13.10.25

The Employment Rights Bill will give employees a new statutory right to at least one week of unpaid bereavement leave to grieve the loss of a loved one. In addition, the Bill will give parents who experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy the right to unpaid bereavement leave.

Currently, there is no statutory right for employees to take bereavement leave, other than parental bereavement leave which is available if a child dies under the age of 18 or is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy. (Make UK subscribers can access information about parental bereavement leave and pay here.)

Regulations will set out further details about how these new statutory entitlements will work in practice, for example which relations of the deceased will qualify for bereavement leave and how the leave can be taken. We expect that, as with the existing right to parental bereavement leave (which will continue to be available), employees who take these new forms of statutory leave will be protected from detriment and dismissal for reasons relating to the leave.

According to its implementation roadmap, the Government plans to consult on bereavement leave during Autumn 2025, with a view to such measures taking effect in 2027. To read more about planned changes under the Bill, see our Employment Rights Bill knowledge base (with a spotlight on family friendly reforms here).

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for further guidance and/or access further information about family friendly rights in the HR & Legal Resources section of our website.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.

The Government has published a report for employers on approaches that have been shown to improve outcomes for gender equality at work. It is worth a thorough read, particularly in the light of changes which are due to come into force under the Employment Rights Bill – see our Employment Rights Bill knowledge base (with a spotlight on Equality Action Plans) here.

The report recommends a broad range of actions employers can take to improve gender equality, grouped into the following four key areas: hiring and selection; talent management, learning and development; inclusion and retention; and leadership and accountability. 

By way of example, the report recommends that employers promote gender equality by actions such as: offering flexible working by default in job adverts; using structured interviews for recruitment and promotions; making expectations around salaries and negotiation clear; making it possible to list experience in years not dates in CVs; using skill-based assessment tasks in recruitment; offering mentoring, sponsorship and networking programmes; and appointing diversity leads and/or diversity taskforces. 

Notably, the report also points to other useful resources for employers, including guidance on how to close your gender pay gap. We can help you to analyse your gender pay gap data and create an action plan of steps your organisation could take to tackle the specific gender pay gap related challenges you are facing.

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for guidance on equality related issues and/or access further information in our HR and Legal Resources.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.
 

Yes, whenever a sponsored migrant worker is absent for more than four weeks in any calendar year, either without pay or on reduced pay, you must notify the Government – specifically, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) – within ten working days of the start of the absence. This principle applies in relation to maternity leave, as well as other types of family-related leave (such as statutory paternity, parental, shared parental, adoption or neonatal care leave). It also applies where an employee is or will be on sick leave for over four weeks, or taking part in legally organised industrial action, jury service, attending court as a witness and/or assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis. 

You should notify UKVI of the absence via your organisation's online sponsor management system. See the relevant Government guidance for further details.

Failure to report material changes could result in significant penalties for both your organisation and the visa holder (for example, your sponsor licence could be revoked, downgraded or suspended). It is therefore important that your managers and HR teams understand the importance of keeping on top of this important issue.

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for guidance on immigration issues. If you are not a Make UK subscriber, our expert HR and legal advisors can offer guidance on a consultancy basis. For further information, click here. 

The “without prejudice” principle allow parties – such as an employer and employee – to discuss settlement options without the risk that what they say will be used against them later in court or tribunal proceedings. If a conversation is held “without prejudice”, this essentially means that neither party can tell the court or tribunal about the existence or content of those discussions if negotiations fail.

The “without prejudice” principle, which can apply to both written and verbal communications, aims to encourage parties to negotiate freely, with a view to setting the dispute out of court. However, not all interactions can be labelled “without prejudice”. For correspondence or a conversation to be without prejudice the following must apply: 

  • there must be an existing dispute between the relevant parties;
  • it must be confidential;
  • it must be a genuine attempt to settle a dispute (i.e. an offer must be made by one side or the other); and
  • it must be clearly marked, or understood to be, without prejudice.

Before having a without prejudice conversation with an employee, it is important to ensure that the above factors are in place and that the employee understands them.  
Further, there are some exceptions to the without prejudice rule. For example, if you said something abusive to an employee during the discussion and/or suggested an exit package to an employee because of their religious belief, race, sex, or another protected characteristic, the employee could use the negotiations against you in evidence and/or use the negotiation itself as a basis for a claim.

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for guidance on settlement negotiations and/or access further information in our HR and Legal Resources. Our webpages include guidance on both the without prejudice principle and holding a protected conversation under s.111A.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.

The Government has published a detailed technical guide to help employers who are developing or updating their policies on neonatal care leave and pay. This guide, which complements the Government’s earlier guidance, covers some of the more complex situations employers may find themselves needing to address (such as what happens if an employee has multiple children in neonatal care, and what happens if a child is readmitted into neonatal care). It provides useful details for employers on the eligibility criteria that apply in relation to neonatal care leave and pay, how to calculate the relevant week and average earnings, and how entitlements to neonatal care leave and pay can fit around other types of family-related leave. It also clarifies what information the employee needs to provide to their employer, information employers need to give HMRC, and other useful sources of support for employees.

In relation to the second aspect of this query, the guidance confirms that businesses can recover specific proportions of the statutory payments from HMRC; small businesses can recover 108.5% of the statutory payment, and larger employers can recover 92%, so will incur ‘wage-like costs’ equivalent to 8% of the statutory payments they make. (As a reminder, statutory neonatal care pay is paid at a flat rate set by the government – currently £187.18 per week – or 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings if that is lower.)

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can access further details about neonatal care leave and pay entitlements, including a template policy, in our HR & Legal Resources. You can also speak with your regular adviser with any queries you may have on this topic.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.