Government White Paper on Great Repeal Bill, April employment law changes and caste discrimination are covered in this month’s Quick fire!

Government White Paper on Great Repeal Bill

The Government has published more details of its plans for a Great Repeal Bill in a new White Paper.

The Bill will be designed to achieve three main purposes, intended to secure a “smooth and orderly exit” from the EU:

• To repeal the European Communities Act 1972, on the day the UK leaves the EU.
• To convert all existing EU law (“wherever practical and sensible”) as it applies in the UK into domestic law on the day the UK leaves the EU, in order to provide certainty. It will then be a matter for Parliament to decide in due course whether these laws will be repealed or amended.
• To create powers for ministers to make secondary legislation to make any corrections necessary to fill gaps in legislation created as a result of our exit from the EU, allowing existing legislation to operate effectively. These are known as ‘Henry VIII powers’ and are not (according to the White Paper) intended to introduce policy changes.

For more details of the Government’s proposals, see our ‘stop press’ article on the White Paper.

April employment law changes

Key changes taking effect this month:

• Gender pay gap reporting: the duty came into force from 5 April 2017 for the private and voluntary sector (31 March for the public sector). Employers have 12 months from the ‘snapshot date’ to publish their gender pay gap report. See our previous briefing for more information. Acas guidance on implementing the new reporting duty has also been published.
• Apprenticeship Levy: charged at 0.5% of an employer’s total pay bill, came into effect from 6 April 2017. See our previous briefing for more information. 
• New statutory rates of pay: rates of the national minimum wage increased from 1 April, and new prescribed rates took effect for SMP and other family leave (£140.98 per week from 2 April 2017) and SSP (£89.35 per week from 6 April). 
• Tribunal awards: increases to tribunal awards and limits took effect from 6 April.

Caste discrimination

The Government has published a new consultation paper on how to address caste discrimination. Caste is not currently a ‘protected characteristic’ under the Equality Act 2010, although the Act includes provision for the Government to amend it so that caste is included as an aspect of race discrimination.

The consultation paper seeks views on whether legislation is desirable as a means of protecting against caste discrimination, or whether protection should be allowed to develop incrementally through case law (following the EAT decision in Chandhok and another v Tirkey).

The consultation will close on 18 July 2017. If the legislative approach is considered the best option, the Government would then need to bring forward an order under its existing powers in the Equality Act 2010. 

The content of this article is for general information only. For further information regarding any of our quick fire topics, please contact a member of Birketts’ Employment Law Team. Law covered as at April 2017.