Mel McCrum

In 2020, following an in-depth review by Investors in People, we were delighted to have made excellent progress and we have now been awarded the Gold Accreditation.

The chancellor announced on 29 April that more than four million employees have been furloughed. At some point over the next few weeks or months, perhaps triggered by the withdrawal of the furlough leave scheme (currently ending in it’s current form on 31st July), companies will be managing their employees’ return to work, Mel looks into this.

Workers (including those on zero hours contracts) can now carry forward up to 4 weeks of untaken statutory leave into the next two years so that key work can continue. Carry forward is triggered where it is ‘not reasonably practicable’ for the leave to be taken in the relevant year due to ‘the effects of coronavirus (including on the worker, the employer or the wider economy or society’). These Regulations are in force from 26 March and have immediate effect.

From 6 April 2020, employees will be entitled to take parental bereavement leave (PBL) following the death of a child. This is a new right from which the Government estimates around 10,000 parents a year will benefit. Joanne Kavanagh in the employment...

Firstly, the most welcome decision this year is the Supreme Courts’ ruling that the Fees Order imposed in 2013 (which led to a 70% reduction in claims) is unlawful. Employment Tribunals are intended to provide a forum for the enforcement of...