eSignature Lawfulness for Funeral Leave Policy in European Union

How to eSign a document: eSignature lawfulness for Funeral Leave Policy in European Union

foreign very nice to um see you all um in the last one of these um webinars before the Christmas break it's looking pretty festive by me I can still see the snow from the weekend but I for those of you who don't know me I'm Alice Reeve a partner in the employment team and I'm joined today by my colleague Naseem Nabi um also a partner in the team we thought we would end the Year by looking forward to 2023 um and we're going to break it down I'm going to start by looking at some of the legislation that we are likely to see in the coming year and then the seam is going to pick up and look at the cost of living crisis and what that means for employers and some of the questions that we've been being asked about that so um moving on Jess if he can flip it on to the next one please oh well I will um so I'm going to cover as I said some of the expected development so I'm going to look at three different areas I'm going to look at um the impact of us leaving brexit in terms of the um EU law going to look at certificate code on fire and rehire which is still on the horizon and also then some of the developments that we're going to see in family friendly leave so starting off um with the um retained EU law Bill Jess if you flick it on to the next slide be great so we are going to see there's a there is a bill that has currently been through the committee stage of the um House of Commons and is now currently about to be debated um at the debate stage at the House of Commons called the EU law revocation and Reform Bill doesn't sound like a riveting read but it's incredibly important bit of legislation if it's passed it's obviously still got quite a long way to go to the Parliamentary process and so it's really just a heads up so that you understand what it is people are talking about and understand the implications we're obviously going to keep a very close eye on this so that we can update you as it goes essentially it is a piece of law which confirms that any law which has been derived from the EU will come to an end at December 2023 unless the government expressly opt it back in again and choose to retain it or potentially extends the period of time to decide so it's been called a sunset um Clause because all the law that we got from um from Europe would would come to an end that's really quite significant because that includes all the statutory instruments that we have passed so the secondary legislation that we've passed in the UK but that's come out of European directives so examples of that are the working time regulations the part-time work is less favorable treatment regulations the fixed time worker regulations agency worker regulation so um there was some commentary from some employment lawyers who said that there are a thousand statutory instruments that we have passed in the UK that derive from European law that um the government plan to look at each and every one before December 2023 and decide whether or not to keep them or not um and and if not they would automatically lapse and that law would then cease to exist until unless some further new UK legislation was passed there was also flexibility in the um in the bill so that um some primary legislation that's been derived from the EU can be amended more easily so as if it were secondary legislation so it can give the government more power to enact legislation or to change the European derived legislation without going through the normal scrutiny scrutiny process and finally the sort of third impact of it is the um the Primacy or the supremacy of the European law so most of you will know that that prior to brexit um cases they've got disputed went all the way up through our system but then went to the European court of justice but we also had cases from Europe that were considered that the European court of justice um some prime examples are the treatment of sickness during the treatment of holiday during sickness those sorts of cases that were determined at ecj level and December 23 those cases will cease to have Primacy so our courts our employment tribunal system would not be bound by those in the same way they are at the moment so as I say we're still quite we're early stages but um it's receiving a lot of attention because of its significant impact um it's been much criticized because um the government haven't done a detailed analysis what they haven't worked out is actually what are all the implications of this this law these are all the major principles of it but what does that mean they haven't actually before they've launched the bill done an analysis or an audit so that they're clear how this is all the impact this is going to have and critics of the bill say well we shouldn't pass um legislation if we don't know what the consequences are going to be so um lots of people um consider that it's ill thought out I think the employment lawyers Association at both Museum and I remember sort of have been very critical of it because you know irrespective of whether or not you agree with the law itself in uh you know the working time regulations are incredibly badly drafted it because I'd quite like to get rid of bits of them a bit of some of the um two period law would be quite nice to get rid of some of these um bad pieces of law but actually what creates most problems for employers and our clients is uncertainty and actually when you don't know what the law is that is far harder than understanding what the position is and being able to take an informed View and um reaching a decision on that basis and uncertainty you know keeps lawyers in jobs keeps the course um too busy really because that's where