New UK Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Regulations: Key Details on Employee Rights 2025
Final regulations setting out substantive details of the new rights to neonatal care leave and pay were made on 20 March 2025 (Neonatal Care Leave and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2025 and Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (General) Regulations 2025). Statutory neonatal care leave and pay will apply to parents of babies born on or after 6 April 2025 who have entered neonatal care within 28 days of birth and spent at least seven consecutive days in neonatal care. The Government has published an employer guide on the new rights, which covers eligibility, notice requirements, and record-keeping and explains how neonatal care leave interacts with other types of statutory family leave. Acas has also published new guidance on neonatal care leave and pay, which includes advice on managing employees who are on leave and employees’ rights during and after leave.
Acas Launches Campaign to Support Neurodivergent Workers: Practical Advice for Employers
Acas has launched a campaign to improve understanding and support for neurodivergent workers. Common challenges faced by neurodivergent workers include barriers in the recruitment process, accessing workplace adjustments, and retention. Acas has published practical advice for employers focusing on practical steps to address these challenges. Suggestions include adapting recruitment processes to suit different cognitive styles; offering tailored support, such as flexible working arrangements and assistive technology; as well as providing workplace training on neurodivergence to increase understanding and reduce stigma. Acas also advises that employers should prepare for greater accountability by ensuring that their recruitment processes, and workplace policies and procedures support neurodivergent workers. Alongside this campaign, the Department for Work and Pensions has set up a new expert academic panel that will examine employment outcomes for neurodivergent people and provide evidence-based recommendations to inform government policy and practice. Acas has also published an independent report on neurodiversity in the workplace by Birkbeck, University of London (Neurodiversity at Work: Bridging Research, Practice and Policy, 6 March 2025). The report also highlights that neurodivergence and mental conditions often occur together and require holistic workplace support.
UK Employers Face Stricter Rights-to-Work Checks and Increased Penalties Under New Regulations
As part of reforms to be introduced in the Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, the Home Office has announced that, for the first time, all businesses will need to carry out checks in order to confirm that any individual working on their behalf has the legal right to work in the UK. Checks will apply regardless of the type of contract or working pattern and will therefore cover zero-hour workers and workers recruited through third-party platforms or subcontracting arrangements. Employers will be able to access the Home Office digital ID verification system to help with the checks. Penalties for non-compliance will include fines of up to £45,000 for a first offense and up to £60,000 per illegal worker for repeat breaches, as well as potential criminal sanctions and business closure. Some gig economy employers already carry out right-to-work checks voluntarily. However, all employers will now need to review their recruitment processes to ensure they are fit for the new requirements. The Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill is currently in its report stage in the House of Commons. Consultation on how these right-to-work checks should be implemented is expected in due course.
Employment Tribunal Compensation Limits Increased for 2025
From 6 April 2025, new Employment Tribunal compensation limits are in force under the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2025. These increases reflect the 2.7% rise in the retail prices index for the year to September 2024. The limit on a week’s pay, used for calculating a number of awards, has increased from £700 to £719. This means that the maximum basic award for unfair dismissal and the maximum statutory redundancy payment rise from £21,000 to £21,570. The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal has increased from £115,115 to £118,223 (or 52 weeks’ gross pay, if lower). For certain automatically unfair dismissals, including health and safety dismissals, the minimum basic award increases from £8,533 to £8,763. There is no cap on the compensatory award for automatically unfair dismissals, such as whistleblowing or health and safety dismissals.
Understanding the 2025 Vento Band Increases for Employment Tribunal Claims
The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland have issued guidance on the new Vento bands, which will apply to injury to feelings awards in discrimination or whistleblowing cases presented on or after 6 April 2025. Increases reflect the annual rise in the retail prices index. The new bands are as follows: Lower Band £1,200 to £12,100 (increased from £1,200 to £11,700); Middle Band £12,100 to £36,400 (increased from £11,700 to £35,200); and Upper Band £36,400 to £60,700 (increased from £35,200 to £58,700). In the most exceptional cases, the upper limit of £60,700 can be exceeded.
House of Lords Committee Investigates Remote and Hybrid Working in the UK
The House of Lords Committee on Home-based Working recently issued a call for written evidence in its inquiry into remote and hybrid working in the UK. The Committee was appointed on 30 January 2025 to consider the challenges and opportunities of remote and hybrid working, both for employers and workers; the impacts on productivity; and any wider consequences to society and the economy. The Committee will also examine the extent to which these effects vary depending on the characteristics of individual employers and workers and whether new policies or legislative changes are needed. Written submissions were invited on a variety of topics, including the impact of remote and hybrid working on physical and mental health; why some employers have issued back-to-office mandates while others continue to support hybrid and remote working; how the needs of employers and workers can be balanced; and the appropriate role of the government in addressing and researching the challenges and opportunities of remote and hybrid working. The call for evidence closed on 25 April 2025, and the Committee is expected to report on its findings by the end of November 2025.
Pathways to Work Green Paper: Reforming Benefits and Support for Employment
On 18 March 2025, the Government published a Green Paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working. The consultation proposes to reform health and disability benefits and employment support, building on the approach set out in the White Paper; Get Britain Working, published in November 2024. The Green Paper highlights the stark statistics that one in ten working age people are now claiming at least one type of health or disability benefit, and one in eight young people aged 16 to 24 are not currently in work, education, or training. Proposals for reform are underpinned by five principles: early intervention, fair welfare assessments, more tailored employment assistance, financial sustainability, and support for disabled people who will always be unable to work. Employment measures are aimed at embedding accessibility and workplace adjustments into recruitment and retention practices. Views are sought on reforming the Access to Work scheme; how to create a cultural shift in employer awareness; improving understanding of the duty to make workplace adjustments; and reducing the costs of providing practical support such as assistive technology. The consultation also considers the extent to which organisations like the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Acas, and the Health and Safety Executive could help to promote change. A number of public events will take place before the consultation closes on 30 June 2025. Alongside the Green Paper, an independent review, Keep Britain Working, led by Sir Charlie Mayhew, will consider and make recommendations on the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces and preventing health-related economic inactivity. The focus of this review will be on practical steps to increase recruitment, retention, and the return to work of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.
