2013 is shaping up to be another busy year for employment lawyers and HR professionals alike. With a raft of changes expected, we have summarised the most important, and will keep you updated throughout the year with regular blogs and tweets about employment law 2013.

1. From 1^st February:

- the Unfair dismissal compensation award limit will increase from £72,300 to £74,200, and

- a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy will increase from £430 to £450.

2. The Enterprise Regulatory and Reform Bill

Due to the current economic climate many employers will reduce staffing levels and/or restructure their organisation to make savings. Employers need to consider in advance redundancy preparation & consultation requirements for any redundancies.

Failure to follow the correct procedures when making redundancies could prove to be costly, particularly if it results in legal proceedings being raised against the employer.

Unfair dismissal arising for redundancy may be caused by the following:
-  Unfair selection of pools
-  Unfair application of selection criteria
-  Failure to fully

A number of national newspapers, along with the BBC, reported (from a Government source) that the Coalition were planning to introduce wide-ranging and controversial reforms to UK employment legislation.

This was to include:

• a cap on discrimination awards at tribunals
• dilution of the TUPE rights protecting transferring employees
• a reduction in the current redundancy consultation periods

The actual published statement when it came was somewhat weakened: they will be "looking carefully at the arguments for reform" and "legislation will not necessarily be the route to