litigation occurs when there's a void or a vacuum in the position and so it's been criticized on that ground one of the suggestions that has been put forward which as it rather than it being a sort of rather than it being automatically everything comes to an end of sunset that it that it's a sudden rise so that essentially um the government have got the right to sort of turn everything remains until and unless they're turned off so that actually there's not this sort of ticking clock to review everything before December but in fact they can look at each bit of legislation and and you know change it or or um um repeal it if that's an appropriate thing to do um but that actually hasn't formed part of any of the Parliamentary debate it's just um legal commentators who think that flipping it around that way would be a better idea but as I say we'll keep an eye on it and um we'll obviously let you know if it changes but I think in my lifetime we're used to um my working lifetime we're used to employment law changing on a really regular basis with new law being introduced all the time and it's been a fairly steady state most recently in over Cambridge and on and recently but actually this piece of law will be one which unpicks a lot of the legislation we've seen over the last 10 or more years so um so interesting um to see how it develops I'm going to move on now to um look at the statutory cage and practice on fire and rehire many of you will have been with us when we talked about this previously this comes out of an employer's decision to terminate existing contracts of employment and re-engage staff on new terms and conditions of service to essentially affect changes to working practices terms and conditions um to meet the needs of a business this had been something that had been you know used as a tool by employers over a period of time historically and it had been established as being a potentially lawful reason to bring contracts to an end it did however hit quite a lot of criticism during the pandemic and you'll be aware we saw British gas or centrica try and well terminate the contracts of a majority of their staff to introduce less favorable pay and overtime rates and other working conditions and also could share ways um during the height of the pandemic trying to change its terms and conditions that in employed staff on as well and so that led to a backlash and um private members Bill suggesting that this be outlawed and in fact unions have you know recently sort of cottoned on to this and um a very anti any suggestion of what they call Fire And we hire so the government did so the government asked acres to look into it they produced a report and essentially the government said they first of all they said they weren't going to legislate they weren't going to prohibit this entirely um then ake has produced some guidance and now the gov and then the government said they wanted acas to produce a statutory code of practice so although it's not legislation it will have Lindy binding effect and a tribunal would have regard to it when deciding whether or not um a dismissal in these circumstances was fair or not and failure to take the code into account could uplift compensation by up to 25 so very similar to the statutory code of practice on disciplinary grievances that most of you will be familiar with then so um tribunals have regard to it and for you to follow lease to that increase and compensation and well we expected the code in November 2022 but it hasn't arrived and the government say that it will be published in the near future so we'll keep an eye out on that but um you um will also be aware that it's happening and so it will be particularly relevant where you're looking at Collective changes to um to pay um to other terms and conditions where you might have to bring contracts to an end as well if you can't reach agreement at the end of the process but it might also impact just on single or very small restrictions that you're doing in an organization as well that you'll need to think about we don't expect the code of practice to contain anything sort of groundbreaking or different from what you're used to following in terms of a fair process in terms of consultation but actually it's again makes it more difficult I think um potentially to follow these processes and it's very clear that it should be a last resort which probably um makes it more difficult than it have been historically to establish a lawful reason um to bring contracts to an end in these circumstances my final slot um today if I just flick on is um around changes we're likely to see in family in the area of family leave so we're not like to see huge amounts of employment law change but actually um and we were quite surprised that we um didn't hear anything in the the last queen speech or um um not so nothing's on the horizon and the employment bill that was promised seems to have faded away um really so what we have seen instead is that private members bills are coming through that have gained across parliamentary support and of them being backed by the government and so these are the ones that are non-contentious that everybody supports and that therefore are likely to become law they're all when parliamentary time allows but we think we'll see them um probably certainly in 2023 so the first one I wanted to mention um was the additional protection from redundancy for um for pregnant workers so there was a study carried out by the equality and Human Rights Commission that found that 77 of um women felt that they had been treated detrimentally or less favorably because they've been pregnant because of their pregnancy by employers and um there was a commitment to try and correct this the recommendation was that we look at the existing protection