Employment Matters - March 2022 - Independent Health

Published 7 March 2022

This month, there have been a number of developments including the end of legal restrictions relating to COVID-19.  Later this month we are hosting a webinar looking at the implications of this, to sign up please click here.

1. Living with COVID-19

The Government removed the remaining coronavirus (COVID-19) legal restrictions in England with effect from 24 February 2022, and has set out its plans in Living with COVID-19. Since the Prime Minister’s announcement the UKHSA has published additional guidance for the management of staff and exposed patients or residents in the health and social care settings.  The guidance qualifies the Government’s Living with COVID-19 plans for the health and social care sector and highlights that in the main, the advice for staff members has not changed.  In this article we look at what these developments mean for employers in the independent health and social care sector.

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2. Regulations requiring health and social care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to be revoked from 15 March.

The Government’s response to the consultation has now been published which confirms that the requirement to be vaccinated will end on 15 March when new regulations will come into force which will revoke the current Regulations. In this article we look at the Government’s response to the consultation, what will happen next and the implications for employers in the health and social care sector. 

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 3. Increase of limits on tribunal awards

The compensation limits for certain tribunal awards will be increased, as they are every year, from 6 April 2022.  This includes the following:

• The limit on a week’s pay will increase from £544 to £571;
• The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase from £89,493 to £93,878; and
• The minimum basic award for certain unfair dismissals (including health and safety dismissals) will increase from £6.634 to £6,959.

 4. Bereavement guidance: ACAS guidance published

ACAS has published new bereavement guidance to help employers deal with employees suffering a bereavement and understand the rights they may have to time off and pay when they are bereaved. 

 5. Agency workers: The right to be informed of vacancies is just that

The Court of Appeal has held that an agency worker's right to be informed of vacancies does not require employers to offer agency workers the opportunity to apply and be considered for vacancies on the same terms as directly recruited employees.

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 6. Settling claims: Drafting COT3s to settle future claims

The EAT has upheld a tribunal judgment that the wording in a COT3 was wide enough to cover a claim brought after the COT3 had been signed by both parties.

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 7. Termination of employment: Bringing forward the date of resignation

The EAT has upheld the tribunal’s decision that an employer who shortened the notice period of an employee who had resigned by paying salary in lieu had not dismissed the employee.

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 8. Worker status: Irreducible minimum of obligation

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that ‘worker’ status does not rely on the existence of an irreducible minimum of obligation.

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