Public guidance on non-disclosure agreements and new guidance on off-payroll working are covered in this month’s Quick fire.

Public guidance on non-disclosure agreements

The Law Society of England and Wales has published new guidance to help the public understand their rights when faced with a non-disclosure agreement, including confidentiality provisions commonly included in settlement agreements.

The guidance is very short and mainly emphasises the importance for employees to seek independent legal advice before signing a confidentiality agreement (which is of course a statutory requirement before signing a settlement agreement). The guidance also makes it clear that confidentiality clauses are not legally binding if they try to prevent the individual talking to the police or a regulator about an issue at work, and cannot be used to prevent an individual from making a protected disclosure under whistleblowing legislation.

New guidance: off-payroll working

New and updated guidance on the off-payroll working rules, aimed at clients, intermediaries, agencies and fee payers has been issued by HMRC. The guidance outlines how the off-payroll working rules will change from 6 April 2020. From this date, medium and large-sized private sector clients will be responsible for deciding the employment status of workers, as is currently the case for public sector clients.

Guidance on the 2020 changes for client businesses receiving services from a worker through their intermediary is available here. For further information on the forthcoming changes, see this article by Birketts’ Tax Team.

This article is from the September 2019 issue of Employment and Immigration Law Update, our monthly newsletter for HR professionals. To download the latest issue, please visit the newsletter section of our website. Law covered as at September 2019.

The content of this article is for general information only. For further information please contact Liz Stevens or another member of Birketts’ Employment Law Team.