People Matter – March 2026
HR Dept
Managing productivity around bank holidays
In April and May, the UK enjoys four bank holidays in relatively quick succession (three in Scotland). While you, like most people, will probably be looking forward to these days off, it can present challenges when running a business.
You’ve probably got experience of most of these challenges: The contracted work weeks making it harder to hit deadlines; employees looking to get that perfect timing on annual leave requests which bags them an extended break for relatively little allowance used (that might leave you short staffed); and maybe, even, some unauthorised absence due to people cutting a little too loose on those long weekends.
But with a bit of planning now, you can prepare and ensure your team gets the rest it deserves, whilst ensuring the business does not suffer.
We promote it in a number of contexts, but HR software comes into its own with absence management. Not only does software automate the admin of annual leave, but it allows you to report on who’s off and when, so you have clarity on whether you are looking a bit light in personnel at a key time. You can then manage the team accordingly – no nasty surprises for you or them.
If your operations are workflow based, regardless of whether employees take extra time off, some advanced planning will help ensure that milestones are met and projects completed. Acknowledge in upcoming meetings that you’ll all be a day short here and there, and build these timings into your management.
Because of forthcoming changes to sick pay, we have advised for some time that you review your sickness absence policies and procedures. Ensuring that you have return-to-work interviews in place and robust sickness absence notification protocols will help at any time of year, and especially around bank holidays.
One final point. In Scotland, there is even more bank holiday fun, with an extra day awarded on 15th June to celebrate the Tartan Army’s historic participation in the men’s football world cup. So if you have an office or presence in Scotland, don’t get caught out by this one off.
A last chance to prepare for April changes
Time’s almost up! We’ve known about a lot of what’s coming since before the last election in 2024, and now in about two weeks a significant round of employment law changes will come into force.
The one which will have the most direct and immediate impact is the new statutory sick pay regime, which becomes much more favourable to employees. Sick pay becomes payable from the first day of sickness, not day four.
This naturally means that sick pay budgets will have to rise dramatically. Just think of all the short-term illnesses that last fewer than three days and for which you’ve therefore never needed to pay sick pay before unless you choose to. Moreover, the lower earnings limit is removed too, meaning more people are eligible. Absence management processes should be reviewed.
Second most significant on your to-do list will be being aware of the April launch of the Fair Work Agency. It will be responsible for many aspects of employment law enforcement and will have extensive powers. General compliance is key, so understand their remit and powers of reach.
Trade union rules have already been relaxed since February, and paternity and unpaid parental leave become a day one right. A restriction preventing paternity leave being taken after shared parental leave is removed. Sexual harassment is specifically included within whistle-blowing rules (before it was only implied).
On top of these major shifts there are all the usual statutory and minimum pay rate rises to get right. If you are feeling left behind, we are still here to help. But we would now suggest contacting us urgently.
Sowing the seeds for summer
As keen gardeners will have prepared for a spring and summer in bloom by sowing their seeds in advance, so too must hospitality businesses have planted their seeds for success well before the seasons turn.
You’ll be familiar with the rhythms of recruitment if you have been in hospitality for a while. But with so much employment law change happening this year, you’d be forgiven for falling behind on summer recruitment planning.
Certain large events like Glastonbury and Wimbledon hoover up seasonal workers, as well as events more localised to you. This year we have an extra big one too, with the men’s football world cup bound to cause a spike in bar work, especially if the home nations do well.
If you want to get ahead of the game now, we can help with seasonal recruitment processes. We offer a range of support where you need it, from preparing effective job adverts to drafting employment contracts and much more. Just ask of you’d like to know how we could help you.
“Can I carry over my annual leave?”
“Can I carry over my annual leave?” is a common question in workplaces, though not necessarily one with a simple answer. Annual leave allowance is counted over a twelve-month period, and if you don’t run it over the calendar year, another popular timeframe is October. But some run it from April to March. If so, there’s a good chance you may hear this question around now as employees realise they have run out of time.
Let’s deal with the simple cases first. If they have not been able to take their leave due to a long-term illness, or a statutory reason like maternity leave, then yes, they can carry statutory leave over. The same goes for if you have prevented them from taking it this year. Do remember that holiday accrues during these periods.
However, if they simply have not got around to taking it, the answer gets more complicated. Four weeks of their allowance (everyone gets a minimum of 5.6 weeks) technically cannot be carried over. This is a minimum which it is deemed everyone should take each year to rest and recharge.
The remaining 1.6 weeks (or more if your holiday allowance is more generous) is down to what it says in your employment contracts. If this is not covered, you may permit them to carry over the allowance if you both agree to it in writing. However, as an employer, you are entitled to enforce a use it or lose it policy.
Case law adds some nuance around the edges. If you are unsure where you stand, you can reach out to us.
Ghost workers: A phantom menace
No this isn’t some Halloween spookfest, although it is an HR horror story of sorts. A manager at a family business selling vegetables devised a scheme to steal more than half a million pounds from her employer.
That scheme involved fake agency temporary workers, effectively ghosts, whom she had complete sign-off on (time sheets, invoices etc.), and she diverted the wages paid to them into her own bank account. The fraud was eventually spotted when her employers recognised the distinctive Latvian surnames she had used for her “ghosts”.
Her ruse was perpetrated over three years, but notably, after ten years of service completed. Sadly, this raises questions of who you can ever trust, and shows the need for robust checks and balances wherever responsibility and money are involved.
You’ve got mail, but you shouldn’t have!
Managing redundancies is never going to be the easiest part of running a business. But you can put yourself in the best position by following process, being diligent and showing emotional intelligence. Recently, it was reported that one of the largest companies in the world, Amazon, showed everyone how not to do it– by sending a draft email in error which revealed planned job cuts early, shortly before then confirming they will cut 16,000 jobs globally. Whoops!
But to be fair, they are offering an array of support, including time to look for a new role internally, or transition support including severance pay and outplacement services, which is good practice.