that's in place and look at extending that so most of you will be familiar with the special protection that pregnant employees have so at the moment you're protected from them being subjected to any less favorable treatment as a result of being pregnant or taking maternity leave but also you have a particular protection from redundancy and if you're on maternity leave you can't then be made redundant um if there is an alternative position so um pregnant women get this priority treatment if they are pregnant and there's a suitable alternative they must be offered to that um rather than redundancy now this sort of protection protective Rubble applies only when they're on maternity leave at the moment so it's still they don't have that additional protection they aren't entitled to the um prioritization in Alternatives if they're pregnant but before they go on maternity leave or when they come back from maternity leave and they've returned um to work and so often that meant that employers could deferred redundancy programs to avoid that period of time so the government have simply proposing that they're going to extend that protection so the um right to have priority over that suitable alternative role will start from when they notify an employer of their pregnancy and will end six months after they've returned to work from maternity leave so it'll be an extended period so if when the law comes in if you're carrying up redundancy processes at the moment you need to consider have you got anybody who's on maternity how does that impact on the alternative jobs that we've got you will need to also consider anybody who's notified you of their pregnancy and who's returned from maternity leave when you're considering them planning out the impact of a redundancy process as well the second bit of family um protection that we're going to see is the neonatal care and leave Bill which gives an additional protection of up to 12 weeks paid at the leave and potentially paid at the statutory flat rate of maternity statutory maternity pay as it is at the moment and on top of current statutory maternity pay and leave or paternity pay and leave for people whose children are born prematurely and need to go to intensive care for at least seven days in the first 28 days of their life so if um they've got children a baby who's born early and needs any of natal care then they get this up to an additional 12 weeks pay so their maximum leave would be 15 um 15 months so that they would have their 12 months maternity plus the three months neonatal care as well um and to give an additional protection for those very early days so we're likely to see that change coming in so it will be a day one night so everybody will be entitled to the leave um but you need to have 26 week service um in order to get the pay and again it's at the statutory flat rate and the final thing on um this slide is carer's leave and again this is another non-contentious change that we're likely to see which is essentially a week of unpaid leave a year for anybody who requests it for the purpose of caring responsibilities um although it's obviously important in going to meet a need um I think like many of the other unpaid leave rights that we see it's it may be that we don't see much take up because people are unable to choose to take him a week off but um they will have that ability to do that um should that should they wish and it could be a useful tool for you to think about where you're managing individuals who have got challenging circumstances and the need to take a bit of time they'll have the right to um to that canvas leave so I think we will see an extension of um all of these things over 2023 and you'll obviously will keep you updated but you'll just need to update and reflect your policies to um keep these changes um keep up to date with these changes the final thing I wanted to mention before handing over to the scene um in 2023 is flexible working go which we saw just just as we were preparing slides that there is again support for private members Bill to reform flexible working which again would make it a day one right which would require changes such as um consultation and to look at Alternatives before turning down a request so we're going to see we'll definitely see that change to flexible working regime fairly early in 2023 think as well and so um that's a topic that's really interesting and particularly when looking at sort of working from home and hybrid working as well and the change that we've seen in expectations following on from the pandemic so we're definitely be running some sessions at least one session on that as we move into the new year thanks obviously happy to take questions at the end but I'll hand over to the scene now thanks Alice and morning all um over the next few slides what I want to look at is the cost of living crisis it's something we can't ignore and we as a firm have looked at well what are employers considering what might the options be so this after this morning's piece is really just a thought piece just for you to take away and think about well what could you possibly do in your organization in your business to see how you might be able to support colleagues um now it goes without saying this year has been dominated by the cost of living crisis so inflation's running at double digits and it just really is outpacing wage growth so it's meaning a real term reduction in income so this morning we've seen a small fall in the rate of inflation down to 10.7 so that's why my October's high of 11.1 but still higher than September at 10.1 so how might employers better support or best support staff in time such as these so as I say the aim over the next few slides is really just to share the thoughts that we've collated that we have heard