In this article...

• TUPE not to be extended
• Employment Bill 2007 update
• ACAS relax fixed conciliation periods
• PAYE loophole closed
• CRB checks

The employment arena has been as busy as ever, and Mugni Islam-Choudhury reports on the latest news and developments of which you need to be aware this month.

TUPE not to be extended

Employers will breathe a sigh of relief to hear that the Private Equity (Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment) Bill is to be withdrawn. Currently, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (“TUPE”) do not apply (except in very limited circumstances) when a business is sold by way of a share transfer. The proposed Bill would have extended protection under TUPE to cover purchases and sales of companies by way of a share sale, with the aim being to protect employees of companies being bought by private equity companies. Unions have now withdrawn the Bill. However, this is unlikely to be the last word on this question, as the withdrawal was agreed on the basis that the government would enter into discussions with trade unions and the British Venture Capital Association as to future legislative developments.

Employment Bill 2007 update

You may remember that we recently reported on the proposed changes set out in the Employment Bill 2007 (see Employment Eye, January 2008) which, amongst other things, would do away with the (much criticised) statutory dispute resolution procedures.

The Bill has now had its second reading and is at committee stage. The government has resisted suggestions that mediation should be made compulsory, and rejected proposals for the supervision of agency workers.

Earlier this year, a fast track procedure for monetary claims was proposed and the Government has confirmed that this will be put in place for five categories of claim:

		unlawful deductions from wages;
		breach of contract;
		redundancy pay;
		holiday pay; and
		the national minimum wage.

The fast track procedure would involve an employment judge sitting alone (without lay members) and, in some cases, dealing with cases on the papers and without hearing any representations from the parties in person. Under the current proposals, a “paper-only” hearing would only be possible if all the parties consented.

It has also been decided that the Employment Tribunal Service will make its judgments available on the internet but a final decision on this, and when it will happen, will not take place until the service has piloted its new electronic case management system this autumn.

ACAS relax fixed conciliation periods

On a similar note, in response to the recommendations made by the Gibbons Review (which formed the basis of the proposals for the repeal of the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures) the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has announced that, from this month, they will no longer strictly enforce the fixed conciliation periods in employment tribunal claims. This means that, as long as there is some prospect of a case settling, the services of ACAS will be available indefinitely and claims may be settled by using a COT3 rather than a compromise agreement.

Looking to the future, ACAS is planning to develop its helpline so that helpline advisers will take a more proactive approach with queries. At present, ACAS helpline advisers will answer specific questions posed by callers, but will not generally probe into the background to the question or make uninvited suggestions. Within the next eight months, ACAS telephone advisers will take a more proactive approach and will refer callers to their mediation service if they feel that this might prevent a dispute from starting or escalating.

PAYE loophole closed

Until 6 April 2008, it was possible, in certain circumstances, for HMRC to obtain double recovery in relation to Pay As You Earn tax liabilities, but this loophole has now been closed. Double recovery of income tax could have occurred when an employee had been mistaken categorised as self employed, when they were actually employee. The employee may have paid income tax on the self-assessment basis and the employer was also liable for the employee’s income tax for the whole period of their employment, notwithstanding that they thought they were self employed and income tax had already been paid by the employee. In these circumstances, employers can now offset against their liability for tax, any income tax already paid by an employee.

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CRB checks

In October next year, there will be a new system in place for screening adults who work with children or vulnerable adults. The check will follow the individual, so there will be no need for employees to be re-checked every time they change role or employer. The checks, which will be undertaken by the Independent Safeguarding Authority, will cost £64 and will integrate a CRB check, plus information from other agencies such as the General Medical Council and General Social Care Council. More information is available from the Independent Safeguarding Authority.