18 July 2024
As expected, yesterday, the King’s speech included the formal announcement of a new Employment Bill, the draft legislation for which will be introduced within 100 days. Although the changes are vast, and the exact details are yet to be seen, the guidance accompanying the King’s speech provides a bit more detail on what can be expected.
The proposals:
- Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts – by ensuring all workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work and that all workers get reasonable notice of any changes in shift with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed;
- Ending “Fire and Rehire” and “Fire and Replace” – by providing effective remedies and replacing the previous inadequate statutory code;
- Introducing day one rights for parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal for all workers (whilst ensuring employers can operate probationary periods to assess new hires);
- Removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick pay;
- Making flexible working the default from day one for all workers;
- Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances;
- Establishing a Fair Work Agency as a single enforcement body to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights;
- Establishing a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector;
- Reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body;
- Updating trade union legislation by removing the requirement for minimum service levels and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining; and
- Simplifying the process of statutory recognition to ensure workers have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces.
- Introducing a new Pensions Bill that will help people save for later life by consolidating small pension pots, preventing people from losing track of their savings, and potentially increasing retirement income by up to 9% for average earners.
Notably, the guidance does not contain any information on moving to a single “worker” status. However, the terminology in the guidance regularly refers to “all workers” rather than “employees” and therefore, it is possible that rights, such as unfair dismissal, may be broadened in their applicability in this way – if not immediately, in the not too distant future. In addition, there was no mention of changing all Employment Tribunal limitation dates to 6 months, rather than the current 3 – which may provide a small bit of relief to employers who are undoubtedly going to have a raft of changes to understand and implement in their organisations!
We will keep you updated as soon as the draft legislation is published, but in the interim, if you require any support, please contact us.