| HR & EMPLOYMENT LAW
Jackie Le Poidevin, Editor-in-Chief, HR Adviser |
8 Points to Take Away from the New Acas Guidance on Flexible Working
Acas has published updated guidance to accompany its revised Code of Practice on flexible working. The guide goes through the process for making and responding to a statutory flexible working request, as set out in the Code. However, there’s also some additional detail and best practice advice. These are 8 further points included in the guidance.
- The guidance summarises common types of flexible working and the potential benefits for employers and employees.
- Acas clarifies that you can agree flexible working arrangements informally without using the statutory procedure. For example, the person may not have the right to make a formal request because they haven’t started their job yet or they’ve already made two statutory requests in the past year. Or they may wish to ask for a short-term or urgent change. Although there’s no legal obligation to follow the Code of Practice in such cases, the guidance recommends you still deal with requests reasonably and consistently and avoid delays.
- It explains that if you agree a formal flexible working request, this changes the terms of the employee’s contract. You must put the changes in writing within 1 month of agreeing them. If the employee then wants to change the arrangement, they will have to make another formal (or informal) request. If you want to change the arrangement, you’ll need to agree the contract change with the employee.
- Acas warns that if an employee makes a flexible working request related to a disability, you must follow both the statutory flexible working procedure and the law on reasonable adjustments.
- The guidance states that although the right to request flexible working doesn’t apply until the first day of a job, it’s good practice to:
- Think about how a job might be done flexibly before advertising it.
- Advertise any specific flexible working options that are available.
- Say in job adverts that you’re open to discussing other flexible working options.
- Discuss flexible working before the applicant starts the job.
- Be open to what might be possible, which can prevent an applicant turning down the job.
- If you get two similar requests close together and you can’t accommodate both, it says you should avoid prioritising one request based on the person’s personal situation unless they’re requesting a reasonable adjustment. Instead, you should speak to both employees and try and reach a compromise. If you can’t agree on an alternative that works for everyone, you should handle the requests in the order you received them. If you grant the first request, you don’t have to match this when you look at the second request – you look at what’s possible at that point.
- The Code of Practice says that if you reject a request, you should not only provide the legal reason you’re relying on but ‘any additional information which is reasonable’ to help explain your decision. The guidance explains this could include:
- The steps you took to investigate whether you could accept the request.
- Any practical aspects of the job that prevented you accepting.
- Any alternative options you considered.
- Any data you used to help make your decision, such as staffing levels or recruitment costs.
- Any relevant health and safety considerations.
- The guidance includes links to Acas’s updated template flexible working policy and letters for responding to flexible working requests.
| HEALTH & SAFETY
Emma Lampka, Editorial Board Member, Health & Safety Adviser and Risk Assessment & Compliance |
5 Steps to Get Ready for Mental Health Awareness Week
According to the mental health charity, MIND, every year one in four of us will experience a mental health issue – but too many of us still aren’t getting the help we need. More than 2 million people are waiting for NHS mental health services and since 2017, the number of young people struggling with their mental health has nearly doubled. Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week, which aims to reduce stigma, promote understanding and empower people to prioritise their mental health. We offer 5 simple steps you can take to support your workers.
- Create a Mental Health Policy
If your organisation doesn’t have one already, then develop a mental health policy that outlines your commitment to managing mental health. Although you cannot prevent mental health issues that are caused by issues outside of work, you can implement a policy to help support your employees and include details of how your organisation will manage those stressors generated within the workplace.
- Undertake a Workplace Stress Assessment
One effective way to manage workplace stressors that can lead to mental health issues is to try and reduce employee stress in your business. Start by reaching out to have those important conversation with your staff, to cover the Health and Safety Executive’s 6 identified areas that can lead to work-related stress. These are:
- The demands placed on the employee such as workload, work patterns and the work environment.
- The level of control the employee has over their work.
- The support the employee receives at work from management.
- The nature of the relationships that individuals have in the workplace and the accepted norms of behaviour.
- Whether people understand their role within the organisation.
- How change is managed in the workplace.
Remember that factors such as skills and experience, age or disability may all affect someone’s ability to cope.
