Keeping your contracts of employment up to date

What happens when an employment contract is out of date?

From time to time we speak to a client or prospective client who is looking to make a post redundant and when we look the contract of employment hasn’t been updated in a very long time. Keeping contracts of employment up to date with changes to names, job titles, hours of work, salary etc can […]

How can we support our breastfeeding employees?

supporting breastfeeding mothers at work

Breastfeeding babies for their first six-months of their lives and alongside giving them solid foods up until they are two years old is increasingly popuplar. Taking this into account, employers may find that employees who are returning from maternity leave and continuing to breastfeed will need support with incorporating this into their working day. Pregnancy […]

Help, I need to close my setting due to having no water?

Frozen pipes, no water in day nursery, pre-school or out of school club

Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often but from time to time we are asked what happens if a childcare setting has to close due to having no water. Having no water in itself doesn’t necessarily mean you need to close a place of work. Having no toilets, and often having no heating will sometimes make […]

How should we manage the impact of snow in our settings?

managing the impact of snow on your early years setting

Yesterday I woke up to snow. I love to see snow. Less love driving it in and very much less love it when it falls on a working day. When I was a child in Birmingham we’d wake up to hear which schools were closed on BRMB radio, mine was hardly ever never read out […]

Are you a Good Boss? Reflecting on our own performance

Winter is coming is a phrase that keeps being repeated to me. It’s definitely tough out there at the moment and as a boss our team are looking to us for direction and energy. One of things I have been pondering myself lately is am I a good boss? In this blog I share my […]

Developing a wellbeing culture

wellbeing

All employers, big and small are thinking about what they can do to create a wellbeing culture in their workplace. There are a few things that employers can do to embed a wellbeing culture in 2023. Here’s our favourites: If we can be of any assistance as you consider your wellbeing strategy, please call us […]

Keeping In Touch Days – How do They Work?

keeping in touch days

We’re experiencing a lot of queries lately surrounding Keeping in Touch (KIT) days, with employers’ main queries relating to how these should be paid. So, we thought we would provide you with some key information relating to KIT days that will hopefully give you the knowledge and confidence to handle these effectively with your employees […]

Inspiring and Retaining Your ‘Gen-Z’ Talent

generation z

Generation Z, the future of our work force. Who are they and how do you inspire them to ensure you are retaining the top talent within this demographic? Up until 2020, the Gen-Z demographic made up around 20% of the UK workforce. Moving into 2023 we predict that number is higher as more Gen-Z school […]

Supporting Employees Who are Struggling with ‘In-Work Poverty’

Signing on Bonuses

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to get the headlines and with families seeing rising costs more and more people of working age are struggling. Some people may assume those living in poverty are unemployed, however a study by the ‘DWP’ in 2020 found that 70% of households where at least one adult was working, were […]

Will this Autumn see the Great Absence?

We’ve all heard about the Great Resignation where after the pandemic so large numbers of workers have decided to resign from their current job and either take up new employment or become self employed. We are now told to expect the Great Reset, where many employers will commence restructuring plans and trim back on operations […]

The Retained EU Law (Revocation & Reform) Bill 2022 – Here’s What We Know So Far!

As we all continue to get our heads around the changes within the current Government and Kwasi Kwarteng’s Mini-Budget announced in September 2022, Business Secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg decided to announce (rather quietly) on 22nd September 2022, details of The Retained EU Law (Revocation & Reform) Bill 2022. What is ‘The Retained EU Law (Revocation & […]

Employment Benefits During Maternity Leave

employment benefits in maternity leave

We have had a few queries lately from clients, wondering if their employees will be entitled to their employment benefits during maternity leave. So, we thought we would provide some clarity on this… During maternity leave, an employee is still classed as employed and therefore all their contractual rights and benefits still apply, except for […]

Queen’s State Funeral to be a Bank Holiday on 19th September

It has been announced today that the 19th September 2022, the Queen’s State Funeral at 11 a.m. and it will be a Bank Holiday in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The move means that schools, councils, many businesses and many shops will close for the day. Employers do not have to close, and employers […]

Means, motive and opportunity to commit fraud and theft in the workplace

employee fraud

It’s generally accepted that when detecting a crime, that the investigator is looking to see whether the alleged offender has had means, motive and opportunity. The structure of an investigation. In the world of HR, the commonest ‘crime’ we hear in employment is that of theft and fraud. Clients will contact us and share that […]

