Norwich Solicitors Comment on 2012 Employment Law Changes

Online, January 3, 2013 (Newswire.com) - In November 2011, when Business Secretary Vince Cable made his speech about making significant reforms to employment law in the UK, it was difficult to imagine where we would be 14 months down the line. Now, entering into the first month of 2013, there has been a huge shake up of almost every aspect of being an employee and there is still more to come.

Norwich solicitors, Gordon Dean, specialising in employment law are one of the many firms of solicitors who have been keeping up with the reforms and keeping a careful watch on how it will affect any cases they may have.

Vince Cable justified these changes in his speech back in November 2011, saying that there were some medium and small enterprises which had raised legislation as a factor which hampers their growth. On consultation with independent bodies and reports commissioned by the Government all of the new reforms put into place look to kick start the economy and improve on growth in the UK with the hope that this will help towards the turnaround of the current economic crisis.

Solicitors have had to keep up with a number of changes, including at employment tribunals which were considered to have huge areas for improvement - especially when it comes to waste and costs. From summer 2013, if you wish to take a case to a tribunal there will be a fee, and if it is taken to a hearing there will be a further charge.

One of the biggest shake ups which we have seen most recently is the reduction of the consultation period for employers when looking to make mass redundancies of over 100 employees. This figure was set at 90 days but is being slashed in half by the UK Government to 45 days. It has caused uproar with many of the trade unions, who have, in the past, successfully used the 90 days to reach some kind of agreement with firms looking to cut their staff budgets.

The 'shares for rights' scheme spearheaded by George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference was another area for controversy, seeing employees having the option to take a proportion of the shares in their employers business in return for sacrificing some of their employee's rights.

As far as these changes are concerned, for url:http://gordondeansolicitorsllp.co.uk/]Norfolk solicitors[/url], Gordon Dean, as long as they're not seen to be doing harm to an employee and have the potential to improve the working arrangement for the staff member, it has to be an improvement. Based on the recommendations made by experts, the changes made to employment law over the past year should help to kick start the economy and therefore will create new jobs and more opportunities for those in employment. Change is often feared, but if it is for the best it should be welcomed.