Sickness absence and sick pay
While the introduction of neonatal care leave and pay is the key change for HR professionals to get to grips with, there are other employment law changes in April 2025. These include increases to the national minimum wage rates; a rise in statutory redundancy pay; and the uprating of statutory sick pay and family-related pay.
In 2025, HR professionals face the unique challenge of dealing with business-as-usual employment law changes, such as increases in statutory maternity, paternity and sick pay, while also beginning their preparations in earnest for the looming Employment Rights Bill. We look at what HR needs to do to meet its employment law obligations and prepare for the coming year
The Employment Rights Bill packs 28 imposing employment law reforms into its 158 pages. While HR professionals await the substantive details needed to flesh out the Bill, we outline the key policies that you will need to update and an overview of what those updates might involve.
After months of waiting, the Government has finally published the first draft of its wide-ranging Employment Rights Bill, which will make radical changes to employment law in the next few years. Now that the Employment Rights Bill has begun its progress through Parliament, we highlight the key points from the first draft for HR professionals.
During the state opening of Parliament, the Government trailed its Employment Rights Bill, which will make wide-ranging and radical changes to employment law in the coming years. In advance of the publication of the full text of the Employment Rights Bill, what do HR professionals need to know about what is in store for them?
We look at what HR needs to do to meet its employment law obligations and prepare for the coming year.
The expansion of the group of healthcare professionals who can now issue fit notes can have a positive impact on employers' sickness absence management procedures, writes XpertHR principal employment law editor Stephen Simpson.
Employers that are operating under a hybrid working model must ensure that their sickness absence management procedures sit comfortably alongside their new working arrangements. We set out five steps that hybrid working organisations can take to ensure that sickness absence management continues to be effective.
As the number of monkeypox cases in the UK rises, employers have been advised to conduct risk assessments and ensure they follow standard sickness procedures if a worker becomes infected. Ashleigh Webber pulls together advice for employers whose staff may be infected or at risk of infection with monkeypox.
There have been multiple reports of employers limiting the sick pay entitlement of employees who have chosen not to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Consultant editor Darren Newman explains the potential risks in terms of contractual entitlements, discrimination and employee relations.
Commentary and insights: HR and legal information and guidance relating to sickness absence and sick pay.