Search for:
Category

UK

Category

The government has announced its Growth Plan 2022. The key employment-related aspects are: the repeal of IR35 reforms introduced in 2017 and 2021; the removal of the bankers’ bonus cap; requirements for trade unions to put pay offers to a member vote and to maintain minimum service levels during strike action; reductions to income tax rates; an increase to the company share option plan limits. The government also reconfirmed plans to reverse a rise in National Insurance contributions and to scrap a planned health and social care levy.

The Baker McKenzie London Employment team is delighted to welcome you back to our Industrial Action webinar miniseries with our third and final episode. Episode three breaks down some of the key contingency planning considerations for companies that are experiencing a sustained spell of industrial action, including practices to help keep the business moving, legal risks that can occur during strike action, and steps you should take, such as a proactive communications strategy, to mitigate and avoid these risks.

The Baker McKenzie London Employment team is delighted to welcome you back to our Industrial Action webinar miniseries with episode two, where we explore what businesses should do when they receive a ballot notice and the potential legal challenges and pitfalls that often arise. The contents of the ballot notice, ballot paper and industrial action notice are often key areas of dispute when there are challenges to the industrial action process, and are key considerations when organizations are considering injunctive relief.

On 26 July 2022, the UK Government published its responses to the 2018 consultation on employment status. The consultation had invited stakeholders to make online submissions on how to address various issues with the UK’s current framework for the employment and tax statuses of individuals. At present, for tax purposes, there are two tax statuses: (i) self-employed and (ii) employed; while for employment law purposes there are effectively three statuses: (i) worker; (ii) employee and (iii) self-employed.

At the end of July 2022 the UK government announced a range of proposed measures to ease the transition to the new UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) regime that will replace the EU’s CE marking regime for the Great Britain market (England, Scotland and Wales) in respect of most types of CE marked products from the start of 2023. Note, products sold in Northern Ireland will continue to need to be CE marked as a result of the Northern Ireland Protocol, even once UKCA marking has become mandatory across the rest of the UK.

The Supreme Court has confirmed that the 12.07% formula commonly used to calculate holiday pay for workers with irregular hours is incorrect. Using it will in some cases result in an underpayment. Employers who rely on this formula should ascertain whether it creates any material liabilities for their organisations (Harpur Trust v Brazel).

The Baker McKenzie London Employment team is delighted to share episode one of our new virtual miniseries, which focuses on the various challenges that organisations are likely to need to navigate when facing industrial action. A number of the factors and issues that are relevant to the current spate of trade disputes and industrial unrest – rising energy prices, the cost of living crisis, high rates of inflation – are not expected to disappear or resolve themselves overnight. As such, industrial action, or at least threats of industrial action, is expected to increase in prevalence across different industries and organisations over the coming months.

In this newest episode of Baker McKenzie’s Global Tax Policy Video Series, Kate Alexander, Miles Humphries and Nick Evans discuss recent UK perspectives on Pillar Two. They also discuss what UK businesses are doing now to prepare for implementation of the proposed Pillar Two changes, despite a welcome delay to the UK’s implementation schedule.