In this quarters update we look at latest legislation and case law updates coming, along with Assessing Stress Causing Factors in the Workplace.

We hope you find this information helpful, if you would like more detail on any aspect please contact us.  Don’t forget to take a look at our website to see the full range of our services.

From basic Contracts of Employment to a fully Outsourced HR service we can help.  If you would like to know more about any of our support, consultancy, and training services, and see how we can help you, please visit our website or contact us at info@connectivebusiness.co.uk to arrange a Free no-obligation consultation.

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Legislation Updates / Case Law

Job Retention Scheme

The Governments Job Retention Scheme closed on 30th September 2021, with final claims to be made by 14th October 2021.

Vaccinations in Care Homes in England

From 11 November 2021, anyone who works inside a Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care home in England must be fully vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19), unless they’re exempt. This only applies to CQC-registered care homes that provide accommodation for people needing nursing or personal care.  This will apply to most people who enter the care home for work, including:

  • Staff;
  • agency workers;
  • contractors or self-employed people hired to carry out work in a care home, for example tradespeople, occupational therapists or hairdressers;
  • people not employed by the care home who need to enter for work, for example doctors, nurses and CQC inspectors;
  • volunteers;
  • work experience students;
  • job applicants attending an interview.

This includes people who live in Scotland or Wales but work in a CQC-registered care home in England.

 

However, the following people are exempt:

  • anyone with a medical exemption (see medical exemptions on GOV.UK);
  • current care home residents and service users;
  • friends and family of a current resident;
  • workers who do not enter the care home at all, for example a gardener;
  • someone providing emergency assistance or urgent maintenance;
  • members of the emergency services who need to enter the care home to carry out their job;
  • anyone visiting a dying resident;
  • anyone giving bereavement support to a resident after the death of a relative or friend;
  • anyone under 18.

Disability discrimination

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently allowed an appeal against an Employment Tribunal’s finding that a claimant was not disabled.  The EAT held that the Tribunal had failed to adopt the correct approach when determining whether the claimant had a disability according to the statutory definition of disability in section 6 of the Equality Act 2010.

In order for a Tribunal to find that a claimant has a disability, the claimant must have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on their ability to carry out day to day activities. In this case, the EAT held that this statutory definition is clear cut – if the adverse effect of a claimant’s impairment has more than a minor or trivial effect on their ability to carry out day to day activities, then the definition of ‘substantial’ is met.  If it is unclear, only then can the guidance contained within the Equality Act 2010 (the ‘Guidance’) or the EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice (the ‘Code’) be referred to, confirming that the statutory definition of disability prevails.

This case is useful for employers who are unsure of whether a claimant meets the statutory definition of disability in discrimination cases, as the threshold for the impairment having a substantial adverse effect is low – simply put it must be more than minor or trivial.  If required, parties may refer to the Guidance and the Code during proceedings if the impact of the physical or mental impairment on day to day activities is unclear; following which a comparison can be undertaken between people who are broadly similar to the claimant, save for the alleged disability in order to determine whether the impairment on day to day activities is ‘substantial’.

Assessing Stress Causing Factors in the Workplace

Stress impacts on all sectors and businesses of all sizes and employers have a legal duty under health and safety legislation to protect employees from stress at work by doing a risk assessment and acting on it.  The purpose of the risk assessment is to find out whether existing control measures prevent harm or if more should be done.

The HSE has urged employers to review the stress-causing factors in their workplaces and the work that their employees do.  The HSE reports that stress, depression or anxiety account for 51% of all work-related ill health cases and 55% of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.

Evidence shows that there are six key factors which, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health, lower productivity and increased accident and sickness absence rates.  The six key factors are:

  • Demands: workload, work patterns and the work environment;
  • Control: how much say the person has in the way they do their work;
  • Support: encouragement, sponsorship and resources available to workers;
  • Relationships: promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour;
  • Role: whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles;
  • Change: how change (large or small) is managed and communicated.

There are a number of tools available on the HSE website in this area, and we can also assist in conducting a Stress At Work survey.

Addressing this area effectively can reduce employee absence, and increase satisfaction and loyalty.

Training

Operational Managers are key to a Company’s success, and how they work with and manage their teams is an essential part of this.

We have recently introduced the following ‘1 to 1 HR Coaching for Managers’ modules that are delivered remotely via Microsoft Teams:

  • Being an Effective Manager / Responsibilities of a Manager;
  • Dealing with Misconduct (Discipline), Poor Performance (Capability) and Grievances;
  • Managing Attendance / Sickness Absence;
  • Managing Performance / Developing People;
  • Dealing With Conflict.

Each module is focussed on the key elements involved, and takes around 1 to 1½ hours, with Managers also completing a workbook containing a number of questions and scenarios which is then analysed and feedback provided to ensure an in-depth understanding of the subject(s).

We also provide the following classroom based training courses (when social distancing rules allow) to help Managers deal with issues and people correctly to enhance your business:

  • Managing Discipline & Grievance;
  • Influencing Styles and Persuasive Negotiating;
  • Managing Conflict;
  • Managing Performance;
  • Managing Attendance.

All of our courses can be tailored to suit your exact needs and delivered at your premises if required.

More details on all of the above can be found on our website.

Partner Services

We have long-term partnerships with key providers which enables us to provide other recommended services to our clients covering:

  • Legal Services;
  • Financial Services;
  • Health Insurance and Staff Healthcare Benefits;
  • Health and Safety.

Visit our website to see full information on our partners and their services.