16/07/2024

Domestic Abuse – Safe Leave Public Consultation

On 5 July 2024 the Department for the Economy launched a public consultation on how to operationalise the provisions in the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Act (NI) 2022.

This consultation seeks to inform the public about the Department’s intention to introduce regulations, under and in accordance with provisions of the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Act (NI) 2022, to entitle employees and workers, who are victims of domestic abuse, up to 10 days paid safe leave in each leave year for the purpose of dealing with issues related to that abuse.

In the Foreword, the Minister notes the scale of the issue in NI e.g. in 12 months (from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024) there were 32,763 domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police.

The Act was originally introduced as a framework with the detail to be provided in Regulations, however many aspects of the Right are provided by the Act, such as:

• Both Employees & Workers are entitled to the safe leave as a Day 1 right;
• Applicants must provide notice to employer but not evidence of domestic abuse having taking place;
• Cost of the paid leave to be met by employer* (intended that this is at the usual rate of pay);
• Department to report on operation of the regulations (no reporting for employers).

The purpose of this Consultation is to determine some practical and implementation measures such as:

1. How to develop Legislative Framework
2. The Process for taking Safe Leave
3. Regulatory, Equality and other impacts of the Right

Of note are issues around:

• Pay (question relates to if should be normal pay as paid for the Working Time Directive Holidays or basic pay)
• Notice Requirements (if should be a requirement in Regulations or dealt with by Guidance)

It is a much shorter document containing 16 Questions and again would encourage Members to respond.

You can respond online at:

https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/consultations/domestic-abuse-safe-leave

The closing date for the consultation responses is: 5.00pm on Friday 27 September 2024.

We will also cover this briefly at the Briefly Session on 31 July 2024 and very much welcome any comments or questions from Members.