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Living Wage, dependent upon their age or qualification status. The rates that have applied since April 2024 can be viewed at gov.uk/national-minimum- wage-rates Annual leave entitlement All employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks of annual leave per year (including bank holidays). For a full-time worker, working five days per week, this translates to 28 days per annum; this is then pro-rated for part-time staff. If you have term-time-only or irregular-hours workers, new legislation came into force in April 2024 that allows you to pay a percentage of annual leave on the hours worked in that pay period; however, there are conditions on when this can be applied. Be sure to check out Gov.uk to find out more or use their helpful annual leave calculator to make sure you are paying the right amount. Working hours and rest periods Under the working time regulations 1998, employees must not work more than 48 hours per week, which is averaged over 17 weeks. An employee can opt out of the working time regulations, but this must be voluntary and the employer cannot mandate it. In addition, the following rules apply: You must allow a minimum of 11 hours between each shift. A health screening questionnaire Obtaining copies and verifying qualifications relevant to the role they are undertaking This list isn’t exhaustive; for further guidance on KCSIE and Safer Recruitment guidelines, you should access the latest version on the Gov.uk website. DURING EMPLOYMENT Policies and procedures Your setting may have multiple mandatory policies for things such as safeguarding and whistleblowing, but here are the policies required from an employment perspective: Disciplinary policy Grievance policy Employee privacy notice Health and safety policy Each of these sets out the way that the employer will handle and process such matters and what is expected of an employee under each. Some employers decide to issue all employees with an employee handbook that collects all policies and procedures in one place, along with other expectations, but this isn’t compulsory. Whatever your approach, be sure to regularly review and update the documents in line with changes in employment law and issue the newest version to all employees. Wages All employees must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National 1 If you are considering dismissing an employee, you should always seek advice on the fairest and legal way to do so. Compensation may be owed to those being dismissed on the grounds of redundancy, and you can find out how much they may be entitled to, including statutory notice periods, from Gov.uk 2 If you are dismissing an employee due to gross misconduct, you may be able to dismiss without needing to pay a notice period, although certain situations may change this. In all other cases, such as probation, poor performance or sickness absence, statutory notice will likely be owed to the employee. How much should be paid is based on their length of service or their contract of employment, whichever is greater. 3 Always ensure you follow your policies to protect yourself from any unfair dismissal claims or claims of discrimination. Additional protections apply to those pregnant or on, or recently returned from, maternity leave. Any hours over six per day are entitled to a minimum 20-minute rest break. Different rules apply if your employee is under 18. Please visit ACAS or Gov.uk for further information. References It’s a myth that you cannot give a bad reference. A reference must be factual and cannot be given in bad faith, but you can inform a new employer if an employee was dismissed due to high levels of sickness absence or for gross misconduct, etc. You are not legally allowed to embellish this information or provide anything that cannot be evidenced as relevant to their job role. DISMISSALS: 3 THINGS TO REMEMBER GET SUPPORT Childcare HR is a specialised HR consultancy for early years businesses across the UK. It aims to provide cost-effective and pragmatic advice to the early years sector via a range of services, from pay as you go through to fixed monthly support packages. Visit childcarehr.co.uk for further information or to book a discovery call with Ella. Teachearlyyears.com 63