other businesses talk about and options that we know that are being considered across sectors and so there's no one-size-fits-all by any means and there's no right or wrong approach I'd say it's all about what can you as an organization achieve in these times and whether there are only one-off initiatives that you might want to consider as opposed to being stuck with any sort of pay award that might then um outlive any increase in inflation or any reduction in inflation as that might come the simplest answer to all this might always be well what financial support can you offer what can be considered in respect of pay Awards should they be made going back to that basic question what can you afford and affordability is something that can be taken into account by businesses and must be taken into account trade unions at the moment with the debates with government are looking at saying well affordability shouldn't be the only aspect you're looking at and absolutely not Recruitment and Retention is part of that but if you can't continue to afford any increase that you might award then are you putting yourself in a really difficult position organizations and sectors already struggling with budget so whilst we'll look at that financial support as I say and please don't consider that this means that it must be suitable for all now if you are looking at pay can you be selective in how you apply it so whilst we're all struggling it's largely those that goes beyond the lower incomes or indeed those are on middle incomes as well who might not be able to continue to afford mortgage payments Etc going forward but could you perhaps look at any sort of tapering provision so for example for those who are in those lower paid roles might they be the ones receiving the higher percentage Rises and then taper as you go up rather than perhaps having perhaps an artificial threshold over which you then you wouldn't apply any pay order and that could avoid any disappointment for those that might just be above that threshold if you did or choose to apply one so that tapering we're seeing mentioned quite a lot at the moment we've heard of others that are choosing to adopt a more frequent pay Rising so rather than your one high percentage or higher percentage Rise um at the beginning of your financial year can you look at perhaps offering a lower rise but then including a Midway uh mid-year pay award could that be another option might that spread um the burden um for yourselves but also then stagger the pay award for colleagues and they might prefer to receive it in that way might not work for you might not be feasible for those um who are on the lower pay but it's perhaps worth a paper exercise just to chart its impact and also just to look at um whether or not it is even a starting point for you perhaps unlike traditional pay Awards inflation it is a moving Target so my worry always is that if that Target as we've seen is likely or projected to form awarding a pay award which then is inflation plus could then leave you in a difficult position and in these turbulent times we don't want anything that's going to potentially have longevity and potentially leave you in a position where you can't then call back any payroll that's already been made so are there the ways in which you can achieve that um so what else our sectors considering salary advances they are sometimes being considered um might they be difficult what might the terms of their salary advances be and would you have to look at repayment if somebody were to then leave your employee what then if you'd already made an advanced payment so there um again it's not an easy decision but we had to look at how might we be able to better support those who might need immediate support now so existing bonus and reward schemes I think they can often be overlooked perhaps not used to their biggest potential and their fullest potential so if you offer those schemes how do you promote them to colleagues our colleagues regularly reminded of what you do have and what those rewards could look like and is it worth reviewing if you haven't already what you do have other payments that we are seeing being made are the one-off cost of living payments could that be considered but it would have to be you know a one-off payment and be an absolutely clear that it's a one-off payment but you'd have to be mindful of what unintentional adverse impact they could have particularly those who are in receipt of tax credits because it might take them above those thresholds and so it might impact whether or not they qualify for tax credits going forward now I don't want you to take on the burden of making sure whether or not someone um meets the relevant criteria but it's more a case of alerting colleagues to the fact that these one-off payments could have an adverse impact so they do want to be mindful of checking their own personal circumstances but there's one-off payments can help and it then also avoids putting you in a position where you have um increased somebody's pay year on year is very much just but a one-off payment so moving on then um let's have a look at what are the suggestions there are but these still require further thought but I thought it's worthwhile are you going away with them knowing what you would have to look at because look if we are going to treat staff in different ways then again there are unintended consequences perhaps um allegations of discrimination for example are we treating colleagues more favorably than others and what might their circumstances be might we be looking at part-time workers and how are we impacting them might be we might there be allegations of discrimination sex discrimination for example um so what will you what might you do if you have um colleagues who are then