172 Employment Rights Shake-Up: What Clinic Owners Need to Know Now

Welcome 👋
This week I’m really excited to bring back Laura and Steve from Peninsula HR. We recorded an episode together about eight months ago (I’ve had a baby since then, so honestly I do not know where that time has gone) and we were talking about the Employment Rights Bill that was looming at the time.

Well, it’s here. It’s happening. But not everything has landed in the way we expected, and there are key changes you need to know about, with some coming in from April and others later on. The important thing is this: even if something is not due to kick in until January 2027, if you wait until then, it’s going to be too late.

Laura and Steve also share a free offer for listeners, a no cost impact assessment to help you spot the gaps in your clinic and tighten things up before these changes bite.

Episode Summary 🎧
I’m joined by Steve and Laura from Peninsula HR to break down the key employment law changes clinic owners need to know. We cover what’s actually coming in, when it’s happening, and what to do now so you’re not caught out later.

We focus on the changes most likely to impact clinic owners, including unfair dismissal timelines, statutory sick pay changes from April, and tighter rules around zero hours contracts. The theme throughout is simple: don’t panic, get proactive, and tighten your processes now.

Key Takeaways ✅

• The Employment Rights Bill is now an Act, so these changes are happening, with different start dates from April onwards.
• Unfair dismissal is changing from a two year window to a six month window from 1 January 2027, and it is retrospective.
• If you are recruiting now, you need to tighten your hiring process because by January 2027, new hires may already qualify.
• Job descriptions, expectations, and probation processes matter more than ever.
• Consider moving probation reviews to three months, with the right wording and ability to extend if needed.
• A short service clause in contracts can be crucial so you have options during probation and early service.
• Statutory sick pay changes from 6 April, with day one entitlement and no qualifying days.
• You cannot avoid the payment change, so you must manage absence properly with clear reporting rules, return to work processes, and triggers.
• Zero hours contracts are not being abolished, but the rules are tightening, including entitlement to guaranteed hours if someone is

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Well, hello. Welcome to this week's episode of The Treat Your Business podcast. Really excited to bring back Laura and Steve from Peninsula hr. And we last did an episode eight months ago, which I cannot believe where eight months has gone, but we were talking about the upcoming employment rights bill.

[00:00:17] And now it, it is here. It has happened. But not everything has happened that they thought was going to happen. And so Laura and Steve are here to get help us understand the really key [00:00:30] things that we need to be aware of before they become kind of like, you know, law almost from April, some things are happening in April, some things are happening after that.

[00:00:38] But what I really think is important about this conversation that you're about to hear is even though something is not due to happen until January, 2027. If we don't do things now, January 20, 27 is going to be too late. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce Laura [00:01:00] and Steve. And during the episode, they are going to offer our listeners an impact assessment, complete the free of charge where you get on the phone to Steve and they and Laura and they look at your clinic and the gaps, the things that.

[00:01:15] They feel you need to tighten up on, you need to take action on, and they give you solutions. They give you really helpful ways forward to access that completely for free. You need to email Steve now. I am going to give you the information [00:01:30] now because you are all going to get a super busy and not take this in at the end of the episode.

[00:01:33] So you are going to speak to Steve. On 0 7 8 1 4 5 8 5 0 8 9 or you're going to email Steve and I'm going to give you his email address now. It is Steve Oakes, O-A-K-E-S at Peninsula. Hyphen uk.com. That is how you access your free impact assessment. If you are thinking about employing somebody, if you already have a [00:02:00] team, if you already have many members of your team, I promise you there are going to be gaps that you need to be aware of.

[00:02:04] So definitely take that offer up. But stay tuned for the rest of this episode because it really does highlight some very interesting things that are changing.

[00:02:16] Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast, the show for clinic owners who want real, honest advice and tried and tested ways of doing things. I'm Katie Bell, and this is the new era of bigger insights and bolder conversations to help [00:02:30] you grow a clinic and a life you love. Let's dive in.

[00:02:34] Steve, Laura, welcome back to the Treat Your Business Podcast. 

[00:02:39] Steve: Good 

[00:02:39] Laura: morning, Kate. Good morning. 

