A number of significant changes to employment law came into force on 6 April 2009. Whilst the most widely publicised has been the replacement of the Statutory Dispute Resolution Procedures with a new Acas Code of Practice and a new 74 page ACAS guide on disciplinaries & grievances (Please see our update on Disciplinary, Dismissal and Grievance Procedures for more details) - employers should also be aware of the following:

• The right for employees to request flexible working has now been extended to employees with children under the age of 17. Previously, requests could only be made in respect of children under the age of 6 (or 18 if disabled).

• Statutory sick pay has increased from £75.40 to £79.15 per week.

• Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay has increased from £117.18 to £123.06 per week.

• Statutory annual leave entitlement has increased from 4.8 weeks to 5.6 weeks per annum to ensure that all full-time workers receive 20 days plus bank holidays (or paid equivalent). Under the previous legislation, bank holidays could be included in the annual entitlement of 4 weeks holiday, much to the chagrin of trade unions and workers.

• As a consequence of the repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures a transferor in a TUPE transfer is no longer required to provide the transferee with information about disciplinary and grievance proceedings where the statutory dispute resolution procedures applied. Transferors must instead provide information about disciplinary and grievance proceedings to which the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures applied.

Employers will need to review their existing employment contracts and policies to ensure these changes are incorporated. If you require any assistance in this regard please contact one of the partners in the Employment Group.

Marian Derham - marian.derham@harbottle.com

Howard Hymanson - howard.hymanson@harbottle.com

Joanne Twiss - joanne.twiss@harbottle.com