PJH Employment Law Solicitors Employment Law Solicitors  

S

Statute

A statute is the posh word for an Act (of parliament). Statutes are collectively known as primary legislation.

For a statute to become law, it has to be approved by the house of commons, then the house of lords and then has to be rubber stamped by the monarch (the queen at the moment).

A statute is different to a statutory instrument. Statutory instruments are also known as Regulations and are made under delegated authority from a Statute. They are collectively known as secondary legislation. They can be made more rapidly as they don’t have to go through the formal approval process in the same way as a statute.

Recent statutes and statutory instruments (SIs for short) can be found at www.opsi.gov.uk.

All courts have to interpret and enforce the wording of statutes and statutory instruments. Courts can not ignore statutes or statutory instruments, although they have been known to interpret them….erm…..creatively.

Statutory Notice

Your notice period can be determined in one of two ways:

1. In your contract of employment

2. By statute.

The latter is known as statutory notice and employees are entitled to a minimum period of notice depending on length of service. 

Often the contract of employment gives a longer period of notice.  In the rare scenario where this is less than the statutory minimum period, it is automatically increased in line with the statutory minimum. 



Employment Law | Employment Law Training | Employment e-Learning
Dignity at Work | Employment Law Solutions | Employment Laws
Employment Law Services