[00:02:40] Katie Bell: Good morning. Thank you both for being here. Really excited about this conversation because Steve, you just reminded me before we came on, we lasted this eight months ago. I, I've had a baby since then. I do not know where eight months gone.

[00:02:52] And I'm, and I'm happy for you both to be back here because when we last spoke, we were talking about an impending, the [00:03:00] employment's rights bill, That was like looming, wasn't it, with all these changes that were going to be being made. And it felt quite scary. It felt quite overwhelming. It could often be off-putting for some of our clinic owners you know, like a, a position in their business where they might be thinking about employing people.

[00:03:17] And now rolling onto February. We have some things that are completely now not happened, not, not relevant, and 27 changes that are really important that they [00:03:30] know about. And so thank you both for being here. 'cause, I know we're going to dive into six or seven of those key things that we, we want our clinic owners to really understand, not be scared about, but have an understanding of.

[00:03:42] So I'm delighted that you're both here, Steve. Can you just set the scene really in terms of employment law, the bill that we, we thought was coming, and then the manifesto that is actually now in place and what, why that's happened and, and why they didn't go through with lots of those changes that they said they were [00:04:00] going to.

[00:04:01] Steve: Yeah, well, well Labor, when during their manifesto, they obviously tried to get in government, they put through 80 odd changes that they wanted to make workers' rights a lot more appealing. And. The reality of it. Obviously along the way they've had a lot of kickback from businesses, from unions and just everyone along the way where they've just, they've not managed to get everything through.

[00:04:25] So we, we are now at the stage where, say eight months ago we were talking about a number of these things [00:04:30] that very much look like they were coming through, but there's been a lot of toing and froing. You know, the amount you've learned now from, you know, from how the system works, where it's got to go through Parliament, then it's gotta go through the House of Lords.

[00:04:42] Then it's gotta get royals. Sent, so it, it was ping ponging between Parliament and House of Lords for quite a while. Right. And they couldn't agree on quite a lot of the key elements of it. And in fact, what, I mean one of the big ones we're going to talk about is unfair dismissal. So [00:05:00] eight months ago we said that was going to be a day one rights.

[00:05:03] Now we got brought up in the house of house of Lords because again, we'd surveyed our clients of how they felt that, and there was a lot of kickback on it. So, so it's not going to be day one. Right. But I suppose just to set the scene that where you've got, there's over 120 statutory rights that every employee in the country has access to, but these are staggered over the first two years of employment.

[00:05:28] So there's over 50 at day [00:05:30] one. Then there's more after one month. Three months, six months, one year, two years. So when someone's with you, the two year service, they've got the 120 statutory rights that are there for them. Like I say, it doesn't matter if they work for a big multinational company or a very small organization, is what rights the employees get now.

[00:05:49] So there were a number of the rights that they're essentially moving. To more of a day one entitlement. So this is what we're going to talk about today, that now [00:06:00] we know it's an actual act. So there's no, no u-turn, there's no anything that's going on now in that they're, they're very much, it's an act.

[00:06:09] It's gone. It's all coming in from April onwards. But that's the point. It's from April onwards. And there's some of the things we're going to talk about that will, even if you've got a new starter coming in next week. It's going to change how you should be managing that new starter. So we just want to talk about them and we'll get to the points of them all, like you say, and we, and [00:06:30] look, there's a lot to go through and what the idea is.

[00:06:32] We don't just wanna sit here and just be all, oh, this is coming in. I've got Laura on from our advice team who was with me last time. And. Laura's going to go into a bit more of the positive of what's the solution here? How do we deal with this or what, what actually can we do about this? It doesn't need to be scary.

[00:06:50] 'cause the last thing we really want to do when we're talking around an employed model. Business is try and put people off. There's just [00:07:00] solutions. You just need to know what the laws are and how to adapt to them. Yeah. So I, I would say, Laura, if you are comfortable with that, I mean, I've touched on the unfair dismissal element.

[00:07:10] What's changing. 