on family leave and maternity leave or some sort of sickness absence and so they might earn above the threshold whilst they are there working but no sooner are they off they might they're not so what are those criteria what the criteria that you were then set out suggest and and again conditions of one-off payments now these are Keen I'd say quite often we're asked can we provide one-off payments to support the training of staff and then we have a look at whether or not that those training costs are recouped if somebody then leads or might then have to be paid back on a tapering amount depending on when they I think those sorts of similar repayment schemes can be considered here what might the condition and conditionality be around there's one-off payments that you seek to make and might you even exclude individuals from from qualifying and to ask for that payment so for those for example if they were within their period of notice for example might you then choose to say what it doesn't apply to you because there's always the worry about having to claw back and repayments or are you then going to be faced with litigation in having to chase those repayments which in themselves are hugely cost lastly and so we don't want to add to the extra burden of costs it's also worth noting particularly in the climate that we are talking about that we are surrounded by industrial action you only have to click on the news and you'll see that throughout this month there is an industrial action of some shape or form happening every single day all the way through to the new year so if you are an organized patient that recognizes trade unions or where you might have an employee representative group for example then you must consider if you are looking at any sort of change that might impact collected terms and conditions um and pay and benefits that you first engage with those recognized unions and groups because we don't want any sort of um consequences where we potentially could be seen as undermining or circumventing existed Collective agreements and that Machinery that's there to protect those members so do be mindful of that because whilst you might be I might have the best way in the world um we can potentially have pushback from unions if could be seen to be undermining those Collective agreements to our routine place moving on then um I want to look at other flexibility that can be offered and that's flexibility through benefits again not one to be underestimated because many employers offer a huge variety of benefits and before coming on I thought let's have a look to see what we offer at vwv and on the internet splash page it does set out all sorts of benefits from discounts for haircuts or discounts for gym memberships authors and you too might have a collective group of benefits be they small or be they um organization-wide so it's worth really understanding what do we have that might be seen as an additional benefit that might help in these circumstances and how might we go about promoting those now starting slightly bigger so this Saturday sacrifice schemes and that are quite often um offered by yourselves as employers they're a real good example of flexibility and it also gives the individual the choice of the benefit that best matches their needs at any particular time so be that um Child Care vouchers be that pensions cycle to work schemes laptop schemes Healthcare schemes gym memberships whatever they might be I'm sure you've got a variety there that you could pull together and collate your benefits so that we are just better skilled and better um adapted at making sure that staff really really aware of what is there on offer for them and are there any subsidy schemes so do you subsidize for example transport and free meals at work Refreshments um I mentioned the gym memberships but any other sort of corporate discount or law ability schemes that you might offer it's definitely worth putting together we are seeing sectors using flexibility through pensions so staff are seeking to perhaps reduce their pension contributions in order to take more cash now now whilst those sorts of pension schemes that do operate salary sacrifice are can be useful and can mean that somebody can use more cash now or be it they are reducing their um their savings for the future it is helpful yes for for the immediate crisis that they might find themselves in but I don't think we should underestimate the whole benefit of um saving for the future again easy for us to sit here and say that we should be looking to the Future and not just immediately responding to the crisis at hand but you know the auto enrollment legislation was brought in to ensure that there were minimum protections minimum employee employer contributions that are being made and I think that objective shouldn't be forgotten because you don't want somebody potentially leaning on their pension scheme when that should be for something for the future and but if there is flexibility there that can be afforded then making sure that you can sign post colleagues to receive the advice that they need so that you're not providing the advice because it is financial advice and you don't want to be in a position where you are providing um advice which might be a regulated activity when it comes to financial advice so do make sure that you can signpost be that through your own pension provider so that they can talk specifically about their scheme or if you can sign post to external third parties that might be free of charge or you might be prepared to look at absorbing some of the costs in obtaining that information for them and allowing them access to a financial advisor what else are we seeing interest fee free loans is another that we are seeing talked of and mentioned and is that