As set out in our previous blog, Labour’s manifesto previously pledged to introduce an Employment Rights Bill and other proposed changes within 100 days; many believed the 100 days period starts with the King’s Speech, which took place today, 17 July 2024.
In their manifesto the Labour Party has claimed that “Britain’s outdated employment laws are not fit for the modern economy.” So, what have they committed to, and what timeframes are we working to?
Before we go into the details we wanted to let you know that we’re planning on hosting a series of employment law changes webinars – if you’d be interested, please confirm by getting in touch and we’ll add you to our newsletter for more information. On these webinars we will discuss how you can best prepare for the changes as more information is disclosed.
What was said?
King Charles said that the Government was “committed to making work pay” and intended to bring in a “new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”, through the Employment Right Bill.
He also said the Government are committed to “[establishing] the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models”.
What do we know?
Employment Rights Bill
The Employment Rights Bill is included in the 40 draft bills within the King’s Speech. We know from previous commitments that this will:
- Extending the limitation dates for Employment Tribunal claims, from 3 months to 6 months
- Make unfair dismissal a “day one right”
- Make sick pay and parental leave a “day one right”
- Make flexible working a “day one right”
- Make Statutory Sick Pay [“SSP”] more accessible by removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period
- Seek to ban zero-hour contracts
- Reform the categories of employment status to: “workers” and “genuinely self-employed”
- Introduce bereavement leave and paid parental and carers leave
- Make it unlawful to dismiss a pregnant woman except in “specific circumstances”
- End the practices of fire and rehire
- Remove “unnecessary” restrictions on trade unions, including the Conservative government’s controversial law aimed at ensuring a minimum level of service during strikes.
- Introducing a single enforcement body [“SEB”] for worker’s rights
- Introducing a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector
- Introducing the “right to switch off”
For more information on how to prepare for all these changes, check out our blog here.
Realistically, as with any bill, the actual wording and debate resulting from these proposals is yet to be seen. Whilst some changes are welcomed, others (such as the changes to unfair dismissal) are expected to be subject to scrutiny from employers and industry bodies.
Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
The King also confirmed the that the Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will be introduced. This would do more than we expected; it would obligate employers with more than 250 employers to report the pay gap between race, and also between disabled and non-disabled employees.
At the moment, it is believed that the pay gap between disabled and non-disabled employees is 13.8%.
It is believed that the requirements of this bill will otherwise mirror the Gender Pay Gap Reporting obligations.
Overall, the King’s Speech did commit to the changes we were expecting. Whether it will be done in 100 days remains to be seen…!
By Alicia Collinson
