The Government has published its plans for workers’ rights, describing them as the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Employment Rights Bill will raise the minimum floor of employment rights, raise living standards across the country and provide better support for those businesses which are engaged in good practices.
In a statement, he said: “This is a comprehensive Bill which, once implemented, will represent the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation.”
And he added: “This is a pro-worker, pro-business plan. The Government will tackle head-on the issues within the UK labour market that are holding Britain back.
“The Plan to Make Work Pay sets out a vision for modern and fair employment protections that will set the country up for the future.
“This Bill will increase the baseline set of rights for employees with parental or other caring responsibilities, enabling more working parents to get on at work, and achieve a better work life balance – whether that’s raising children, improving their own wellbeing, or looking after a loved one with a long-term health condition.
“Businesses will gain, too, where this boosts increased workforce participation, helping employers fill vacancies. Measures will increase the likelihood of a request for flexible working arrangements to be granted, introduce day one entitlement to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, and introduce a statutory entitlement to Bereavement Leave.”
The Bill also included plans to ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and “unscrupulous” fire and rehire practices.
Mr Reynolds said, as is typical with employment legislation, further detail on many of the policies in the Bill will be provided through regulations after Royal Assent is given.
“We expect to begin consulting on these reforms in 2025, seeking significant input from all stakeholders, and anticipate this meaning that the majority of reforms will take effect no earlier than 2026.
“Reforms of unfair dismissal will take effect no sooner than autumn 2026.”
Unions have welcomed the measures as a “seismic shift” from the low pay, low productivity economy they accused the previous Conservative government of presiding over.
Some measures, such as the right to “switch off” at the end of a working day, are not in the Bill but will be included in a so-called Next Steps document for further consideration and consultation.
Employment minister Alison McGovern rejected suggestions that the Government had put off the more radical measures because it had lost its confidence, telling Sky News when asked: “Not at all.
“Some of the changes that are in this Bill on a personal level I have been trying to bring about for 14 years, for example the restriction for unwanted zero-hours contracts, that’s been a massive problem in our economy for such a long time and today is the day when we finally get to publish the Bill that shows the way forward.”
Business groups welcomed the Bill, with the CBI praising the Government for engaging with business and unions.
The Federation of Small Businesses was the only main business group critical of the Bill, saying: “This legislation is a rushed job, clumsy, chaotic and poorly planned – dropping 28 new measures onto small business employers all at once leaves them scrambling to make sense of it all.”
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Today’s Bill marks a historic moment for our female-dominated profession, paving the way for the biggest advance in workers’ rights in a generation.
“A fair pay agreement in social care, enshrined in law, and a new body to root out care worker exploitation are measures the RCN has long been calling for. Raising pay, rights and employment standards in the sector is now a step closer to reality.”
