Thankfully it's apparent that most of us don't pay too much notice to politicians as evidence suggests that SME's and small business still account for well over 60% of the UK private sector employment and around 50% of UK GDP. 

So why all the noise about employment law and as a business owner or manager what do you really need to do?

 The noise is simple - politicians like to be seen to be doing what they think the public and business wants them to do to win votes (they also seem to have an obsession in meddling in areas where they really don't have a clue) and people with (possible) vested interests like to help promote the hype to further their own personal agendas and/or ambitions. 

The result of all this noise is that as a business owner or manager you can become quite confused about the law and the proliferation of information on the internet can make things even worse as you can simply be blinded by information overload.

 The reality is pretty simple - you are governed by the laws of the land that apply at any given time whether it's employment law or any other regulation. The law is the law and ignorance is no excuse and is generally not an acceptable defence in law if your business fails to comply. 

When it comes to employment the first thing to consider is that managing people can be time consuming. If you can learn to see man-management as an investment and realise that your prosperity depends upon your people, it doesn't feel like such a chore.

 Recent years has seen our society become far more likely to take legal action than before and the phalanx of "no-win no-fee" solicitors that has grown up means that it is more important than ever to get employment law right. The imminent changes in tribunal rules whereby claimants will have to pay a fee will make this even more important. You do need to make sure that you keep up to date.

 

A few things to consider at all times -

Before a new employee starts work for you - you are required to check that all new employees are legally entitled to work in the UK. Failure to check and to be able to prove that you have checked that your employees are eligible to work here can result in a fine of up £10,000 per employee found to be illegally working here. For free help and guidance on what you need to do go to http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

 

  • Discrimination - it is illegal to discriminate against people from pre-recruitment to departure and this legislation applies to everything - you cannot discriminate against people on the grounds of gender, gender re-assignment, sexual orientation, marital status, race, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, disability, religion or belief, trade union membership or age.
  • National Minimum Wage - you must pay your employees in accordance with the law.

 

What about the specifics, what do you have to provide? 

Once you have employed someone you are required to provide them with a "statement of main terms of employment" within two calendar months of starting work. In addition you should provide a disciplinary and grievance procedure in accordance with ACAS guidelines and we recommend that you provide an Equal Opportunities Policy.

 

That really isn't too much work is it? Whilst we would always recommend that you provide clear and robust contracts of employment, policies and guidelines that properly reflect your business, you can comply with your legal requirements with very little effort. 

Once somebody has started working with you it will become apparent that you will be required to comply with other statutory requirements such as -

  • Maternity, paternity and adoption rights
  • Flexible Working requests
  • Statutory Sick Pay
  • Statutory Holiday Entitlement
  • Parental Leave
  • The Bribery Act 2010

 

Whilst it may appear that this is huge list of things to consider, some requests will only happen occasionally (Maternity, Flexible Working, Parental Leave) and there is free help and guidance available from ACAS via www.acas.org.uk or from the government via www.gov.uk/browse/working

 

Statutory Sick Pay and Holiday entitlements calculations are usually standard features of payroll software and most queries can be dealt with using these tools.

If managing people isn't your thing or if you feel uncomfortable in this area and no matter how big or small your business, you may benefit further by engaging expert support from an organisation such as Cream HR. We can help implement effective solutions that work and take huge amounts of work off your hands.

 Try not to listen to the noise and avoid being an "expert in everything." Employment disputes are time consuming, distracting and costly and unless you know what you're doing it's easy to make expensive mistakes.