The King’s Speech delivered on Wednesday 17th July set out the Government’s priorities. Notably 39 Bills were announced; two of which are of particular relevance from an employment law perspective.
In particular the King’s Speech stated:
- The Government’s legislative programme will be mission led and based upon the principles of security, fairness, and opportunity for all.
- 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 (Employment Rights Bill)
- Legislation on race equality will be published in draft to enshrine the full right to equal pay in law (Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill).
Further details have been set out in the King’s Speech 2024 briefing note and are summarised below.
The Employment Rights Bill will be introduced within the first 100 days and is said to ‘represent the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation’.
The Bill is said to deliver on policies set out in Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay that require primary legislation to implement. It goes on to say that the Plan includes commitments to the following:
- Creating the right to protection from unfair dismissal from day one (although it’s noted that employers can operate probationary periods to assess new hires). The Government’s aim is that in extending protections to workers from day one it will encourage more workers to switch jobs, which is associated with higher wages and productivity growth.
- Making flexible working the default from day-one for all workers, with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable.
- Strengthening protections for new mothers by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances.
- Deliver a genuine living wage that accounts for the cost of living.
- Removing the age bands on National Minimum Wage to ensure every adult worker benefits.
- Banning exploitative zero-hour contracts. The number of zero hours contracts has risen to over one million over the last decade. The Bill aims to provide additional security and predictability for these workers. Ensuring workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work and that all workers get reasonable notice of any changes in shift with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed.
- Ending ‘fire and rehire’ by reforming the law to provide effective remedies and replacing the statutory code.
- Parental leave to be a day one right.
- Removing the three-day waiting period and ensuring statutory sick pay (SSP) is available from the first day of absence. The number of workers inactive due to long-term sickness is said to be at an historic high at around 2.8 million.
- Establishing a new Single Enforcement Body, also known as a Fair Work Agency, to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights.
- Establishing a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector and, following review, assessing how and to what extent such agreements could benefit other sectors.
- Updating trade union legislation, removing restrictions on trade union activity – including the law on minimum service levels – and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.
- Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions and introduce a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces.
Notably, the proposal to remove ‘employee status’ and move towards a simplified two-tier framework of ‘worker’ and ‘self-employed’ is not mentioned in the briefing note (albeit the protection from unfair dismissal is stated to apply to ‘workers’). The devil will undoubtedly be in the detail, and we will update you accordingly once the Bill has been published.
Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
According to research, ethnic minority groups typically earn less than their white counterparts and although there has been growth in employment rates for disabled people in recent years, disabled people have on average, lower incomes than non-disabled people.
The draft Bill delivers on Labour’s manifesto commitment to enshrine in law the right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people. Making it much easier for them to bring unequal pay claims where they have been underpaid.
The draft Bill will also introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers (those with 250+ employees) to help close the ethnicity and disability pay gaps.
What Next?
Labour has pledged that it is pro-worker and pro-business and will work in partnership with trade unions and businesses to deliver their New Deal. The Manifesto sets out that they are committed to following a proper parliamentary process for their legislative proposals, with a full and comprehensive consultation on the implementation of the New Deal.
Whilst the plans are ambitious, change is not going to happen overnight.
This is only intended to be a summary and not specific legal advice. If you would like further information or advice, please do contact a member of our team.
Contact Us
If you have any questions on employment law, please contact a member of the team:
Selene Holden (seleneholden@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717436)
Greg Jones (gregjones@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717446)
Angharad Ellis Owen (aeo@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717453)
Katie Harris-Wright (katieharris-wright@greene-greene.com ~ 01284 717442)
For more information on the services offered by Greene & Greene Solicitors please visit www.greene-greene.com and follow on X (Twitter) @GreeneGreeneLaw.
