Last updated 23rd January 2025

We’ve created this tracker to keep you up to date with all the latest developments in Employment & Immigration law – please bookmark it to make sure you don’t miss our latest posts. You can see what’s on the horizon at a glance by clicking on the video or use the links below to see a summary of the current status.

Please note that this material has been published for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Recent Updates

• The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023
• Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023
• Autumn Budget 2024

Key Legislation

• Employment Rights Bill
• Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
• Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Amendment of Schedule A2) Order 2024
• Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023
• Legislation to limit the length of non-competes
• Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023
• Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024

Key consultations

• Four consultation papers have been published following the release of the Employment Rights Bill on: (i) the application of zero-hours contracts measures to agency workers (link here), (ii) strengthening remedies against abuse of rules on collective redundancy and fire and rehire (link here), (iii) creating a modern framework for industrial relations (link here), and (iv) strengthening statutory sick pay (link here).

Key cases

Mrs Kristie Higgs v 1) Farmor’s School 2) Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England [2023] EAT 89 EAT 89

Miss P Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council: [2024] EAT 3

Mr W Augustine v Data Cars Ltd: [2024] EAT 117

Dr D Miller v University of Bristol: 1400780/2022

The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 and the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 have now come into force. For those interested, we’ve published standalone blogs here and here on some of the key takeaways from this legislation, including the practical implications of the changes to holiday pay calculations for irregular workers and the implications of an employer’s duty to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Moving on to the Autumn Budget, a major takeaway was the announcement that employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) will increase from 13.8% to 15% starting 6 April 2025. The threshold for when employers begin paying NICs on workers’ earnings will also be reduced from £9,100 to £5,000 per year.

The government also revealed plans to raise the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and extend the National Living Wage to those aged 18 and over, which is currently only available to those aged 21 and over.

From 1 April 2025, the new rates for NMW will be:

Finally, the government published the Benefit and Pension Rates 2025 to 2026, setting out planned increases to statutory payments including statutory sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay and shared parental pay, parental bereavement pay, and maternity allowance, from April 2025.

• The weekly rate of statutory sick pay will be £118.75 (up from £116.75).
• The weekly rate of statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance, statutory adoption pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory shared parental pay and statutory parental bereavement pay will be £187.18 (up from £184.03).
• The lower earnings limit (the weekly earnings threshold for qualifying for the above payments, except maternity allowance) will be £125 (up from £123). For maternity allowance the threshold remains at £30 a week.

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The Labour government’s Employment Rights Bill will implement 28 employment law reforms, including:

• establishing day-one rights for unfair dismissal (subject to a new statutory probationary period), as well as for paternity, parental and bereavement leave;
• zero-hours workers will be entitled to guaranteed hour contracts reflecting hours worked;
• “fire and rehire” practices will be restricted by making it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing to agree to contractual variations (unless an employer can show evidence of financial difficulties and demonstrate that the need to change the contractual terms was “unavoidable”);
• minimum service levels legislation and parts of the Trade Union Act 2016 will also be repealed;
• both the waiting period and the earnings limit for statutory sick pay will be removed;
• flexible working will be made the default for all, unless an employer can prove it is unreasonable; and
• large employers will be required to create equality action plans addressing gender pay gaps and to support employees through the menopause.

On 27 and 28 November 2024, a number of MPs also put forward amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, which will now be considered by the Public Bill Committee and include:

• an increase in the employment tribunal limitation periods for bringing claims to six months, which is double the current three-month limit for most claims;
• a restriction on the use of substitution clauses in contracts between employers and employees, workers or dependent contractors;
• employers being required to include an explanation in their equality action plans on how they support employees with menstrual problems/disorders;
• a prohibition on non-disclosure agreements that prevent a worker from making a disclosure about harassment (including sexual harassment); and
• increases to family-friendly leave and pay, which include doubling the rate of statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental and parental bereavement pay, increasing statutory paternity leave to six weeks, and introducing the right to kinship care leave. Employers with 250 or more employees would also be required to publish information about their parental leave and pay policies if the proposals were adopted.

For those interested in learning more, we recently published a blog which provides more detail and includes our view of the proposed provisions here and here.

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Key points

Announced in the King’s Speech 2024, the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill aims to introduce a statutory right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people – making it easier to challenge pay disparities due to ethnicity or disability – and extend pay gap reporting, requiring employers with 250 or more employees to disclose pay gaps related to ethnicity and disability.