[00:07:11] Laura: So unfair dismissal. So thankfully this isn't one that is coming in April. So we do have a bit of preparation time for the unfair dismissal changes. 1st of January, 2027 is when the unfair dismissal ruling comes in. Now, currently I see rightly mentioned, we've got this two window that [00:07:30] we have to assess the suitability of any individuals to which we bring into our businesses.

[00:07:36] Right down to six months. So that is a big 18 month chunk being taken off. This current window that we have at the moment. Now with this change, it's going to be more, more important than ever that we get our status of our individual's rights. Because what's going to happen is we are reducing the window down to six months.

[00:07:58] Therefore, any action we take after [00:08:00] that six month period, if we, for example, have someone who is self-employed and they potentially could be deemed as employed, and we remove them from the business. Is that risk of an unfair dismissal claim very, very early on. Now, what we're also need to be mindful of is our recruitment processes and the individuals that we're recruiting now, because anybody that we bring in now, even though this change isn't coming in until the 1st of January, we're not going to get that full two years assessment window because by the 1st of January, [00:08:30] you know, if we recruit someone on the 1st of March, we've only really got nine months to assess their suitability within that position.

[00:08:36] So what we need to do is we need to tighten up with our recruitment processes. We need explicit job descriptions that clearly detail what that job is, what is expected of that person within that role. Because we then need to apply our recruitment processes to make sure that we're bringing the right candidates.

[00:08:56] The job time is a [00:09:00] lot. We also really need to look at our probationary periods. Now this sounds seems really strange, but ultimately if you've got a six month probation, it can't be six months anymore because it needs to be three months to give us the opportunity to do, should we need to do so. Or if, for example, your employee was off sick or on holiday on the day of their probationary review.

[00:09:24] Then automatically they, for that unfair dismissal, if we don't the, have the probationary [00:09:30] on the right day. So probation, we need to right down to three months with a, with a window to be able to extend and have further conversations. We be certain about their, within that role. So as I say, we have time now, you know, we have got a window here where.

[00:09:49] We've got the 1st of January, we've got time to tighten up on our recruitment processes. We've got time to make sure that the of the individuals are correct within our business. We've got time to review our [00:10:00] documentation and policies because another thing that we need to ensure we have is something which is called a short service clause.

[00:10:07] And within that sort service clause, basically that allows us to not apply full procedures with somebody in probation or under six months service. If we don't have that, we have to apply full disciplinary capability. We have to build on warnings. And again, that could then take us over that. Of the six months.

[00:10:28] So again, be mindful [00:10:30] of your window. Be mindful of your clause, be mindful of your documentation. We need to solidify those foundations by early, 

[00:10:37] Steve: so it's, it's retrospective this as well. So when January comes around, like say if you take someone on today, in January, they're going to have nine months service.

[00:10:47] So they've already qualified for it. So it doesn't start from January. It's actually retrospective kicking in from January. So that's why I say, so now you have to consider. Your recruitment and, and, and it [00:11:00] just took me back to one of your previous podcasts as well Katie, where you, you said, don't accept average.

[00:11:05] And I used this on the last one that we talked about. So if you are taking on, but if you're not sure and you need a body in the door for want of a better term then now you have a very shorter window to assess that person if they're the right person for you. 

[00:11:20] Katie Bell: Yeah, absolutely. And, and I think to reflect back here on, what we teach within Thrive is we have a 12 step hiring process, Laura. Mm-hmm. And it's [00:11:30] a, a process that we, we teach our, our members to go through, and everybody who follows this process 99.9% of the time are recruiting better quality people. They are very, very clear about their job roles and responsibilities and expectations.

[00:11:46] Mm-hmm. We are measuring them, imagining them from day one. So it, you know. They're clear on what they should be doing. We are clear on. So it then feels calmer. It feels, you know, much more clear and focused on Yeah, on for the [00:12:00] individual and for us as the employer. And also I've always, always said this, Lauren and I, and maybe now the, the employment's kind of writes back this up in that.

[00:12:12] For me, if you get to three months and you are thinking about extending somebody's probationary period, that's a red flag for me. They're 

[00:12:18] Laura: not suitable at all in the first place.

