The Employment Rights Bill
In July 2024, the new government confirmed in the King’s Speech that it would bring forward an Employment Rights Bill. This was part of their pre-election publication Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering A New Deal for Working People.
The Employment Rights Bill was published on 10 October 2024 and contains 28 significant reforms. At the same time, the government also published a policy paper Next Steps to Make Work Pay which outlines the government’s approach to employment rights and sets out the plans for consultations about and implementation of some of the measures in this Bill.
Consultations are expected to start in 2025, with the anticipation that many of the proposed reforms will be in force no earlier than 2026. In the case of the unfair dismissal reforms, no sooner than autumn 2026.
Below is a summary of just some of the major reforms contained within the Bill.
Basic rights from day one
Employees will be given the right not to be unfairly dismissed from their first day in new employment. There may be an alternative dismissal procedure introduced for those dismissed during or just after a probationary period. If requested, employers will need to give written reasons for dismissal in the period after a probationary period ends (probably three months).
Six-month probationary periods
A new statutory probation period for new hires to allow for a proper assessment of an employee’s suitability for a role. The government is consulting on the appropriate length, but it is likely to be nine months.
Bereavement and paternity rights
Rights to bereavement, paternity and parental leave from day one removing the qualifying period for paternity leave and ordinary parental leave.
Protection will also apply to other forms of family leave such as adoption leave, shared parental leave and neonatal care leave. There may be a ban on dismissals of women who are pregnant, on maternity leave, and during a six-month return to work period, except in specific circumstances.
Statutory Sick Pay
Removal of the three-day waiting period (so employees are eligible from the first day of illness or injury) and removing the lower earnings limit test for eligibility.
Ending unfair practices
Ending zero-hour contracts and fire and rehire practices. Workers will be able to choose to stay on a zero-hours contract but they will have the right to a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period and a right to reasonable notice of shifts.
The Bill proposes ending fire and rehire practices and dismissal in a fire and rehire situation will become automatically unfair. There are likely to be some limited exceptions. The government is also consulting on proposals to increase or remove entirely the cap of 90 days’ pay on protective awards for failure to inform and consult in relation to collective redundancies in the context of fire and rehire.
Flexible workplace
New measures include making flexible working the default position where practical. Employers will be required to justify the refusal of flexible working requests, and the reasons must be reasonable.
A right to disconnect
Despite much anticipation about the introduction of a ‘right to disconnect’ this is not one of the reforms in the Bill. However, there will be a consultation about this in 2025, and the right to disconnect is likely to be introduced by way of a statutory Code of Practice.
Inequality
New measures to ensure large employers address gender inequality. Employers with more than 250 employees will be required to publish “equality action plans” as well as “menopause action plans”.
Protection from harassment
Employers will have a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent workplace harassment. What amounts to reasonable steps is yet to be defined. Employers will also be liable for third-party harassment unless the employer took all reasonable steps to prevent this.
Sexual harassment will be added to the list of what constitutes a qualifying disclosure, making it clear that this can amount to whistleblowing.
Trade unions
New rights for trade unions to access workplaces. This is for recruitment, organising (not including organising industrial action) and collective bargaining purposes although there will be a prescribed procedure. A collective redundancy consultation will be triggered if there are 20 or more redundancy dismissals in a 90-day period regardless of whether the redundancies are taking place at a single site or at multiple sites.
The Bill also contains reforms to statutory union recognition and introduces an obligation on employers to notify workers of their right to join a trade union. The Bill proposes repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and most provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016.
Enforcement
A new Fair Work Agency will be established bringing together existing enforcement bodies to enforce rights such as holiday pay.
Summary
The Bill represents some of the most significant employment law changes in a generation. There is clearly much work to be done in the next few months and years in the shape of consultations, amendments and changes to the legislation and regulations as the Bill progresses through Parliament.
As always, we’ll keep you posted as soon as we have more detail about each of the reforms. However, if you have concerns about any aspects of the Bill and how it may affect you or your business, we urge you to get in touch as soon as possible. It is not too early to start planning and preparing for the reforms.
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