Some employers may not be aware that there was a crucial change to the Employment Rights Act 1996 coming into effect at this date as well.
The change affected anyone who receives a payslip. Employers are obliged to present all their workers with an itemised pay statement. This applies to not just “employees” but also “workers” who may not currently be processed through the payroll system and should provide a greater degree of transparency for the worker to establish the hours of work for which they are being paid. More information on employment status can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/employment-status.
On top of that, in the case of employees whose pay is dependent on the time worked, the number of hours worked must be shown on their payslip.
What do you need to do?
Employers must provide payslips for ALL their workers from April 2019. They must also “include the hours worked on itemised pay statements, but only if the pay varies as a consequence of the time worked”. So those staff filling out timesheets with fluctuating hours will need those hours displayed on every payslip.
The employer must either:
- Show the combined number of hours worked for which payment is being made; or
• Itemise the figures for different types of work worked and/or different rates of pay.
Similar to National Minimum Wage (NMW) implementation, the new amendment will not apply to wages, or salary paid in respect of a period of work, which commences before the date the order comes into force on 1st April 2019
The reason for these changes is that by introducing these changes the Government hopes to reduce the NMW violations and encourage better transparency, which in result will lead to workers being more in control of their rights.