[00:12:20] Katie Bell: Like I'm almost tempted to say, and I don't know if I'm allowed to say this lot so you can, you can bollock me if I'm not, but I'm almost tempted to say if you are in a [00:12:30] position where you think you need to extend 'cause you are not sure if they're the right fit, they're not the right fit.

[00:12:35] Laura: Yeah, I completely agree. And, and that, and that is why, that is what your probation is for. Yeah. It's what, for the best fit. And if you've been through a 12 step rigorous recruitment process and by three months, you're then questioning their suitability and whether or not you wanna extend, I'm, I'm in complete agreement with dec.

[00:12:53] The answer to that is probably no, they're not suitable considering the recruitment process we've been through, the person we brought through that door. [00:13:00] We don't want it to be in a rapid process where people are often to, you know, it's a very streamlined process and obviously what you've got in place is this 12 step process.

[00:13:08] And that would work amazingly in this situation. Yeah, because you're making sure you're bringing the right candidate through the door, but then if you are questioning their at three months, unfortunately, you're not going to really have the timeframe. To assess it much further So you just need to start making decisions and I think you, you know, we do need to start cutting our, cutting our [00:13:30] losses earlier on than what we would do normally.

[00:13:32] Katie Bell: Yeah. And I, and I think to put, I'm always the positive Polly on this, but to put a positive spin on this, like, you know, we don't have to we don't have to put up with it actually. And I think it elevates the standard of, of what we are now expecting in the workplace. 

[00:13:49] Laura: Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:50] Katie Bell: And what people can get away with and can't get away with.

[00:13:53] It actually gives employers leverage to be able to say, I can't just bring somebody in and just, you know. Not be clear, [00:14:00] not give them clear job roles and responsibilities. Not measure them and manage them well. Not give them good you know, performance metrics or indicators. Because people need to be fulfilled in the workplace.

[00:14:09] They need to feel like they're doing a great job. And if you've not got any of that in place, they're not going to feel like that. And so actually I think it elevates us as employers and our responsibilities, but it also elevates the standard that we're now expecting in the workplace. And I think. 

[00:14:24] Laura: Think it's a positive thing.

[00:14:26] I don't think it's a negative of sort. I do think the two year window is quite [00:14:30]excessive. I think from an employer perspective it's more of a security blanket. But as you've said there, you know, it's giving employees a bit more of a nudge as to we, we don't have settle here. We we have got, we've got options.

[00:14:42] Katie Bell: Yeah, 

[00:14:42] Laura: we less time to do.

[00:14:45] The longer we allow somebody to be within the business that is not suitable, the neg more negative impact it does have. So it's basically pushing our arm a little bit to make those decisions sooner rather than later, and that negativity then won't spread around the workplace. 

[00:14:59] Katie Bell: Yeah, it [00:15:00] it's such a, such a important point, Laura, isn't it?

[00:15:02] Because I often talk to clinic owners, like, when you are starting to talk about this person weekly. Got an issue when we're talking about daily, that the issue is like, is too, too far gone, you know? Mm-hmm. And so clinic owners who are so busy, don't give it the time, or they just push it under the carpet and they bury the head in the sand because they're, they don't like confrontation and it feels hard to have those conversations.

[00:15:26] But the sooner we act, the, the, you know, I always think it's like 36 hours of [00:15:30] pain when you have to remove something from your business and then you move on, you know? Yeah. And nobody wants to do, I agree, but, but it's necessary, isn't it? So, of course. Okay, so what I'm hearing here, Laura, is. The retrospective thing is really important.

[00:15:44] So if we are recruiting now, yeah. We need to be aware of this because of by January when it comes into force, they've already passed their six months. Yeah. Period. So the

[00:15:55] Laura: recruitment processes now are important. It doesn't. Recruitment process is January is too [00:16:00] late, recruitment process is now. Okay.

[00:16:02] Katie Bell: Brilliant. So this is really clear hiring process. And, and. Making sure that your policies are up to date your contracts are up to date with the things that you've, you've mentioned there about probationary periods. Short, short, 

[00:16:17] Laura: short service clauses. So short service clauses basically says that we reserve the contractual right not to apply our full disciplinary capability procedures within your short service period and during your [00:16:30] probationary period.

