Key upcoming changes in Scotland

There are a couple of upcoming major changes in Scotland. These changes will not take effect until April 2020, and you might have to start planning.

Increase in Wage Rates

The national minimum wage and statutory rates (such as statutory maternity and sick pay) will be increased annually from April 2019.

National Minimum Wage Consultation

The government is consulting on:

• Salaried hours work eg payment cycles, the calculation year, and rules on overtime; and
• Salary sacrifice schemes.

The consultation closes on 1 March 2019.

Sleep-in-Shifts (Case) and National Minimum Wage

An appeal has been submitted to the Supreme Court (in the Mencap case) regarding whether workers are entitled to the National Minimum Wage throughout sleep-in shifts.

Itemised Payslips

For work pay on or after 6 April 2019:

• You will need to provide all workers (not just employees) with an itemized pay statement.
• If a worker’s pay varies by reference to time worked, their payslip must show the total number of hours worked in respect of the variable amount of pay either as (i) a single aggregate figure, or (ii) separate figures for different types of work or different rates of pay. Here is the government guidance. 

Holiday Pay Reference Period increased from 12 to 52 weeks

From 6 April 2020, the reference period for holiday pay (to determine the average week’s pay) will increase from 12 to 52 weeks (or total working weeks if less than 52 weeks). This applies to workers who do not have normal working hours or normal working hours but whose pay varies depending on the amount of work done or the time worked.

The new legislation does not cover holiday pay calculations for’ normal working hours ‘ workers whose pay does not vary as above. For these workers, you sometimes must include, for example,’ holiday pay cases.’ Commission and overtime for the holiday pay calculation. The case law has previously stated that this should be based on average pay for a’ representative’ period, decided on a case-by-case basis. In practice, even if these workers are not covered by the new legislation, the courts may be more inclined to consider 52 weeks to be ‘representative.’

Consultation on Statutory Sick Pay

The government will consult in 2019 on reforms to statutory sick pay. This may include changes to the enforcement mechanism.

Grandparent Leave

The government indicated previously that it would extend shared parental leave and pay to the working grandparents. It is not clear whether this will proceed.

Parental Bereavement Leave

Expected to take effect from April 2020, employed parents are entitled to a two-week leave if they lose a child under the age of 18 or have a 24-week pregnancy stillbirth. Some parents may also claim a statutory parental allowance for this period. Parents of a child who is stillborn after 24 weeks or dies shortly after birth already have maternity and paternity leave statutory rights–these will not change.

Publishing Family-Friendly Policies

The government intends to consult on whether to compel employers with 250+employees to publish details of their ‘parental leave and pay’ policies.

New holiday entitlements to come into force in Scotland and Holiday Pay reference change to be effective from 2020.

Edited by: Shreya Bhattacharya