something that you can do to alleviate hardship and unexpected costs um again you can have qualification criteria around that um now with interest-free loans they're unlikely to Then Fall within Consumer Credit act advice but nevertheless just be mindful that where you are talking about loans it potentially can fall within that Consumer Credit act so and so you don't want to be providing um advice or providing loans so do make sure that you're taking advice before you do anything so you can make sure that it is a loan that you are able to provide um hardship funds I suppose is the other one that we're seeing being mentioned and being used more and more at the moment is that a scheme that you already have in place um how is that hardship fund built up um would you consider putting one in place what again might the parameters be a lot of what we mentioned so far that I've mentioned is talking about understanding what will parameters be whenever we offer something that might be open above ordinary pay Rises and that is sensible thing to start with just to understand what might qualifying criteria be how might we thought back money are we prepared to call it back will we accept that we are making one-off payments that Sean you call it back so how will they be labeled so whether that's hardship whether it is salary advancements whether it is pay Awards one-off or annual um or mid-year so just be mindful plan it out to understand what you you can do and what you are prepared to do another that we're hearing being mentioned is I'm buying back of holiday um so you know we are seeing some employers that might consider that or or even um considering whether employee to employee can buy um a holiday back but just be mindful that an individual is entitled to 5.6 weeks paid leads of that aspect um can't be paid in new of unless you're looking at determination or employment so it's not that 5.6 weeks that we're going to play with it's anything open above that might there be scope there now again it all comes down to the sector that you're in with that's that is achievable or not um but these are the sorts of things we're hearing um clients um and organizations talk about moving on there please what else what else can you possibly do um we've heard many employers say well we've got an employee who would like to take on a second job but our contracts don't permit it it does say that um they're prohibited from working elsewhere whilst they're in our employee what can we do about that is there any leeway there yes you can you can put in flexibility for an individual to take on a second role you'd want to make sure it's not in a competitive role but if they had the flexibility and they wanted to use that flexibility to gain some extra income then yes you could there are aspects that you'd want to be mindful of um so you don't want somebody who would take on another role that might then adversely impact the reputation of your organization or impact the work that they do for you so we have to also look out for the general health and safety of the individuals are they working excessive hours and prolonged hours have they opted out of the 48-hour working week um with you so there are aspects and controls that you'd want to put around that but it's not a simple no all the time it's just understanding could there be a degree of flexibility how long might that flexibility last location is another one so Alice and I are both working from home today um that might be through choice because quite often the Wi-Fi is unstable at work but nevertheless if colleagues are saying I've got a genuine reason that I would like to work from home because I don't have the travel costs that's one reason or it might be quite the opposite I want to come into work because then I don't have the overheads at home so what can you do can you look at personal circumstances can you make adjustments so colleagues are avoiding additional expensive outlay is that possible now it all comes down to your sector I completely appreciate that it might not be possible um and they might need to have face-to-face delivery of services for example but where flexibility is permitted then do make sure you can apply that flexibility and you are reviewing that flexibility because quite often we do we are pressed on one now has it become customer practice for example so on my oblige now to continue with this so you can always ensure that what you want to achieve for your business is best for the business but it's making sure that where you do have flexibility you're applying it you're reviewing it you're monitoring it and you are reporting that to members of staff on how it's working or not so that you're continually adjusting to make sure it is the best outcomes for your business as well um but these were all these sorts of smaller things they do go a long way to supporting colleagues um and if we can reduce costs at all then it's a good time to do that um networking shorter weeks working condensed weeks these are all options that could be considered even over time could be considered now I'd say if there is over time how are you going to provide that is that going to be a sustained over time which we then might have to look at um using in our calculation for um for holiday so or is it just going to be ad hoc over time whatever you are going to do take advice just to make sure what any ramifications of it might be as whilst you're trying to help colleagues who don't want it to have any adverse in compatible cells that hasn't been calculated so moving on I just wanted to look at other support that could be offered now vwb were very good at championing things and we will have individuals that will take on that mantle 2 Champion thing so whether that's well-being championing or all sorts