When you’re a new parent or you’re expecting a baby, you have extra rights at work. You or your partner could be entitled to:

o   maternity rights (including maternity leave and/or pay)

o   paternity leave and/or pay

o   shared parental leave and/or pay

o   adoption leave and/or pay

o   unpaid time off to look after your child

o   come to antenatal appointments with your partner

·      You can read more about all of these things on GOV.UK.

·      You can also find information from GOV.UK on your rights while on parental leave.

·      There are some quirks in the way the rules apply to agency workers. Some information on maternity rights for agency workers, can be found on Maternity Action’s website. For example, on GOV.UK it says ‘You may be able to get Statutory Maternity Pay, but you cannot get Statutory Maternity Leave’ – although don’t worry – agency workers can still take time off and can re-register with the agency when they want to return to work, if they have a contract of employment.

Migrant workers in the UK are workers who come from outside of the UK to work within the UK.

If you are a migrant worker in the UK who would like some information on their taxes position whilst in the UK, please see guidance from LITRG.

LITRG also have a page where they list a number of commonplace tax issues that migrants may face on coming to the UK including how to get a National Insurance number, understanding a payslip and what to do if you think you have paid too much tax.

Consonant (formerly the Migrants Resource Centre) and Advice NI are two organisations that assist migrants with various issues.

This model sees the fragmentation of an umbrella company workforce into lots of individual companies, often with a director based out of an overseas country.

On the face of it, all is well as you will be having PAYE operated. However, in the background, workers are being put into mini companies, where the Employment Allowance (EA) is being claimed inappropriately (the EA cuts a small employers’ NIC bill and was designed to help businesses create more jobs or increase wages).

You should make sure you do not get caught up with problematic ‘mini’ umbrella companies – there can be a nasty impact on your employment rights, among other things.

You can read more about mini umbrellas on GOV.UK.

Modern slavery is defined as the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation.

Find information from GOV.UKon modern slavery.

If you believe you are victim to, or have witnessed, modern slavery please report it via the Modern Slavery Helpline.