[00:16:30] So what, without it, we have to build on warnings. So for verbal, written, and final written before we can get dismissal, which that can take period in itself, which with the six ruling.

[00:16:42] So without, without, with that clause, we skip that whole thing. We go straight to dismissal without having to follow those warning processes. 

[00:16:48] Katie Bell: Oh, that's good. Okay. Brilliant. Love that one. What's next? 

[00:16:54] Steve: It is back to that. I mean, again, you, you, anyone who's watched the previous one where I use the words of one of the [00:17:00] standards in your business.

[00:17:02] Are you making it clear what your expectations are of your staff? Are they fully aware what the repercussions are? So having these types of policies and clauses in, they give you choices. They give you options. I, I, look, I used to say the word control. It's not the nicest of words to use there. Control, but again, but you understand the thought process behind it.

[00:17:24] Yeah. But yeah, so it's, yeah, it's, the policies and procedures are so crucial here that to give you choices. [00:17:30]

[00:17:30] Yeah. 

[00:17:30] The next biggest one I would suggest to talk about would be the sick pay element, Laura. I think particularly these two are the very, very big two of the 27 changes. There's 173 new pieces of legislation in this, in this, absolutely.

[00:17:48] But these two real biggies. So the sick pay now where obviously the rules at the minute you've got four days where gen you the holding days, they don't get paid. They can act as a [00:18:00]deterrent because if they're taking the odd day off, they know they're not getting paid for it. 

[00:18:04] Yeah. 

[00:18:04] You know, there's a qualifying criteria.

[00:18:07] So to qualify for statutory sick pay as well, you've gotta work a certain amount of hours to win the business to qualify for it. So they're the two areas of the four days and the qualifying criteria, the removing both of them from April. So from April, it's a day one rise that you get statutory sick pay straight away.

[00:18:26] So obviously straight away. So the, [00:18:30] this scenario, I dunno if, if, if anyone's got zero hour staff as an example and they give them the a few hours, the a few shifts here and there. So you can have scenarios where someone might say, oh yeah, I'll work on Saturday. Yeah, no problem. I'll accept that shift for this Saturday and I'll work that.

[00:18:47] But they're in the own mind of thinking. I'm going away this weekend. I won. I've got no intention of working that. I'm going to ring in sick. I'm, I'm only going to let them down Friday night. Because now they will get paid for that [00:19:00] Saturday. So if they accept to shift and don't turn up, they're getting paid, but obviously they're not getting full pay.

[00:19:06] So, Laura, what's the nitty gritty of this one? There's a little bit of, there's obviously there's a bit of context to this. 

[00:19:12] Laura: Yeah. So it's going to become the day one, right? So there'll be no lower earnings limit. There is going to be no qualifying days. Everybody is going to qualify for statutory sick pay It'll either be statuory sick pay.

[00:19:24] Or it will be 80% of their pay, whichever is lower. So in the instance of [00:19:30] zero hours, it's highly unlikely that they are going to achieve the rate of normal statutory sick pay. So what they would get is 80% of their average earnings. So regardless of who you are, what you do, what your job is, how many hours you work.

[00:19:46] Everybody is now going to qualify. Now, it isn't going to be going to have an impact because obviously, as Steve rightly mentioned at the moment, for odd single days of sickness, employees are currently unpaid so they don't get paid for it. [00:20:00] Whereas from April the sixth, it is going, they are going to have some form of payment for taking those on single days of sickness.

[00:20:08] Now what we need to do is we need to tighten up again on our procedures. So what we have to introduce are absence management processes. Now, there are no loopholes with payment. Okay? The, the payment, we can't get around. 

[00:20:22] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:20:22] Laura: So the only way to manage your sickness absences is going to be via absence management procedures.

[00:20:28] And what I mean by that is [00:20:30] policy of triggers. For example, if you have four absences within six.

[00:20:36] Now, the starting point for that would be completely up to you, depending on your resource and how you operate in your business. Now, that could start with a letter of concern. If you then have another absence within six months, you're then going to move to a disciplinary, you know, and we would then progress.

