Please note: Since the publishing of this article, the government has tabled amendments to the Employment Rights Bill. You can read about them here.

The Government has today announced what is thought to be the biggest changes to employment law legislation for decades, in the form of the new Employment Rights Bill.

When the Labour Government came into power 4 July 2024 and after setting out their agenda in the Kings Speech (essentially the “Make Work Pay” document from prior to coming into power), they promised to implement the Employment Rights Bill and the draft Equality Race and Disability Bill within 100 days of office; widely understood to be 12 October 2024.

With two days to go before that deadline, the Government has delivered on that promise, introducing new legislation to Parliament aimed to “upgrade workers’ rights across the UK, tackle poor working conditions and benefit businesses and workers alike”.

The Bill includes 28 individual employment reforms covering everything from parental leave to zero hours contracts.

To summarise, the key changes outlined in the Bill include:

  • Protection from unfair dismissal will become a day one right (removing the current two-year qualifying period). However, there will be a consultation on a statutory probation period (likely to be a maximum of nine-months) for new employees to give employers the ability to properly assess new hires.

  • Statutory sick pay will be made available to workers from the first day that they are ill rather than the fourth day and the lower earning limit will be removed. The lower earning limit currently stands at £123 per week, meaning anyone earning below that will not be entitled to statutory sick pay. It is thought that a new lower limit will be put in place.

  • Flexible working will be expanded making it mandatory for employers to consider flexible working requests made from day one and to approve requests unless they can be proved unreasonable.

  • New mothers will have greater protection in the workplace. The Employment Rights Bill will make it unlawful for employers to dismiss a woman returning from maternity leave for a period 6 months. This effectively extends the protection for women from the maternity period.   It is unclear about what may happen with a genuine redundancy situation.

  • Paternity leave changes will mean that fathers will be eligible to take parental leave from day one of employment rather than the current 26 weeks.

  • Parents will also be entitled to unpaid parental leave from day one of employment, instead of one year and day one unpaid bereavement leave rights will also be introduced.

  • Ending “exploitative” zero-hour contracts. Workers on these contracts and low-hours contracts will have the right to a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period. This will give those that want it security of earnings while allowing those that prefer a zero-hours contract to remain on it.

  • The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, brought in by the previous Government, has been repealed.

  • To tackle controversial fire and rehire tactics, the Government is closing loopholes and introducing stronger protections against unfair dismissal.

  • Employers will have a legal obligation to provide a written statement to inform a worker of their right to join a trade union.

  • There is to be more support for female employees and menopause. Employers with 250 employees or more may be required to implement to introduce menopause action plans.

These are being deemed as some of the biggest changes in employment law yet.

The Bill would have to go through Parliament and subsequently the House of Lords so in reality it could actually be year 2025 or 2026 before the laws are actually in force; and there would need to be sufficient time for the Regulations and Code of Practices etc. to be written and more importantly for employers to prepare for such far reaching and huge changes.

The Government has also announced its ‘Next Steps’ document outlining further reforms expected to be implemented in the future.

These include:

  • The right to switch off – legislation aimed at preventing employers from contacting employees outside of working hours, except in exceptional circumstances.

  • The expansion of the Equality (Race and Disparity) Bill to include ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers

  • A single status created of Worker. This would effectively merge the employee and worker status together. This alone has far-reaching consequences.

  • Reviews of parental and carers’ leave, ensuring they work for both employers and workers and their loved ones.

As these changes begin to come into place, we’ll be keeping a close eye on possible implications for employers. If you’re concerned about any changes you should be implementing to ensure you are complying with employment laws, our specialists at Farleys will be happy to advise you or review your contracts, policies and procedures. Simply call 0845 287 0939, get in touch by email, or use the online chat below.