The government has confirmed, in its updated guidance on carrying out right to work checks during the coronavirus pandemic, that the temporary COVID-19 adjusted right to work check process will come to an end on 16 May 2021. This temporary process, in place since 30 March 2020, has allowed right to work checks to be carried out over video calls and for job applicants to send scanned documents or a photo of their documents to employers via email or a mobile app, rather than sending the originals. The cessation of this temporary process means that, from 17 May 2021, employers must revert to undertaking fully compliant right to work checks, i.e. by once again checking either the job applicant’s original documents or their right to work online, in the latter case if they have provided the employer with their share code.

The updated guidance also provides that employers do not need to carry out retrospective physical checks of original documents on those who had a COVID-19 adjusted right to work check between 30 March 2020 and 16 May 2021 inclusive. Employers will maintain a statutory defence against a civil penalty if the check they have undertaken during this period was carried out in the manner set out in the COVID-19 adjusted right to work checks guidance.
 

The Supreme Court has handed down a landmark judgement in the Uber case. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the decisions of earlier courts and has found that Uber drivers are ‘workers’ and not self-employed as Uber has tried to argue. 

The decision of the Supreme Court as the final court of appeal in the UK marks the end of the case for Uber. The Uber case had been ongoing since an employment tribunal decision in October 2016 found that two former Uber drivers worked for Uber. At the time of the tribunal hearing in 2016, the number of Uber drivers operating in the UK was estimated to be around 40,000, of whom around 30,000 were operating in the London area. The ruling in this case has important implications, not just for Uber drivers, but for the many people across the country working in the gig economy.

The decision means that Uber drivers are entitled to the minimum wage (including the right to back pay), holiday entitlement and certain other employment rights. The Supreme Court also ruled that Uber drivers are ‘working’ for the entire period that they are logged into the Uber app within the territory in which they were licensed to operate and were ready and willing to accept trips, and not just during the periods that they are driving passengers to their destinations.

The judgment does not give the ‘workers’ full ‘employee’ rights, for example, a worker cannot claim unfair dismissal or a statutory redundancy payment.

The Chancellor used his Budget speech to confirm that increased National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates are due to come into effect on 1 April 2019.

The NLW first came into effect on 1 April 2016, and is the minimum hourly rate that must be paid to those aged 25 or over. From 1 April 2019 the National Living Wage will increase by 38p to £8.21. This represents an increase of almost 5%.

The hourly rate of the NMW (for 21-24 year olds) will increase to £7.70 (a rise of 32p). The rates for 18-20 year olds will increase to £6.15 (a rise of 25p) and the rate for workers above the school leaving age but under 18 will increase to £4.35 (a rise of 15p). The NMW rate for apprentices increases by 20p to £3.90.

The new rates mirror the recommendations made by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) which have been accepted in full by the government. The independent Low Pay Commission (LPC) was established following the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to advise the government on the NMW. It is made up of representatives from all sides of industry. The increases will come into effect from April 2019, subject to Parliamentary approval.

Unlock, a charity that assists people with criminal convictions, has published new guidance to help employers ensure that their policies and practices on collecting criminal records data during recruitment are compliant with the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. The guidance includes contributions from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The guidance emphasises that collecting criminal records data during the initial job application stage is unlikely to be compliant with data protection laws as it’s unlikely to be necessary; employers must be able to demonstrate that processing criminal records data is necessary at whatever stage they decide to collect it. The guidance also states that employers should have a policy in place on collecting personal data, which includes a section on the processing of criminal records data. That policy should clearly identify the purpose of collecting criminal records data and the lawful basis for collecting it, explain how long this data will be retained and who it will be shared with and set out job applicants’ legal rights in relation to their information.

Finally, Unlock recommends employers follow a three-stage process to determine if, when and how they should ask about criminal records:

1. Define the purpose of collecting criminal records data.
2. Identify a lawful basis for processing and meet a condition of processing.
3. Set out their privacy policy and data subject rights.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a self-assessment checklist to help small business owners and sole traders to assess their compliance with the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The ICO’s interactive online checklist asks users to answer a series of eight questions by giving either a “yes”, “no” or “in part” answer. At each stage, the user can first click to view more information on the particular question. Once all questions have been completed, an overall “green”, “amber” or “red” rating is generated based on the user’s responses. For any individual answers that are given an “amber” or “red” rating, there is a bullet point list of suggested actions for the user to address the non-compliance issue, together with handy links to relevant ICO guidance for more detailed information.