but more and more we're hearing talk of a financial well-being champions what are they how might they be able to help would you be prepared to have a group of individuals who voluntarily came forward said I'll be prepared to be trained up to understand how I might best support colleagues how I might best signpost them to certain information now we don't want them to feel as though they have to be the Hub of all knowledge but signposting is key when you're a champion it's understanding where to turn to for advice for free advice um and how they might then support the individuals who might be coming to them look anxiety levels um they are very much creeping up and they can't be ignored at this time of year even more so when the outlay is so much more so what are the additional measures that we can go to to the support colleagues um and as I say it's all about ensuring credible resources I'd say that you're looking at um which absolutely are impartial and if possible are free as well um now I mentioned that it's anxiety levels are creeping up um mental health first stages I think are definitely ones that you could also be looking at introducing if you haven't already um because they too will will really come into their own when you're working together as that team so whether you've got a financial well-being Champion then teamed up with a mental health Champion as well so it's just providing that rounded support for your employees who may well be struggling pension planning whilst I've mentioned pension planning um that and and your pension health check many an employer provides that and I'm sure you all do um but if you don't could you could you be looking at providing that or using um resources or signposting two resources where an individual could do that rather than dipping into their pension pot without knowing already having the full oversight as to what the ramifications might be now before I do sign off there are some resources and that I do want to point you in the direction of and when we come to share these Tides I'll make sure that they are on there but I do think they are really really helpful um so the likes of what citizens advice we're all aware of money health and money advice online so these are all Finance financially um financial resources that are free online a lot of them are driven by government government incentives and objectives and help for household support for example that's a government help for households where costs of living support is made available and people can see their eligibility criteria money saving experts national debt advice lines so these are all resources that you could make available in a discrete manner where people want to so they know where they can turn to but discretion two is going to be necessary as is confidentiality but in a rounded approach there are ways here that with all the sides that we've now had that you can pick out aspects where you could possibly be helping to support colleagues now when um we had the introduction the final line was about um recession and what that might mean for us now I don't want to end the year looking at something like that but I'm sure in the New Year we are going to have to look at if it's your savings and we will look at that as a separate topic and because I'm sure there's going to be a lot of questions around that but for now bring it to a close here and we're going to now look at any q a that you might have thank you great thanks ever so much Naseem um we've done well for time we've got four questions in the box but please do um please add any questions in but we'll run through these the first one is um is about family leave which I'll cover and then there's in some interesting questions around the cost of living points so the first question was is the carers leave in addition to parental leave so a member of staff could have um both of those things um to care switch out the answer is yes is an additional right so the care of us leave is a week I'm paid to um look after any dependent family or friend so that is in addition to what you've already got which is that emergency time offer dependence where there is a breakdown of care arrangements as well which is unpaid unless you've got something specific otherwise as well as then unpaid parental leave as well time off to look specifically after young children so there is a suite of available options for parents and carelessly candidates for children as well and it seems I don't know if you had anything you wanted to add on that topic or we move on to um the cost of living questions yeah I think if we move on I think you've covered that one Alice brilliant so the cost of living we've got a few questions there so implications of making crisis loans for staff at low or no interest is this allowed as we're a charity now I specifically mention no interest because when you start moving into the territory of charging interest then you do move into Consumer Credit so you do have to be really really careful and particularly as a charity you have to be careful as well what are your objectives as a charity so um you as a charity absolutely you have to be mindful of your charitable objectives and what you're there to achieve can you support staff though um as a charity I doubt that your charitable objects would preclude you from doing that but absolutely you'd want to make sure that you are in a position to and do that but my main worry there would be any interest being charged on a loan and what that that would mean for you because you will then dabble in into Consumer Credit so you'd want to absolutely take advice on that please um moving on can you give staff for whom a one-off payment would make them go over a threshold the option to spread them if they prefer now if there are ways