Employment Rights Bill: What You Need To Know
The Government has announced details of the Employment Rights Bill, which will be introduced in Parliament later today.
The Bill will bring forward 28 individual employment law reforms, including measures on ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts and ‘fire and rehire’ practices, and establishing protection from unfair dismissal from day one of employment.
The Government is also expected to publish plans for employment legislation which, although not included in the Bill, it intends to implement in the future, such as a new ‘right to switch off’ and a transition towards a simpler two-part framework for employment status.
The Government has confirmed that the Bill will include measures to:
make unfair dismissal a ‘day one’ right – the current two-year qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal will be removed and the Government will consult on a statutory probation period for new hires to assess their suitability for a role
end ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts – those on zero and low hours contracts will gain the right to a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period
end ‘unscrupulous fire and rehire practices’
introduce rights to paternity, unpaid parental and bereavement leave from day one
remove the current three-day waiting period and the lower earnings limit for statutory sick pay
strengthen flexible working by making it the default where this is ‘practical’
require large employers to create action plans on addressing gender pay gaps and supporting employees through the menopause
strengthen protections for pregnant women and new mothers, including protection from dismissal while pregnant, on maternity leave and within six months of returning to work
establish a new enforcement agency, the Fair Work Agency, which will bring together existing enforcement powers and also enforce rights such as holiday pay
repeal the Minimum Service Levels legislation introduced by the previous Government
address low pay by accounting for the cost of living when setting minimum wage rates and removing discriminatory age bands.
Alongside the proposed legislation, the Government will publish a ‘Next Steps’ document to outline reforms that it will look to implement in the future. Subject to consultation, these will include:
a ‘right to switch off’, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances
a commitment to end pay discrimination by expanding the Equality (Race and Disparity) Bill, which was announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, to make it mandatory for large employers to report their ethnicity and disability pay gap
a move towards a single status of worker and transition towards a simpler two-part framework for employment status
reviews of the parental leave and carers leave systems.
Most of the planned changes will not take effect before autumn 2026 following a period of consultation.
Source: Employment Lawyers Association
We will be delving into the detail in terms of impact for employers in the weeks to come, but if you have any questions you can get in touch with our expert team of Employment Law Partners and People Consultants via hello@starfordlegalhr.com