April is usually a busy time for employment law updates, and this year is no different. With so many incoming changes, you’d be forgiven for not keeping track of them all! Luckily, I’ve done all the hard work for you; you don’t need to move a muscle! I’ve pulled together a complete guide of the…

The Supreme Court has announced its judgment in the Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake and Shannon v Rampersad and another (T/A Clifton House Residential Home) cases on the payment of sleep-in shifts for support workers. This followed appeals brought by two care workers who were “sleep-in” workers, that is, by arrangement they were permitted to…

Introducing his second Budget, emphasising that he will still do ‘whatever it takes”’ Chancellor Rishi Sunak said that his focus was on preventing the growth of unemployment as the country emerges from the latest lockdown. While the undoubted success of the vaccination programme suggested that there would be a strong recovery, the Chancellor warned that…

The much-anticipated Supreme Court ruling on Uber’s employment status case has been published, with judgement falling in favour of the drivers! The UK Supreme Court has declared that Uber must treat their drivers as workers as opposed to self-employed individuals. This decision comes after Uber appealed a ruling by an employment tribunal in 2016 which…

With everything that is happening in the world right now, the expectation on HR professionals has never been higher. From managing Covid restrictions, interpreting furlough guidance and managing countless redundancies, mental health issues, remote working, changing policies, 2020 was an extremely busy year for HR departments and 2021 is currently shaping up to be just…

The government has confirmed that they will be accepting all recommendations from the Low Pay Commission. This news comes despite earlier rumours that the minimum wage would be frozen. Crucially, the National Living Wage will increase by 2.2 per cent. It will also be extended to those aged 23 and 24 for the first time,…

We’ve all hopefully made it through a tough January 2021! Throughout lockdown 3, we have received so many queries about the furlough scheme and how to plan for redundancies but on a positive note, so many businesses are thriving and have asked for help with recruiting additional staff. There is still lots going on in…

Annoying co-worker? Can’t stand your boss? Personality clash at work? Feeling harassed? Tension with family members at work? Relationships are particularly strained at the moment because people are trying to manage various challenges and emotions are high. So how can HR help with managing conflict? Well for one, HR tends to be the first point…

Settled status: are your EU workers ready or at risk? With COVID-19 continuing to dominate everything, it is easy to forget that the UK’s Brexit transition period is due to end on 31 December! The Home Office and UK Visas and Immigration have issued guidance for employers explaining that, when the transition period ends on…

It’s International Men’s Day today, an annual celebration of the achievements and contributions of men. It falls in the same month as Movember, which raises awareness of men’s health issues like prostate cancer, mental health, and male suicide. I know so many amazing men and at one point or the other especially this year, many…

After a marathon few months of working through furlough related HR stuff and redundancies, it’s been really nice to work on some recruitment for my retained clients, with 2 offers already made this week! Although redundancies have increased to 227,000 in June to August, up 113,000 since the same period last year, new jobs are…

Managing people is tough enough, without managing all the paperwork to go with it! I’ve teamed up to partner with Breathe HR ~ a cloud-based HR system designed for SME’s and for as little as £11 per month (50% off for charities) this system can do so much for you: ☑️ Manage holidays ☑️ Analyse…

Unfortunately, I’ve seen a steady increase of enquiries over the last few weeks as the furlough scheme is winding down. If you are thinking about redundancies, then before you do, have a read of my latest HR column in Niche Magazine link below) covering some creative ways to avoid them. However, if you really do…

Getting back to business as usual is a tall order, there is a lot of work to do to get our local economy moving once more. To support with this, I’m so excited to be asked to be a regular columnist at Niche Magazine alongside some amazing local business owners. I’ll be offering lots of…

As the recent focus has shifted from survival to how the economy can begin to get back to work, you’re probably wondering what the coming months have in store for your business. As the furlough scheme begins to wind down many businesses are re-adjusting their priorities to meet a changed business environment and are thinking…