Date of entry into force

TBC. The Bill is expected to progress more slowly than the Employment Rights Bill due to extensive consultation.

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Key points

Section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“TULRCA”) gives the Employment Tribunal the power to increase or reduce any award by up to 25% if:

• a successful claim is brought under s189 TULRCA for a protective award; and
• a party has unreasonably failed to comply with any statutory code or another applicable code of practice.

Date of entry into force

20 January 2025.

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Key points

The Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2023 and will allow eligible employed parents whose new‑born baby is admitted to neonatal care to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave. This is in addition to other leave and pay entitlements such as maternity and paternity pay.

Date of entry into force

6 April 2025.

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Key points

The previous Conservative government had confirmed that it would introduce a statutory limit on the length of non-compete clauses of 3 months and bring forward legislation to introduce the statutory limit “when parliamentary time allows”. It is now unclear when (and if!) the Labour government will take this forward.

Date of entry into force

TBC.

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Key Points

The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (No 2) Bill 2023 received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023. The Act will amend the Pensions Act 2008 to implement two key recommendations made by the Department of Work and Pensions in their 2017 independent review of auto-enrolment. Regulation-making power will be introduced to: (i) reduce the lower age threshold for auto-enrolment; and (ii) reduce or repeal the amount of the lower limit of the qualifying earnings band.

Date of entry into force

The substantive provisions of the Act will come into force on a day appointed in a statutory instrument made by the Secretary of State. Therefore, it is not possible to provide a timescale for implementation.

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Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024

The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024. The Act itself makes provisions about paternity leave in cases where a mother, or a person with whom a child is placed or expected to be placed for adoption, dies.

Although not set out in the Act itself, there is also an intention for additional regulations to provide for a bereaved father or partner to have 52 weeks’ paternity leave available during the first year of their child’s life, from the day on which the mother or primary adopter of the child has died.

Date of entry into force

Regulations are needed to bring the Act into force.

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On 21 October 2024, the Department for Business and Trade launched several consultations on:

• the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers (link here);
• strengthening remedies against abuse of the current rules on collective redundancy consultation and fire and rehire (link here);
• strengthening statutory sick pay (link here); and
• creating a modern framework for industrial relations (link here).

The consultations have now closed and we await the government’s responses and proposed actions.

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Mrs Kristie Higgs v 1) Farmor’s School 2) Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England [2023] EAT 89 EAT 89

Mrs Higgs, a Christian pastoral administrator, was dismissed for gross misconduct due to Facebook posts perceived as homophobic and transphobic. While her religious and gender-critical beliefs were protected under the Equality Act 2010, the dismissal was attributed to her language, not her beliefs. The Employment Tribunal dismissed her claims of discrimination and harassment, but the EAT partially upheld her appeal, remitting the case for further consideration on whether her posts were a manifestation of her beliefs. Mrs Higgs has appealed to the Court of Appeal, arguing the EAT should have ruled in her favour outright. A decision is pending.

Miss P Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council: [2024] EAT 3

Miss Sullivan, a job applicant, alleged verbal harassment during interviews and reported financial irregularities involving a Council employee. After her internal appeal was denied, she claimed whistleblowing protections should apply to her as an external job candidate. The Employment Tribunal and EAT rejected her claim, citing lack of jurisdiction and her ineligibility under existing whistleblowing laws. The Court of Appeal is set to hear the case in February 2025.

Mr W Augustine v Data Cars Ltd: [2024] EAT 117

Mr Augustine, a part-time private hire driver, claimed unfair treatment due to a flat-rate fee applied equally to all drivers, which disproportionately impacted his earnings compared to full-time drivers. While the EAT acknowledged this disparity, it upheld the ruling that the treatment was not solely due to his part-time status under the “sole reason” test. His appeal to the Court of Appeal is expected by July 2025.

Dr D Miller v University of Bristol: 1400780/2022

Dr Miller, a university professor dismissed for gross misconduct tied to his anti-Zionist comments, successfully claimed direct belief discrimination and unfair dismissal. The Employment Tribunal recognized his anti-Zionist beliefs as protected under the Equality Act 2010, ruling that his dismissal was unreasonable and discriminatory. The University’s appeal will be heard by the EAT by November 2025.

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