News

King Charles III spoke at the state opening of parliament outlining 40 pieces of legislation to be delivered in the forthcoming year by the new Labour Government.

In amongst these, he announced not one, but two bills on employment law aimed at supporting working people aiming to “ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”.

The Government briefed that changes were integral to the Labour party’s manifesto commitment to strengthen workers’ rights and would be “mission led” and “based upon the principles of security, fairness and opportunity for all”. They promised:

• Employment Rights Bill
• Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

So how will the proposed changes shake up employment law as we currently know it?

The Employment Rights Bill, which will be introduced by October 2024, includes legislation which will implement the following from Labour’s Employment Rights Green Paper, “A New Deal for Working People”:

• A ban on ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts, ensuring workers have rights to a contract reflecting average hours worked and more security over shift scheduling.
• Day One employment rights; including rights not to be unfairly dismissed (though employers will be able to operate probationary periods).
• Restrictions on ‘fire and re-hire’ and ‘fire and replace’.
• Making flexible working the default from Day One.
• Establishing a new state enforcement agency, called the Fair Work Agency; and
• New rights for unions to access workplaces and other ‘union-friendly’ reforms.

Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

 New laws will be created to ensure equality when it comes to pay, in addition to the existing measures which apply to sex only; the aim being to “enshrine full right to equal pay in law”. These changes will:

• extend the equal pay regime so that it covers race and disability as well as sex; and
• introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for employers with at least 250 people.

What other possible changes might we expect?

Commitments to:

• link the National Living Wage to the cost of living, and
• remove the lower rate for 18- to 20-year-olds.
• reform the apprenticeship levy,
• establishing a body called Skills England,
• introduce pension schemes bill to help the average earner save more than £11,000,
• appropriate legislation to regulate AI. 

When will things change?

Labour had said that the bill would be introduced within the first 100 days of office, so that suggests that it will be put before parliament by October 2024; very soon!

But what happens next? The Bill has to go through both houses of parliament, will likely see changes along the way taking a few months so it may even be a year or more.

It is expected that the bill will undergo a thorough consultation with employers and trade unions to ensure they do not have an adverse impact in practice, including reluctance to engage people as employees due to the increased day one protections / rights. The key is to make changes that are fair and reasonable and work in practice.

The King's Speech – at 1,421 words - was the longest for over 20 years. So there is a fair bit for parliamentarians to get through.

I will be keeping an eye on how the legislation progresses, and engaging in consultation when the opportunit6y arises. As more details are revealed we will update this blog, so watch this space!