Issue 37 – April 2024
This month’s clickable highlights:
Fast Forward News
- Modern Slavery and the UK Apparel and General Merchandise Sectors – What you need to know! Webinar 24 April 10am – BOOK NOW!
- Holiday Pay in 2024 – Recording now available
- SEP Supplier Training – BOOK NOW!
- Stronger Together Vacancies
- Fast Forward programme transitions to Stronger Together’s LinkedIn
Industry and Legislative News
Share your feedback and requests for Newsletter inclusions.
The Fast Forward Team
FAST FORWARD NEWS
Modern Slavery and the UK Apparel and
General Merchandise Sectors – What you need to know! Webinar 24 April 10am
The apparel and general merchandise sectors are amongst the high-risk sectors for labour exploitation in the UK. Join our webinar to hear insights from industry experts on the risks in the sectors, the actions taken, and the support available to help develop capacity and give you the tools to mitigate the risks in your operations and supply chains.
This session is relevant to UK apparel, general merchandise and manufacturing businesses, labour providers into these businesses, HR, Operations and Human Rights leads and more – this is a free webinar, welcome to all! Speakers include:
- Mashuda Begum, Senior Responsible Sourcing Manager at Tesco
- Tarek Islam, Senior Community Engagement & Outreach Worker Fashion-workers Advice Bureau Leicester at Fab-L
Please note: If you are part of the Fast Forward programme, this webinar will count as our second Supplier Engagement Programme (SEP) webinar for 2024. Ensure you enter your SEP Subscription number at registration to ensure we log your attendance and engagement within the programme.
Holiday Pay in 2024
Recording now available!
New regulations that came into effect from the beginning of the year, requiring significant change to how some annual leave is calculated.
Watch this webinar recording where we cover:
- How and when holiday accrual and pay will change
- How to calculate accrual and pay
- Which workers the new rules apply to
- The rules around rolled up holiday pay
If you are a UK Apparel and General Merchandise Supplier interested in keeping ahead of the latest legislation, join our annual subscription for £285 + VAT.
Supplier (SEP) Training Sessions
The Supplier Engagement Programme (SEP) training sessions are now available to book through your Dashboard. This presents a valuable opportunity for both brands and suppliers to upskill and maximise the benefits of our programme.
During these 2.5-hour training sessions, your business can gain essential insights on how to effectively navigate your dedicated dashboard and self-paced Core Standards training modules, ensuring you remain well-informed about the latest standards and industry practices.
Our training sessions are open to both SEP subscribers and Brand members.
At each session, we offer dedicated breakouts for suppliers and brands separately. This provides a unique space for peer-to-peer discussions on best practice and challenges.
If you are an SEP subscriber or Member Brand review the full agenda.
Stronger Together Vacancies
Stronger Together has the following vacancies:
- Job vacancy for a Business Development and Advisory Manager position (UK based)
- Consultancy opportunity for a Spanish speaking consultant for development of Responsible Recruitment Guidance for the Mexican sugarcane sector.
Fast Forward programme transitions
to Stronger Together’s LinkedIn
The Fast Forward programme transitioned to Stronger Together’s LinkedIn on the 1 April. Be sure to follow us at Stronger Together for continued connection!
LEGISLATIVE AND INDUSTRY NEWS
Employment laws changing from 6 April 2024
Several changes to employment law came into effect from 6 April 2024:
Flexible Working: Employees can now make two requests per year for flexible working, with a reduced response time of two months from employers. Employers must provide reasons for denying requests; the list of acceptable reasons remains the same. Legislation introduced through the Employment Rights (Flexible Working) Act 2023 allows immediate requests from the first day of employment.
Carer’s Leave: Employees can now take one week of unpaid leave annually for caring responsibilities, applicable from the first day of employment without a qualifying period.
Enacted through the Carer’s Leave Act 2023, this entitlement covers caring for a spouse, child, parent, or other dependent with specific care needs.
Protection Against Redundancy: Employees on certain parental leave now have 18 months of protection against redundancy, starting from pregnancy notification. Extended by the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, this protection also applies to adoption leave and shared parental leave.
Paternity Leave Flexibility: Statutory paternity leave can now be split into two separate weeks within a year after the child’s birth. Employees need to give 28 days’ notice for each week of leave, but still require 15 weeks’ notice before the expected birth date. Changes implemented by the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024.
Read more
Just Good Work
Just Good Work is a free, interactive mobile app giving jobseekers and workers from the UK or abroad critical information and advice on recruitment and employment. The Fast Forward audit requires businesses to display the Just Good Work poster.
Posters are available to download for free in nine languages from the Fast Forward website: Albanian, Bulgarian, English, Croatian, Gujarati, Polish, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian.
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