- Take Stock of Mental Health in the Workplace
Successful organisations perform well because they make employee engagement and mental wellbeing key priorities. Your organisation can achieve this too but you need to know your employees and understand their experience. By developing a clear picture of the mental health of your organisation, you’ll be able to:
- Understand the factors that affect staff mental wellbeing in your workplace.
- Identify what you’re already doing to support it.
- Assess the impact your current approach is having.
- Plan further improvements which will enhance morale and increase productivity.
You can take get a good idea how supported your employees feel by undertaking a staff survey, getting feedback from your managers and undertaking an organisational stress risk assessment.
- Implement Influence, Participation and Leadership
Develop some activities and encourage employees to get involved in these. Three key activity areas are influence, participation and leadership as below:
- Influencing activities give staff the opportunity to shape and develop the work and the workplace, including what should be prioritised and how it’s planned, delivered and evaluated. This means that people are influencing decision making. This could be by completing a survey, taking part in focus groups or leading a project.
- Participation activities give people the opportunity to work practically alongside the management team. Either members of the senior management team or employees can volunteer at an event to share their experience of a mental health issue or to share their story as a part of the Mental Health Awareness Week.
- Leadership relates to the skills, experience, confidence and networks that people develop through their participation at work. The aim is for everyone to improve their wellbeing. Leading from the top and getting involved in Mental Health Awareness Week and developing opportunities to influence and participate will drive change within your business.
- Provide Training
Although training managers and mental health first aiders can be a financial commitment, providing training and having trained personnel will pay for itself by supporting workers and colleagues to build their personal resilience and so be more productive.
| PAYROLL
Sarah Bradford, Editor-in-Chief, Pay & Benefits Adviser |
National Minimum Wage Checks and What to Do if HMRC Calls
As an employer, you have a legal obligation to pay your workers at least the National Living Wage (NLW) or National Minimum Wage (NMW) for their age. HMRC are responsible for ensuring that employers are meeting their obligations and may carry out checks to ensure that workers are being paid at least the statutory minimum.
Pay the Correct Rate
From 1 April 2024, workers aged 21 and over must be paid at least the NLW, which from that date is set at £11.44 per hour. Workers under the age of 21, must be paid the NMW for their age. From 1 April 2024, the NMW is set at £8.60 per hour for workers aged 18 to 20 and at £6.40 per hour for workers aged under 18 who have reached school leaving age. The apprentice rate of £6.40 per hour applies to apprentices under the age of 19 and also to those aged 19 and over who are in the first year of their apprenticeship.
Employer Checks
HMRC will carry out checks on employers and talk to workers to make sure that they are being paid at least the statutory minimum for their age. An employer may be chosen for a check as a result of research carried out by HMRC or because they have received a complaint that the employer is paying at least one worker below the NLW or NMW, as applicable.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 obliges employers to provide the information requested as part of a check. HMRC may ask for:
- Information that they think will demonstrate that the employer is paying workers at least the NLW or the relevant NMW, as appropriate.
- Explanations of anything contained in the employer’s records.
- Such additional information that may be required to determine if the NLW or relevant NMW wage has been paid.
HMRC state that they will try and make an appointment at a time that is convenient to the employer and warn that they may need to visit more than once. However, it should be noted that HMRC do not have to tell an employer why they are checking their records or divulge any information that they have received.
What Happens if You Receive a Visit
If you receive a visit, HMRC will speak to you or your staff to determine the working patterns of your workers and the arrangements that are in place for calculating workers’ pay. They will also need to see your wage records and may take copies of the records.
Once the checks are complete, HMRC will write to you to confirm any advice that they have given. If they find that workers have been paid less than the NLW/NMW, they will calculate the arrears that must be paid to the worker and send you a notice of underpayment. This will state how much is owed to each worker and when it must be paid and also the penalty due to HMRC. If you do not agree with the notice of underpayment, you can appeal to the Employment Tribunal. This must be done within 4 weeks of the date on the underpayment notice.
If HMRC find that an employer has deliberately broken the law, they may prosecute the employer. Details of employers breaching the NLW/NMW legislation may also be published.
Undertake a Self-review
HMRC may also request that an employer carries out a self-review of their records in order to check that they are meeting their NLW/NMW obligations. They publish guidance on how to do this in a factsheet (NMW FS2), which is available on the Gov.uk website at: tinyurl.com/5n8th7e2