Managing absence by keeping in touch

Keeping in touch

A client phoned the other day and wanted to ask about an employee who had been off for 2 months with a mental health issue. We asked, how are they and when were you last in contact? A pause, then a rather hesitant answer “about a month ago.” This is unsurprising. As HR consultants it […]

Changes in Right to Work Checks from October

You might recall that during the pandemic, employers had an exemption from the UK Border & Immigration to phyiscally check an applicants right to work in the UK. This is because when people were homeworking and during lockdown it was often impossible to physically sit down with someone and their ID. Since April 2022, employers […]

Undertaking Pre-Employment Social Media Screening

Social media screening

Most people nowadays have a social media presence, and it is becoming increasingly common for employers to review a prospective candidate’s social media footprint that is publicly available, as part of the recruitment process. A person’s social media can reveal a lot about them, from their attitudes and behaviours, personal beliefs to the credibility of […]

Casual Agreements

casual agreements for Day nurseries, pre-schools and out of school clubs

https://youtu.be/TP4K2BRMkeQ Here’s a video we have recorded to explain how casual agreements might be used by Day Nursery, Pre-schools and Out of School Clubs when they wish to employ someone for an assignment and for them not to be employed when they are not performing work for the childcare setting.  A Casual Agreement can be […]

Calculating annual leave entitlement for your Term Time only staff

calculating annual leave for term time only staff

You will have to have been away on your holidays to the planet Spod not have noticed that the case of Brazel vs Harpur Trust was finalised at the Supreme Court at the end of July. This case has been making headlines since August 2019 when the Court of Appeal ruled that Mrs Brazel could […]

What is an Employee Assistance Programme

Employee Assistance Programmes

What is an employee assistance programme? An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers free, confidential, independent support to help employees balance their work, family and personal lives. In the below video, Emma from Life & Progress, who provides the EAP scheme, joins Imogen from Redwing Solutions to talk about the benefits of an EAP. Topics covered are: What […]

Calculating holiday for your zero hours employees

zero hours employees

It was confirmed last week by the Supreme Court in the case of Brazel vs Harpur Trust, that using 12.07% of hours worked to calculate holiday for zero hours contracts has ended. Employers now need to adopt another approach to calculate annual leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks for every worker/employee regardless of how many weeks […]

Holidays and what happens if a TUPE occurs?

calculating annual leave for term time only staff

One of the common complaints we hear after a transfer of undertakings (TUPE) is finding out as a transferee (the incoming employer) that the transferor has transferred the staff with huge amounts of outstanding annual leave. When planning a transfer what can you do? We would strongly advise that transferees insist as part of your […]

Approaching Zero Hours Employees to become Part Time

zero hours employees

Since the Supreme Court gave the final judgement in the case of Brazel v Harpur Trust last Wednesday, many small businesses have been wondering how to approach their zero hours employees to become part time employees. The issue with many zero hours contracts is that they aim to be an ‘overarching employment relationship’, one where […]

Government publishes proposal to ban exclusivity clauses for low paid workers

zero hours employees

On 9th May 2022 the Government published its proposals to extend the ban on exclusivity clauses to those who are low paid. The Government has announced that later this year it plans to bring in legislation that will ban the use of these clauses in employment contracts of anyone who is on or under the […]

Sex and Gender Discrimination – Are they the same or different?

sex and gender discrimination

In this article we explore what we mean by sex and gender discrimination and how to avoid the pitfalls of managing staff who express their views. Should we be talking about this at all? The recent decision that a woman who said people cannot change their biological sex was discriminated against by her employers, has […]

How do HR Consultancies differ?: An honest review

Addressing performance concerns

When thinking about choosing the right HR Consultancy for your business, it can be useful to consider the differences. In this article we set out to compare the differences between the different options available. Businesses in the HR and Employment Law sector do differ. Here are some main differences: Smaller firms can be sole traders, […]

What is the difference between adhoc and retained HR support?

Addressing performance concerns

In this article we seek to share with you what the differences are between adhoc and retained HR support for your Day Nursery, Pre-school or Out of School Club. Adhoc Support The biggest benefit of this form of support is that it offers the client the ultimate in flexibility. There’s no contract to sign, you […]