We’re not your average HR consultancy. Led by Sam Swinstead, a plain-talking HR professional with over 20 years of experience, we focus on sensible, practical advice that gets results.
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We are sure you will have seen the news today about the new Covid Job Support Scheme that will come into effect on 1 November. There is as yet no Govt Guidance on the Gov.uk covid webpages but we have received a copy of the factsheet and it sets out the details we...
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has helped many businesses since March but we now know that it will be coming to an end in October and unfortunately that means that we are starting to talk about redundancy more often as business are starting to think about what...
Holiday season means holiday pay. Working out holiday pay for many employees is fairly straight forward but there can be some spanners in the works especially when dealing with commission in holiday pay (or other variable payments such as shift allowances and on call...
You may be aware (or you may get employees asking you questions) that there was a press release late last week https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-law-to-ensure-furloughed-employees-receive-full-redundancy-payments that the BBC & other media grandly announced...
Released about 9pm Friday – the Flexible Furlough Scheme guidance is finally here in all its glory …and there is no point pretending otherwise – it’s complicated! Actually the principle of flexibly furloughing is pretty straightforward - the claims are where it...
Nothing new to report on the the new furlough rules but there is some clarified wording shared below from the HMRC that does give reassurance that anyone furloughed for at least 3 weeks at any time prior to 30 June (even if currently back at work) can be furloughed...
Flexible furloughing & extended furlough scheme, here is what we know right now: The CJRS (furlough) will remain open as planned until 31 October 2020Throughout the furlough scheme there will be no change in what employees can receive in furlough payJune and July:...
The Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 have been extended to cover people who are told to isolate for 14 days under the Track & Trace process. The Government have launched the Test & Trace system today. There seems...
Sit comfortably & get ready to wade your way through the latest furlough guidance which we’ve aimed to make sense of and summarise, in addition highlighting any areas that may still be unclear. Extended Furlough Period We have confirmation that the furlough period...
It is important that you establish good record keeping during furlough of your decisions and actions during the Coronavirus situation – we suggest documenting this now while it is fresh in your mind in case you ever need it later on. One key essential point is...
True to form the Govt / HMRC announced the latest version of the CJRS (furlough) on the evening before the weekend – Thursday 9 April this time! In truth it updates just these key points and two of the big points will affect very few of you I think- point one being...
Over the weekend the Government updated the Corona Virus Job Retention Scheme, CJRS guidance, so grab yourselves a cuppa and take a read of what it all means. This gives us CJRS guidance on some of the areas we have been waiting for answers to but still leaves many...
Employment Legislation April 2020 sees the introduction of some new key pieces of employment legislation and some updates to older areas that as an employer you need to be aware of and we've rounded them up for you here. New rules for written Section 1 Statement of...
So it seems the weekend may have been a time for contemplation…and for plenty of incorrect information to start doing the rounds! Most noticably Corona Virus Leave types and entitlements. Whilst the Corona Virus Act 2020 was passed last week there are still some...
We believe it is clearer now that the furlough leave will initially run from March to May (may get extended) – not three months from when you start it as I had hoped – but that is my interpretation and we still await 100% confirmation – just thought it may be helpful...
We are understandably getting a lot of questions about short-time working and layoffs. Firstly I will confess that although we draft it into our standard contracts I have NEVER in 25 years of HR had to implement it with a business so I’ve done a lot of reading today!...
I’m sure you are all keeping up to date with the news but we thought we’d share a few Coronavirus advice and resources sites with you that may be helpful. This site is really clear about who should isolate from work and when and for how long – importantly it also says...
There still seems to be a bit of confusion about the self isolation requirements and it did seem yesterday as if members of any household with symptoms would all need to self isolate (not be able to come to work and be eligible for SSP) for 14 days…but there was still...
National Minimum Wage 2020 rates will increase on 1 April 2020. Apprentice rates increase from £3.90 to £4.15Under 18’s rates increase from £4.35 to £4.5518-20 year olds rates increase from £6.15 to £6.4521-25 year olds rates increase from £7.70 to £8.20 Along with...
Cast your minds back to December 2018 and you may remember the government publishing the Good Work Plan in response to the Taylor review.The plan set out many recommendations for changes for fairer and more decent employment practices for all workers.April 2020...
We are firm believers that everyone deserves to work in an environment where they are respected and treated with dignity. Research shows to the contrary though with 60% of people saying they have either witnessed or experienced bullying in the workplace. Bullying in...
Have you ever had an employee raise a grievance or complaint? It can be very overwhelming for managers who don't know how deal with these types of situations. The ideal situation and the way to get the very best from your employees is of course to have a happy,...
Parental and carer rights at first appear to be a rather complex set of procedures so here are our simplified version of what you need to know. Employees don’t come shrink wrapped in a cellophane box from a sterile environment, they have a life outside of work that...
Workplace harrassment can happen in any role but workplace harassment in the hospitality sector is 86% more likely than in any other industry. A new report from NAVEX Global divulge some worrying statistics. It states that 1 in 2 female HR directors think that their...
We think that many of you will be pleasantly surprised to know that initally your legal obligations to your employees are not as complex or burdensome as you might think. You must provide a written Employment Contract (sometimes referred to as a Statement of Key Terms...
In this part of our guide to successfully employing people we focus on those all important first few months of employment – the induction and the probationary period. Your recruitment has been a huge success, you have the perfect new team member so now lets focus on...
GDPR has just had its first anniversary and while your mailbox is no longer full of companies asking that you still be friends and it all seems to have gone quiet don’t think that it’s gone away, or that after Brexit the rules won’t apply. GDPR may change after we...
