The government has legislated to require that commercial organisations publish a slavery and human trafficking statement annually to state what they are doing to prevent the use of slaves or trafficked workers in their supply chains.

HM Treasury has published its policy paper on extending the Senior Managers and Certification Regime to everyone who is approved under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. This would represent a significant increase in the coverage of the regime.

In the context of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004, an “undertaking” refers to a legal entity – i.e. the employer as a whole – rather than individual business units.

The Financial Conduct Authority has announced that a new senior manager and certification regime will be put in place as of 7 March 2016.

The Department for Work and Pensions has published guidance notes in relation to the new Fit for Work service which was launched in December 2014.

After the controversy surrounding zero hours contracts, the Government is proposing to ban employers from using exclusivity clauses in them. On 25 August 2014, the Government launched a consultation to examine the potential loopholes employers could use to get around its proposed changes to the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill.

In the last month, a number of new issues have been clarified.

As of 25 June 2013, the following reforms came into force:

• The qualifying period (2 years) for unfair dismissal will no longer apply where the main reason for dismissal is the employee’s political opinions or affiliations.

• Changes to whistleblowing law: