Government Unveils Most Significant Reforms To Employment Rights
Ministers have unveiled the Employment Rights Bill, introduced within 100 days of the new government coming to office, to help deliver economic security and growth to businesses, workers and communities across the UK.
The existing two-year qualifying period for protections from unfair dismissal will be removed, delivering, the government says, on a manifesto commitment to ensure that all workers have a right to these protections from day one on the job.
The government will also consult on a new statutory probation period for companies’ new hires. This will allow for a proper assessment of an employee’s suitability to a role as well as reassuring employees that they have rights from day one, enabling businesses to take chances on hires while giving more people confidence to re-enter the job market or change careers, improving their living standards.
The bill will bring forward 28 individual employment reforms, from ending exploitative zero hours contracts and fire and rehire practices to establishing day one rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers. Statutory sick pay will also be strengthened, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in.
Accompanying this will be measures to help make the workplace more compatible with people’s lives, with flexible working made the default where practical. Large employers will also be required to create action plans on addressing gender pay gaps and supporting employees through the menopause, and protections against dismissal will be strengthened for pregnant women and new mothers. This is all with the intention of keeping people in work for longer, reducing recruitment costs for employers by increasing staff retention and helping the economy grow.
A new Fair Work Agency bringing together existing enforcement bodies will also be established to enforce rights such as holiday pay and support employers looking for guidance on how to comply with the law.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:
“This government is delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation, boosting pay and productivity with employment laws fit for a modern economy. We’re turning the page on an economy riven with insecurity, ravaged by dire productivity and blighted by low pay.”
“The UK’s out-of-date employment laws are holding our country back and failing business and workers alike. Our plans to make work pay will deliver security in work as the foundation for boosting productivity and growing our economy to make working people better off and realise our potential.”
“Too many people are drawn into a race to the bottom, denied the security they need to raise a family while businesses are unable to retain the workers they need to grow. We’re raising the floor on rights at work to deliver a stronger, fairer and brighter future of work for Britain.”
Carers UK welcomed the new rights, and the charity is also calling on the Government to use the Bill as an opportunity to build on workplace rights for carers and lay the foundations for paid Carer’s Leave, with their own research revealing that the upfront cost to Government of implementing paid Carer’s Leave is estimated to only be £5.5 to £32 million, depending on the model adopted. In contrast, the costs of people having to leave work because of their caring responsibilities – based on Carer’s Allowance payment figures and lost tax revenues – is an estimated £1.3 billion a year.
Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK said:
“This Bill will introduce several provisions likely to help unpaid carers juggle work and care, which we warmly welcome. Many carers say that although they don’t want to give up work to care, they feel they have no choice but to do so. This could have a particularly positive impact on workers aged over 50 and those who are women, who are more likely to provide substantial unpaid care for disabled, older and ill relatives and friends.
“Having pledged to consider paid Carer’s Leave, we need to see Government lay the foundations, creating provisions to build on in the future.
“The Employment Rights Bill is only part of the story. To help unpaid carers to stay in work, we need to ensure that there is sufficient investment to deliver a thriving strong social care sector which supports families and an NHS Plan which contains concrete and robust measures to fully assist unpaid carers.”
Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of NCF said:
“We welcome any measures to strengthen the rights and improve the pay, terms and conditions of the social care workforce who make a significant contribution to our economy and the lives of millions of people. It is also encouraging to see that the definition of a ‘social care worker’ in the legislation encompasses the wide diversity of people working in the sector, and not just those in registered services.
However, these measures must be accompanied by the financial and wider support necessary for providers to implement them, as well as interim measures to boost care worker pay. This bill represents a significant step change in basic employment rights which we welcome, and it will be important that employers are supported to deliver these for all workers delivering vital public care services.”
“The implementation of a Fair Pay Agreement for care workers, must be backed by state funding as the matter can’t simply be passed to local authorities and employers in an unfunded manner, or it will fail. The success of a Fair Pay Agreement is predicated upon the shared efforts of employers, commissioners and central government ensuring that resourcing and investment is in the right place to enable sustained increases in wages and the maintenance of pay differentials in more senior roles.”
Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Policy Natasha Curry said:
“This Bill is a major step towards giving adult social care the visibility and priority it has been lacking for far too long. The provisions on pay and conditions massively strengthen the Secretary of State’s powers and responsibilities for social care staffing, making them clearly accountable in a way that has previously been lacking.
“A Fair Work Agency to enforce rights and standards will be good news for hundreds of thousands of social care staff who often work under precarious conditions. The lack of consistent access to sick pay was a serious weakness during Covid-19, punishing staff who did the right thing and stayed home while unwell. It is great to see this addressed.
“A Fair Pay Agreement with legally binding minimum pay, terms and conditions would be a crucial step for social care. We saw in Skills for Care’s report today how poor pay and conditions are leading to a fall in domestic workers and an increasing and precarious reliance on overseas recruits.
“However, the new rights and any changes to pay will need to be implemented carefully because social care is in such a precarious state after decades of neglect. Many employers are so financially squeezed that suddenly requiring guaranteed hours and additional rights without support could push some into bankruptcy. We know that local authorities are already dipping into their reserves to service adult social care services: they have less than no room to absorb new costs.”
