Employment – Labour’s plans for radical reforms to employment law

The King's Speech included an Employment Rights Bill and draft legislation on race and disability pay, but the accompanying briefing notes failed to provide any further detail on the proposals or their timing.

Today's King's Speech has confirmed that the Government will introduce an Employment Rights Bill within the first 100 days, to deliver those policies in the May 2024 New Deal that require primary legislation to implement.  The Government has reiterated its commitment to work in close partnership with, and to invite the views of, trade unions and business on the New Deal.  A few specific policies from the New Deal are mentioned in the briefing notes (although there is no express statement that these are the priorities or represent the only contents of the Bill):

• banning exploitative zero hours contracts;
• ending "the scourges" of fire and rehire [Update 18 July: the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has today confirmed that they are allowing the Conservative government's statutory code on fire and rehire (discussed here) to come into force as planned on 18 July, pending its replacement with a stronger code and legislation];
• day 1 rights to statutory sick pay, parental leave and unfair dismissal (subject to probationary periods);
• enhancing rights to work flexibly;
• strengthening protections for returning mothers;
• creating a single enforcement body;
• implementing a fair pay agreement in adult social care;
• updating trade union legislation; and
• simplifying statutory recognition. 

See our post here for more detail on the New Deal proposed reforms.  No indication has been given as to the intended timing or order for the reforms to be brought into force.

A Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will also be published to "start the work" to enshrine in law the "full right to equal pay" for ethnic minorities and disabled people and to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers (those with 250+ employees).  

The briefing notes also refer to the Government's plans:

• to ensure the national minimum wage is a living wage and to remove the age bands for adults;
• to reform the apprenticeship levy; and
• for "levelling up workers’ rights, so every person has security, respect and dignity at work".  This may be a nod to the New Deal commitment to "move towards" a single worker status  - but this will be a longer term project following a full and detailed consultation.

We have available for clients a comprehensive briefing paper covering the detail of the proposals made available so far, along with some suggestions on the likely scope where the detail is lacking (in light of Labour thinktank papers, the union agenda and legislative initiatives in the last parliament). We also analyse each proposal in terms of the impact for employers and steps that employers can start taking now to prepare.  Please do get in touch with Anna Henderson (contact details below) or your usual HSF contact if you would like a copy.