Ashtons HR Latest News

In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, the importance of mental health cannot be overstated. Employees’ mental wellbeing is not only a matter of individual concern but also a huge factor in overall organisational success. This article will look at the challenges faced by organisations in relation to mental health issues in the workplace and w......

Legislation that will improve access to flexible working for employees has completed its way through parliament and has been granted Royal Assent.  Essentially, the key changes are: employees will be able to make two flexible working requests within a yearemployers will be required to deal with requests within two months of a request being m......

The term ‘the great resignation’ was coined by Anthony Klotz, an associate professor of management at UCL, in May 2021. He predicted an exodus of workers from their jobs prompted by burnout and the taste of freedom that many employees experienced while working from home during the Covid pandemic. This ‘great resignation’ is also known as ‘quiet qui......

Changes to Flexible Working – are you ready? Although not law yet, the Flexible Working Bill currently going through the House of Lords means that some changes are coming to the guidance around flexible working arrangements that employers should be aware of: employees will be able to make a flexible working request (FWR) from the first day of emp......

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 2018, 47% of workers face some kind of financial stress, with 16% suffering constant money worries and struggling to pay bills.  With recent increases in the cost of living and the impact on housing costs of interest rates rises, it’s easy to see that this has probably be......

Home Office data suggests more than 53,000 Ukrainian refugees have already travelled to the UK under family and sponsorship schemes. There have been more than 43,000 applications for visas under the Ukraine Family Scheme and almost 90,000 applications for visas under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme. Both schemes allow successful applican......

Staff in many businesses may have links to countries involved in the ongoing events in Ukraine, including family or friends living in the affected regions or cultural ties to the area.  Others may be called up to serve in their countries’ defence forces over the weeks and months to come.  Employers may wish to share the following resource......

On 21 February 2022, the Government announced its’ plan for living with Coronavirus in the weeks and months to come.   Among several key changes are: from 24 February 2022, the removal of the requirement to self isolate after a positive test from 24 March 2022, the end of the Statutory Sick Pay amendments relating to Coronavir......

There are currently nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act. Discrimination that happens because of one or more of them is unlawful under the Act. The characteristics are: age disability race gender reassignment marriage or civil partnership religion or belief sex sexual orientation pregnancy & maternity......

The new system for digital checks of candidate’s right to work in the UK allows employers to do so via a third party, without having to check physical documentation. The change was initially introduced as a temporary measure to aid remote working in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, and was due to revert back to in-person checks on 5 April......

The ethnicity pay gap is the difference between the hourly earnings of White or White British employees and other ethnic groups. Mandatory ethnicity pay reporting was first proposed in the McGregor-Smith Review in February 2017.  The independent review set out recommendations for employers in the public and private sectors to improve diversit......

We have been made aware of a temporary change to the rules on ‘Fit Notes’ for absent employees which we would like to share with you.What has changed? If an employee is off sick, they would normally need to get a Fit Note from their GP or health professional after seven days of absence in order to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).  As part o......