[00:20:50] But that is going to be the only way you are going to be able to manage your sickness from the 6th of April. Okay? Without having a negative impact of seeing a natural [00:21:00] increase in sickness within, within work now. My advice and I, I tell all of my clients this, implement this policy now. So it's embedded in preparation for the 6th of April.

[00:21:13] The last thing we wanna be doing is reacting to a change. So proactively, we know this change is coming on the 6th of April. Put the policy in place. Embedded with end, don't see the increase that we're, we're projecting for April. So there are methods, you know, [00:21:30] yes, changing it, and yes, it's going to potentially be a bit more costly, but there are ways of managing that.

[00:21:36] And the liability for you as an employer now. The things we need to consider the reporting processes. Now, we spoke about this in the webinar. You know, when we did the webinar eight months ago, reporting ask questions. They have to report it for themselves. Why are they sick? Because an employee is not going to tell you, not want to [00:22:00] phone up and tell you a lie.

[00:22:02] Report themselves as sick if it's not true. Whereas if we put them in the position where they've got phone up, they've got the phone personal and no text messages are acceptable, you're going to again, reduce the sickness absences, so tighten your absences, tighten your reporting processes process procedures, and tighten up on new absence reporting like your login processes as well, to make sure that you've got an accurate reflection of who is off, so that if you do need to implement the disciplinary procedure, you've got the process and the logs to be able to do [00:22:30] that.

[00:22:30] Katie Bell: Yeah, again, this just feels like about time and what will probably have been happening in people's companies is they're having these odd days flicking here and there and we're not really, we're not really that bothered 'cause we're not really having to pay for it. And then actually if we, if we look step back and go, actually they've had quite a lot of periodic absences here, but because it's having a cost of the business really.

[00:22:53] In terms of I'm about to pay them. I've not really dealt with it. 

[00:22:57] Laura: Yeah. And, 

[00:22:57] Katie Bell: So I think this is good [00:23:00] that we're now having it. We're, we have an, as Steve you said, very clear expectations of how we, we expect people to perform. And, you know, this whole, for me, this is about employees taking responsibility for their own wellness.

[00:23:14] And that they're expected to actually be at work. You know, of course things happen and we, we get that and, you know, we have, we have things in place to support our employees, but these odd periodic days that can often build up and in clinics, [00:23:30] these are a massive cost to us because. They're revenue generating people generally, you know?

[00:23:35] Yeah. Unless that client care team, for example, but then they still generate revenue. So when you've got a member of staff that's absent, not only are you then paying them to be absent, but you are losing the, the clinical income, the revenue. 

[00:23:46] Laura: Yeah. 

[00:23:47] Katie Bell: You know, the revenue. So it, it, this is, this is really important.

[00:23:50] Absolutely. 

[00:23:51] Steve: It's, you know, you just, I mean, I was with a company yesterday and I've just thrown it back at them. So if I work for you and I'm ringing in sick, what happens? [00:24:00] You know, what? What do you expect? You know? 'cause they were saying, oh yeah, general, we've got this guy and he's. He always texted his mate and his mate lets us know he is not coming in.

[00:24:10] And you're like, well, no where? Where's the policy? So make that unacceptable, make that in itself a potential disciplinary that you've got to ring me up. You've got to let me know. So you've gotta be then clear what is the payment I get for that? What's going to happen when I come back in work? Are we running return to work interviews?[00:24:30]

[00:24:30] Where we log in all this detail and information, where's it adding it up and like say, looking at patterns that look, they're always, why are they always on a Monday? You know, just that type of pattern that you might know from our side. Katie, we've forgive the advert obviously from you. You'll know from the software that we use, that if you are logging all the, all this, it brings up patterns so the computer can pick it up quicker than the human brain might.

[00:24:56] These little patterns that they are all on one day or they are after a [00:25:00] bank holiday or payday. You know what? Whatever the pattern is. Then we've got the software that will just help manage that. So then so that the clear elements, like you say, the notification area, the payment side of thing, and what happens when you come back and work and where you logging all this, there's four categories there, really that need to be a lot tighter.

