Following the publication of the new Employment Rights Bill last year, we sent out an Information update in November 2024 detailing the headline reforms proposed by the Bill.
As stressed at the time ‘this is not law yet! It is still going through the law-making machinery and is still subject to change. Fast forward 6 months and we thought it timely to provide an update on the progress of the Bill and any proposed amendments.
This is a huge piece of legislation, covering 28 distinct areas of Employment Law, the amendments and consultation responses represent a complex legal landscape to understand. As previously stated, some of the statutory changes will come in via secondary legislation, such as regulations or codes of practice.
The latest developments to note are in the following areas:
Industrial Relations
- It will reduce the notice period unions have to provide ahead of strike action from 14 to 10 days.
- Extend the mandate for industrial action after a ballot from six months to 12 months.
- The repeal of the 50% industrial action ballot turnout threshold will be subject to commencement on a date to be specified in regulations.
- Extending the trade union access provisions to cover digital access and introduce a fast-track route for achieving an ‘off-the-shelf’ access agreement where certain conditions are met, alongside a mechanism to ensure there are robust penalties in place for non-compliance.
Fire & Rehire
The Bill initially proposed removing reference to the ‘at one establishment’ rule. In a major change, the Government announced that collective consultation will now be required if there are 20 or more redundancies at one establishment or a ‘different threshold’ is met, with those threshold details to be set out in further regulations.
SSP
Low-earners will be entitled to the flat rate of SSP or 80% of their normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower. This could mean that a minority of low-paid employees could be worse off under the change, particularly if they would previously have received the full SSP rate (currently £116.75).
Fair Work Agency:
The Bill establishes the Fair Work Agency to bring together existing enforcement functions, including those related to employment agencies, minimum wage, and gangmaster licensing.
The Bill empowers the Fair Work Agency to recover enforcement costs and impose penalties, potentially increasing the risk of non-compliance with employment rights.
They will also potentially have the right to make claims on behalf of workers even if the worker does not initiate a claim themselves.
There have been many more technical amendments, and a lot will still be left to be determined under secondary legislation.
Next Steps
- The House of Lords is likely to take longer than planned to scrutinise the Bill at the committee stage and this could delay it passing into Law by anything from a day to a few weeks.
- The Government wants the Bill to be passed before Parliaments’ summer recess, which begins on 22nd July, and, even with the potential for delays, July still seems the most likely time for it to pass into Law.
- When the Bill is passed and it receives Royal Assent there will still be a lot that is not fully known. Details of the new probation period in respect of day one rights to claim unfair dismissal, zero-hours contracts reforms and other elements will be finalised following further consultation.
- The Government has promised an implementation plan and to phase in the measures in the Bill but it is not clear what that will look like.
As we can see, there is still a long way to go with regard to the implementation of the Bill and no doubt many changes to come but Sentient will try and keep you advised of important developments as they arise.