and means that you can avoid somebody falling down and not then being eligible for any tax credits then then I think that's that is sensible that's just making sure that you are best supporting them um so absolutely if they can find a way in which that they've taken advice and if they had smaller increments over a period of time then they would be okay then that to me would seem like a sensible spread of support there so I don't see why that wouldn't be permitted but do make sure that the burden is with the individual to understand whether or not that threshold is breached so I love the idea of financial well-being Champions where would you begin to train someone find the right resources well um this one's cropped up a few times now and I just tapped into search engine last night just to see what might come up and gosh the amount of information that has come up even via um acas I was surprised to see um that so there are lots of resources that you can turn to so I would say look start with a reputable one see what um government resources of first and foremost that might send you to Links elsewhere but that to me is a sensible starting point um and if a cast and the like can also do that then use that there's money market um resources are also really really sensible so I think they are the good ones to start with and the list that I sort of read from before will make sure that we share that with you as well and when the slides are sent out to you all because there's a good sensible list in amongst that thanks um I'll yeah I think it is an interesting area and no doubt we will see some really good courses for people who want to take on that role um and then the final question we've got at the moment is about the changes to flexible working and when it's going to come in it seems to have been on the horizon for ages doesn't it this change we've still not got a start date I'm really sorry we so we saw um just I think it was only last week um we saw confirmation that essentially it's support for the private members bill of which this is one of the elements um and so it will be passed into legislation I think it's probably fairly high up on the Parliamentary agenda in terms of employment law which is still fairly low down in the grand scheme of things um but um I'm not sure we haven't got a start date but I think we'll probably see it in the first half of the Year Nasim I don't know if you've got anything to add to that um I'd be surprised if we didn't but you know we've been waiting for quite some time even the last queen speech it was there and then it was dropped um so anything can happen yeah so uh so sorry um don't change your policy just yet but just to be aware that that it's still um the direction of travel has anybody got oh there's another one just popped in great I was going to encourage any last questions ah oh I thought we got through a session without talking about holiday pay uh the final question have there been any outcomes developments and updates um we the um Brazil case um so most of you will have been to at least one session on this so I'm not going to spend any time recapping but if people are interested generally do you contact me on a scene we've got some free um FAQs and we've got some recorded webinars as well that we'll really have to share as resources as well as giving more specific advice um but in terms of then the latest developments no I think most of our clients are still in the process of auditing working out which categories of staff are affected and we've seen most people but not all kind of correct Arrangements where they had not quite reflected the um current methodology going forward we've seen a range of different approaches in relation to areas um depending on the range of contexts we have seen I think it's fair to say I we have seen um over the last month the unions particularly the NAU asking questions about schools approach um to it I've not seen any other unions at the moment pressing that but particularly um asking that question or asking about the approach to arrays um interesting timing because um for those schools or other clients who corrected it you know there is a there's a there's start to be limitation points where it's too late um to correct it so um so really I think most clients are still just sort of getting to grips and rolling it out and but we're seeing a bit of scrutiny from the Unions that's that's all I would say um the same is there anything else or anything different you would want to add to that no nothing different I think that scrutiny point is is key though because more and more unions are now coming forward um and and you can understand that particularly in a climate where you're trying to get the most you can for your members so absolutely we're going to see more probing into it so we must understand ourselves what our position is and haven't done our own audits yeah um it does go absolutely to that point doesn't it that we're seeing that because there is a financial squeeze on people and they really are suffering we are absolutely seeing things being challenged and organizations being challenged particularly where that you might be making decisions where it's impacting potentially low workers or those without guaranteed incomes um and so we're beginning to see sort of things being challenged that perhaps historically might not have been if particularly if they've been corrected going forward so um so yeah it does link absolutely into to that topic doesn't it in terms of what your approach is agreed um any other questions before we clothes well I'm really glad we had lots of people join us today which is um great and um and I wish you a very merry Christmas and hope you have a really restful break and we look forward to seeing you um in 2023 [Music]