[00:25:21] Otherwise, it's just going to cost you more money. You've gotta eradicate out the business of. Essentially, why didn't, why are they doing that? And, and if it's, if [00:25:30] it's, well, not a lot happens when we come back in, then that's a real risk and potentially a cost Cost more going to cost you more money moving forward.

[00:25:38] Katie Bell: Yeah. And builds up your, your portfolio is probably the wrong word, but portfolio of evidence. If you were to need to follow disciplinary procedures, Laura, and remove them from your business. Like if you haven't logged this shit and if you haven't got policies behind it, if you've not. 

[00:25:54] Laura: Yeah, I'll always go back to it.

[00:25:56] If it's not written, it doesn't exist. 

[00:25:58] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:25:59] Laura: Yeah. It has to be written. Everything [00:26:00] has to be written. Everything has to be documented, or you're not, you're going to fail and you're not going to be able to rely upon it. 

[00:26:04] Katie Bell: Yeah. Okay, 

[00:26:05] Steve: great. Just to mention at this side, sorry, Katie, just we are here to offer a solution with this and say me and Laura are here, where we can do what we call, what we are call an impact assessment so we can assess well names on the tin.

[00:26:20] Now we can assess the impact of what these changes mean to your business. 

[00:26:24] Laura: Yeah. 

[00:26:24] Steve: Or email me your documentation. We'll have a look at it. We'll give you. I [00:26:30]suggest your goodwill for, for being a member of your, your organization, Katie. We will assess them for you. We'll give you a clear overview exactly where they're lacking and not just in these parts, we'll assess the impact of all these changes.

[00:26:44] You know, we've, we've spent 25 minutes just talking about two of them, this 27 in total. So they're not all as length, they're the, for me, they're the two main ones that we really want to spend a bit of detail talking about. Yeah, so we we're not go into quite the level of [00:27:00] detail, otherwise we'll be here all day.

[00:27:02] And I'm conscious we, we, we wanna keep it as short and sweet for people as possible. So these, these are few of us that will just go into the headlines a bit, but if they want more information and details. Get in touch with me directly and see if you can give my details Katie, then that'd be great. Then make sure they come to me rather than go into the office so we can just keep it, we understand exactly what's going on here, so I suppose it makes sense.

[00:27:25] Laura, just to mention, you've touched on zero hours there a little bit during the, [00:27:30]while we talked about the, the sick. What's just, I suppose in a, in a short nutshell, what is changing on the zero hours side? 

[00:27:38] Laura: So there are going to be tighten, you know, the rules around the zero hours model. But what I do wanna point out is that it's not being abolished.

[00:27:44] It's going to still be there, it will be still in, its in existence, but they are tightening up on it. In the event of saying that if an employee is working regular hours, they will be entitled to a regular hours contract. So if you've got an employee who is on a zero hours contract, but on a regular, they're working 12 [00:28:00] hours per week, they're entitled that you'll have to give them a guaranteed hours contract for those 12 hours per week.

[00:28:05] What that means is you need to make sure that they are clearly zero hours ultimately. So you can keep zero hours model, but you're going to have to f the hours. There have to be weeks when they don't work any hours. What's really key with this change is that it doesn't only apply to employees. This also applies to agency workers.

[00:28:25] So if you are bringing on agency workers as locum somebody within the organization to come and [00:28:30] cover. Be mindful of the hours that you are offering them. And if they are working regular hours, the expectation is you'll need to receive them a guaranteed hours employment contract. So it's a big one. But also any work you are offering them, you need to ensure you can fulfill because if you withdraw any work offered, they are entitled to a compensate repayment on the back of that as well.

[00:28:51] So they're tightening up on it, they're not removing it, they're just tightening up on the rules around it. But as I say, not only for employees, but also for agency workers.

[00:28:59] Katie Bell: [00:29:00] And I guess, I mean, like you said, this, this 27 big changes. We've touched on three of them and I think the, the important. Thing for them to take away from this is that it's not scare, it doesn't need to be scary because there are solutions and it actually enables you to run a much more effective, efficient business that you, Steve, you said the word control and it is control that you feel [00:29:30] like you are in control of.

