Happy New Year! As the celebrations
have now passed and it is back to work, let's look at some
employment law developments coming up in 2017.
Employment Tribunal Fees
Fees were introduced back in 2013
for all Employment Tribunal claims. However, the lawfulness of this
was questioned and the latest hearing in the long running legal
challenge by UNISON is expected to be heard in March 2017. Will the
government have to do a U-turn on the introduction of the fees?
Watch this space.
Apprenticeship Levy
For employers that have an annual
wage bill of over £3million, a new 0.5% tax will be payable
from April 2017. These additional funds are intended to be used by
the government to contribute to the costs of apprenticeship
training. Employers can claim back the tax they have paid if they
use it for training of apprentices and there are even some
additional monetary government top-ups too – an additional
10p will be paid by the government on every £1 paid by
