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The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019
This instrument amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979 (“the 1979 Order”) to give effect to changes to a criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ that allows some old and minor spent convictions to be ‘filtered, so that they are no longer disclosed and cannot be taken into account in employment decisions in certain circumstances. The 1978 Order makes it possible for certain convictions to become “spent”, which means that after a specified period a person can be treated for certain purposes as if the conviction had never happened and they need not, for example, tell an employer about the conviction when applying for a job.
To ensure that the public is adequately protected, however, certain exceptions to the 1978 Order are set out in the 1979 Order so that, for specified professions and occupations that typically involve a high degree of trust and often involve vulnerable persons, applicants must declare all past convictions when asked. The 1979 Order is amended periodically to ensure that the access to the criminal record disclosure regime keeps pace with changes in public risk; to ensure that disclosure regimes remain consistent across jurisdictions where appropriate; and to maintain the public trust and protection process.
This Order, the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019 (“the 2019 Order”), stems from a Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that elements of the criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ operated by the Department of Justice were disproportionate. The ‘filtering scheme’ was established in 2014 following a review of the criminal records regime in Northern Ireland that was carried out by Sunita Mason during 2011, which recommended that the Department of Justice should filter old and minor convictions from standard and enhanced criminal record certificates; and to take account of the findings of two court cases concerning the disclosure of criminal record material at that time.
The terms of the scheme are that a conviction can be filtered after a period of 11 years (or 5.5 years for those under 18 at the time of the conviction), so long as the conviction was not for a specified offence as listed in the 1979 Order (e.g. serious violent and sexual offences; or offences of specific relevance for posts concerned with safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; etc.); did not attract a custodial sentence; and if there is no other conviction on the individual’s record.
The Supreme Court found that limiting the filtering scheme to a single offence, with the result that more than one old and minor conviction would be disclosed automatically, was disproportionate. The Department has, therefore, adjusted the terms of the scheme to allow more than one offence to be filtered in order to comply with the judgment.
The 2019 Order gives effect to this change by amending the 1979 Order to remove Article 1A(2)(c), which restricted the terms of the filtering scheme to a single conviction. The Department is satisfied that public protection is maintained, however, as the remaining elements of the filtering scheme will continue to ensure that there is no increased risk to the public as a result of this change.
The Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020
These Regulations make changes to the the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982 to outline in section 3(5A), the "person" and adds in additional text act under 4(6) regarding advice from the PHA.
No 317 The Work and Families (Increase of Maximum Amount) Order (Northern Ireland) 2009
This Order comes into effect on 1/10/09 and has the main purpose of increasing the maximum weekly amount used for the purposes of calculating certain awards by the Industrial Tribunal from £350 to £380. This is commonly referred to as the “capped weeks pay” for the purposes of unfair dismissal and redundancy pay calculations.
No 98 The Shared Parental Leave and Paternity and Adoption Leave (Adoptions from Overseas) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These come into operation on 5/4/15. The Regulations modify the Maternity and Adoption Leave (Curtailment of Statutory Rights to Leave) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and the Shared Parental Leave Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 so that each appropriately reflects entitlement to shared parental leave for qualifying individuals adopting from overseas and the different triggers and qualification points which exist in these cases.
No 1894 The National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999 (Amendment) Regulations 2008
These Regulations amend the 1999 Regulations by making some technical changes to wording but also changes the principal rates (commencing in October 2008) from £5.52 up to £5.73, (18-21 yr old rate) – will increase from £4.60 to £4.77, and those below 18 will see the rate increase from £3.40 to £3.53. Other changes in the Regulations relate to how a worker qualifies for NMW when on certain government schemes, the position regarding work trials, applicable accommodation values (£4.46) and so on.
No 103 The Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations come into operation on 15/3/15 and modify the Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 to give certain persons abroad, those who work as mariners and those who work on the continental shelf an entitlement to statutory shared parental pay.
320 Race Relations (Interest on Awards) Order (Northern Ireland) 1997
This Order makes provision in relation to interest on awards and compensation orders in the context of race relations and it addresses issues such as day to day accrual, calculation, rule departure, written details and so on.
219 (9) The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Commencement No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996
This Order stipulates 30th May 1996 as the day in which various components of the 1995 Act come into operation including issues such as: definition of disability, past disabilities, guidance, definitions of lease/sub-lease/sub-tenancy, advice and assistance, statutory authority, national security, restrictions on publicity in Industrial Tribunals, interpretation, supplementary provisions and so on.
Increase of limits on Tribunal awards and payments under employment rights legislation
The Department for the Economy has made a statutory rule entitled The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2023 (legislation.gov.uk).
The Order increases, from 6 April 2023, limits applicable to certain awards and payments under employment rights legislation in line with the Retail Prices Index.
The Department has issued a press release relating to the above changes in limits - https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/department-economy-announces-annual-increase-limits-unfair-dismissal-and-redundancy-payments.
For details on the limits for previous years, please access the following link https://www.legislation.gov.uk/primary+secondary?title=The%20Employment…