[00:29:31] I think. You know, for many years as employers, we just feel like we're at the mercy of, of the government that's in and you know, we just have to bend over and this is what they're going to introduce now. But actually, if you reframe it and see what the change, what changes are, and some of them are, are pain in the ass, we know that.

[00:29:48] Yeah. But, but it's usually because it's, it's. Showcasing a lack of what we haven't got in your business. And, and actually by putting it in, you sleep at night better. You've got, you know, things [00:30:00] in place that mean that you as a business owner can, can rest assured that you're not going to get caught out. And I think that's, that's really important for our clinic owners.

[00:30:08] Laura: Yeah, I agree. 

[00:30:09] Katie Bell: Absolutely. Yeah. People like, but you, you know, Steve and Laura. Is crucial, but don't try and fix this yourself. You know? 

[00:30:18] Laura: No, there are solutions to everything. You know that zero hours one, the solution is fluctuate hours. Make sure you record your hours properly, make sure you are truly using zero hours or zero hours, [00:30:30] and make sure that you are documenting all of that.

[00:30:32] And then it's an easy fix. 

[00:30:34] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:30:34] Laura: But if they're not.

[00:30:36] I wouldn't stop using zero hours. I would continue to use it, but just make sure that use it in the right way. 

[00:30:42] Katie Bell: Great. And and that's the point, isn't it? That is the point is speak to, to you, Steve and Laura, and have this impact assessment so that you can highlight the gaps that we just would never know.

[00:30:52] We would just, you know, 'cause I can't remember 27 changes, let alone 173 things that Steve mentioned. [00:31:00] We haven't got the brain space for it, and neither should we need to because we've, there's people like you that can assist us in, in that. So I guess the, the key things for them to take is don't be scared.

[00:31:12] But be proactive about it. Yeah. Put the things in place now talk to you. And then the ball starts rolling in. And I think what's always great, Steve, obviously I love you, but I love Laura the most because Laura has the ability to make you feel quite calm about the changes and that [00:31:30] there's like, okay, this is where we're at.

[00:31:31] This is what you need to go and do, go and make it happen. And so I think it's not to be frightened about having that conversation. 

[00:31:38] Laura: I's 

[00:31:39] Steve: important. Won't say that. 

[00:31:41] Laura: I'll take that. But what's really important to note is that, you know, we have a roadmap. We have the roadmap of every single change that is coming in and every date that is coming.

[00:31:51] You don't specialize in that. And I think this is really important to, to know is that. The roadmap. We know what's coming, when it's coming, what date's coming. The [00:32:00] data subjects have changed. You know, these dates have changed a few times, but we know that they're still on the path. 

[00:32:05] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:32:05] Laura: So that allows us to prepare, say this change, this is the impact it's going to have, and this is how we're.

[00:32:11] This is the solution for it. So that opportunity to be, to see what's coming proactively. Then get the resolution, put those in before they reactive a proactive in order to provide the solution before in. 

[00:32:28] Katie Bell: Great. Look, this has been [00:32:30] great. I can't believe 30 minutes has gone already. I I, I'm excited to hear about all the other changes, but our clinic owners are very busy and so the outcome is they just need to speak to you, Steve, on the phone.

[00:32:41] Okay? And I know that by speaking to you, you know that they've come through this podcast and that you look after them. Very. 

[00:32:47] Steve: Absolutely. Yeah. So Will, yeah. Yeah. 

[00:32:50] Katie Bell: Fabulous. We'll make sure that your phone number and your email, in fact I will have already said it in the intro. All of your details.

[00:32:56] Thank you. 

[00:32:56] Steve: Very well. 

[00:32:57] Katie Bell: Make sure it's in the show notes as well. And [00:33:00] guys, thank you again. Another fabulous episode. Thanks for giving up your time to just to advise welcome owners really. It's really helpful. So thank you. 

[00:33:11] Steve: You're very welcome. 

[00:33:12] Katie Bell: Thanks for listening to the Treat Your Business podcast. Hit subscribe now and keep joining me for bigger insights, older conversations to help you build a clinic and a life you [00:33:30] love.