Step 1: Statement of core terms for the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018

The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018, (the Act) is one of the most significant pieces of employment legislation in a generation. The government’s key objective in drafting the Act was to improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours. To achieve this objective, the Act imposes a range of new employment law obligations on employers. In this series of guidance notes, we take a look at practical steps you should take as an employer to ensure you remain on the right side of the new laws. There are three steps in our guide to this new legislation. This is the first. The other three are:

• Step 2: Review your employment documentation.
• Step 3: Review the types of employment your business has.
• Step 4: Estimate the impact on minimum payments and banded hours.

The Act comes into effect from 4^th March 2019.

Develop a Statement of Core Terms (or face criminal liability)

Requiring employers to provide both new and existing employees with a written statement of core terms was a priority from the government’s perspective. Failure to comply with this new provision attracts criminal liability. If you fail to provide your employees with the 5 core terms (set out below) in writing within one month of employment commencing, you could face criminal sanctions which include 12 months’ imprisonment on summary conviction. So the first step we recommend employers take is to develop a template document setting out the five key terms of employment to be given to both new and existing employees. When the law comes into effect, you will be required to provide the following five key terms of employment to employees within five days of employment commencing:

1. The full name of the employer and employee
2. The address of the employer
3. The expected duration of the contract (where the contract is temporary or fixed-term)
4. The rate or method of calculating pay
5. What the employer reasonably expects the normal length of the employee’s working day and week will be.

Practical steps to take

We recommend that you:

1. Create a template document which sets out the 5 key terms set out above.
2. Issue every new employee with an offer letter which contains the 5 core terms before the new employee takes up employment.
3. Ask the employee to provide a signed copy of the letter on their first day of employment (this is a straightforward way of ensuring compliance with the requirement to provide the 5 core terms in writing).
4. Adopt a practice (if not already in place) of issuing terms and conditions of employment to all new employees before they start work.

5. Provide all existing employees with a statement of the 5 key terms of employment.

The next guidance note in this series will examine how the Act will impact on your employment documentation. To find out more about how to prepare your business for these new employment law requirements, call our 24-hour advice line on 0818 923 923.