The Kings Speech on the 17th July 2024 included an Employment Rights Bill and other employment law related legislation. As we highlighted in a recent article, the Labour Party has undertaken to introduce the Employment Rights Bill and the other employment law legislation within 100 days of entering Government.
In addition to the Employment Rights Bill, the Kings Speech included the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, the Skills England Bill, and other employment law measures
Employment Rights Bill
The main piece of legislation within the Kings Speech was the Employment Rights Bill. The Employment Rights Bill includes the following:-
- Zero Hours Contracts: A ban on what the Government calls "exploitative" and "one sided" zero hours contracts, ensuring that workers have the right to a contract that reflects the number of hours regularly work based upon a twelve-week reference period, and reasonable notice re shift changes, thereby providing some security and predictability.
- Fire & Rehire: A ban on ‘fire and rehire’ except where there is no other viable option to ensure the survival of the business and where a proper procedure has been followed. The statutory code introduced by the previous Government will also be replaced
- Day One Rights: Currently, employees have to have 2 years of continuous service before acquiring the right to bring a claim for unfair / constructive dismissal. Workers will now have this right from day 1 of their employment. Nevertheless, employers will still be able to incorporate probabtionary periods into their workers contracts of employment. Entitlement to statutory sick pay (SSP) will also become a day 1 right (as opposed to having to wait 3 consecutive days at present) and the right to SSP will be extended to all workers by removing the lower earnings eligibility threshold. Parental leave will also become a day 1 right
- Flexible Working: Flexible working will become the default from day 1, except where not reasonably possible
- Single Enforcement Body: This will be known as the 'Fair Work Agency'. Its remit will be to enforce employment rights such as holiday pay, sick pay and parental rights, etc, conduct inspections, and to prosecute those employers who are found to be in breach.
- Trade Unions: Eliminate constraints on trade union activities so as to ensure "industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining". Also, making statutory recognition more straightforward and introducing regulations to allow workers reasonable access to a union in workplaces
- Other Measures: To outlaw the dismissal of a mother during the first 6 months following her return to work (except in certain defined situations), to implement a fair pay agreement in the adult social care sector (and to conduct a review into how such agreements can be enacted into other sectors), and to reestablish the School Support Staff Negotiating Body
Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill includes the following:-
- Extending the right to equal pay to ethnic minorities and the disabled
- The introduction of ethnicity pay gap reporting and disability pay gap reporting for firms with 250 or more employees
Skills England Bill
This bill will transfer the duties and responsibilities of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to a new body called Skills England. Moreover, the name of the apprenticeship levy will be changed to the growth and skills levy.
The objectives of Skills England will be to:-
- Develop a unified understanding of national and local skills needs through collaboration with industry, unions, and governmental bodies.
- Assess current and future skills requirements to inform the Department for Education's policy priorities
- Determine what training the growth and skills levy can be used for, to ensure that it aligns with the skills needs within the economy, and to ensure that it provides value for money
- Ensure that national and regional skills systems are addressing skills requirements, and that they are doing so in a co-ordinated manner.
Other Employment Law Legislation
In addition to the Employment Rights Bill, the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and the Skills England Bill, the other proposed employment law legislation included the following:-
- A Pension Schemes Bill incorporating measures to help workers invest more in to their pensions, with the objective of providing "£11,000 more in their pension pots"
- AI technology: To "harness the power of artificial intelligence [and] strengthen safety frameworks"
- A return to work plan to address record levels of economic inactivity and long term sickness, featuring a new jobs service, a youth guarantee, and regional initiatives to reduce economic inactivity and bolster employment and growth.
100 Days
The Labour Government intends to introduce the Employment Rights Bill and the other employment law measures within 100 days of entering office
