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You may or may not be aware, but there is no entitlement to paid bereavement leave for employees. Yes, there is the right to unpaid emergency domestic leave to deal with the immediate issues relating to the death of a dependant, but that is as far as it goes. Many employers will allow some compassionate leave and this ranges from 1 day for those just attending the funeral up to typically about a week if the employee is actually involved in arranging the funeral. However, the amount of time allowed and whether it is paid or unpaid varies widely from employer to employer and is usually specified as being discretionary depending on the circumstances.

I am frequently asked by clients how to deal with the absenteeism of one or more of their members of staff. The answer of how to get an employee back to work will depend very much on the cause. For example, it could be a genuine case of sickness (perhaps caused by a disability or an, as yet, undeclared pregnancy); lack of motivation; having a hang-over from overindulging the night before; being bullied; feeling anxious because of overwork or impossible deadlines; feeling unable to cope because of lack of training; the illness of a family member or indeed bereavement; pretending to be ill so that the employee can take time off to work for another employer or go to a job interview. And a very common one is being signed of sick “with stress” the moment the employee is told that he/she is subject to performance management procedures!

The end of this month sees the end of the Furlough scheme. Technically known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) it was created in March 2020 and was initially only intended to be in place for a short period. But as we all know, the pandemic has lasted much longer than was originally envisaged. The scheme has been extended on several occasions at the last minute, so at the time of writing, it is expected to finish on 30th September.

Yet again HMRC has named and shamed some big employers for breaching the National Minimum Wage regulations. 191 firms were found to have paid their staff too little. It is easily done if you are not a payroll expert as many of these related to technical payroll issues.

All care home workers will be required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from 11 November 2021, unless they are medically exempt under the regulations. The new guidance covers anyone entering to undertake care work.