What does the King’s Speech tell us about Labour’s plans for employment law

by Sam Pardey HR Dept

The King’s Speech confirmed that Labour intends to implement an Employment Rights Bill, following their manifesto promise to “make work pay”.

The government has confirmed that this legislation will be brought before parliament during the first 100 days – which means we can expect it before the end of October.

What was said in the King’s Speech?

King Charles said that his government “Is committed to making work pay and will legislate to introduce a new deal for working people, to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”.

Further background information, provided by the government, states that this plan “will create a new partnership between business, trade unions and working people”.

What can we expect to be included in the Employment Rights Bill?

The government has confirmed that the Bill will include the following commitments:

• Banning exploitative zero-hour contracts means workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work. Workers will also be entitled to reasonable notice of any changes in shifts, with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed.
• Making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one for all workers – though they have confirmed that employers can still operate probationary periods to assess new hires.
• Strengthening of statutory sick pay (SSP), removing the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers, as well as removing the three-day waiting period.
• Make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, with employers expected to accommodate this as far as is reasonable.
• Strengthened protections for new mothers, making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (this excludes specific circumstances).
• Establishing a new single enforcement body, to be known as the Fair Work Agency, which will be tasked with strengthening the enforcement of workplace rights.
• Updates to trade union legislation, removing restrictions applied by the previous government and simplifying the process of statutory recognition.
• Ending ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’ practices through legislative reform.

What does this mean for your business?

You need to get prepared and begin future-proofing your business. And you need to do it now.

Contracts, policies and handbooks will all need to be rewritten to reflect the changes that are coming, particularly to take into account the changes to day-one rights.

If you need to carry out any organisational changes or restructuring, you need to prioritise this, making sure your processes need to be audited to ensure they are fit for purpose.

Most importantly, are your probationary processes clear and being implemented effectively? This becomes even more important with protection from unfair dismissal becoming a day one right.