apply is to identify what steps an...
by Andrew Macmillan | Aug 27, 2026 | News
Does your organisation have more than 20 employees? If so, there’s an important employment law change coming soon that you may be unaware of. From 30 October 2026, trade unions will acquire significant new workplace access rights. The proposals extend into...
by Andrew Macmillan | Aug 18, 2026 | News
As a bare minimum, and to avoid potential future problems, we suggest employers should now really be: Reviewing their HR record retention periods, and Retaining employment records for at least 9-12 months after employment ends. Extended time limits (expected to be...
by Andrew Macmillan | Aug 11, 2026 | News
Fixed-term contracts are usually for well under two years, meaning that the recent two-year protection from unfair dismissal has generally been enough to cover the termination of such contracts. However, from 1st Jan 2027, unfair dismissal protection is set to be...
by Andrew Macmillan | Aug 6, 2026 | News
The Government has published its new statutory Code of Practice to accompany the introduction of electronic and workplace voting for statutory trade union ballots under the Employment Rights Act reforms. The Code provides practical guidance on the conduct of these...
by Andrew Macmillan | Jul 31, 2026 | News
ACAS has just published a new draft Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures – the first full rewrite since 2009. Key changes include: Informal resolution moves inside the statutory Code. This means failure to attempt informal resolution could,...
by Andrew Macmillan | Jul 24, 2026 | News
The Government has published its response to the consultation on the process for introducing Fair Pay Agreements in adult social care, confirming that it intends to proceed broadly as proposed. The response provides further detail on the operation of the new Adult...
by Andrew Macmillan | Jul 20, 2026 | News
The Department for Business & Trade has published an updated timeline for the implementation dates for the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes. We are now told that: The duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment Employer liability for...
by Andrew Macmillan | Jul 15, 2026 | News
In a recent case called Geeks v Watts, Mr Watts joined Geeks, an IT services company, as a trainee engineer earning £18,000 a year. His contract required him to repay £8,108 of training costs if his employment ended for any reason other than redundancy, with the debt...
