The Employment Rights Bill — Key takeaways for HR professionals

15 October 2024

4 min read

In July 2024, The King’s Speech indicated that the new Labour Government intended to implement its ‘New Deal for Working People’ in full. On 10 October, the Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) was published, outlining what could be the most significant changes to employment law since the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Here, our Head of Employment and Pensions Nick Campbell and Partner Joe Shelston outline the key changes that HR professionals need to be aware of and plan for.

Employment Rights Bill

The King’s Speech announced that the Employment Rights Bill was expected to be introduced in the first 100 days of the new Government. This was delivered with the publication of the Bill on 10 October 2024.

Key takeaways for HR professionals

The Bill sets out 28 reforms to employment law across over 150 pages. The key takeaways include:

Day one rights — making parental leave, paternity leave, bereavement leave, sick-pay and protection from unfair dismissal day-one rights. Special rules will apply for dismissal during probationary periods and the Government will be consulting on a new statutory probation period.
Fire and rehire — significantly reducing the opportunity to use fire and re-hire (dismissal and re-engagement for failing to agree to a variation of contract).
Flexible working — a requirement on employers to give clearer reasons for refusing an application for flexible working. The changes are not as wide ranging as expected given that the Government had previously spoken about making flexible working “the default for all”.
Protection for new mothers — making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who is either pregnant or who has had a baby, for a period of six months after she returns to work (there are some exceptions).
Sexual harassment and third party harassment — including strengthening the duty to prevent sexual harassment (which is coming into effect on 26 October 2024) and imposing direct liability on employers for failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment by their parties on their workforce..
Statutory sick pay —making this payable from the first day of sickness and removing the lower earnings threshold.
Trade unions — as part of its policy to promote and strengthen the role that trade unions can play in UK workplaces, simplifying the statutory recognition process and introducing a right for workers and union members to access a union and requiring employers to provide a statement of trade union rights.
Zero-hour contracts — banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts to ensure that all employee contracts reflect the actual hours they work.

Alongside the Bill, the Government has published a Next Steps to Make Work Pay document which deals with matters not listed in the Bill such as the extension of time limits for bringing employment tribunal claims, the right to disconnect, single worker status and the creation of a Fair Work Agency to enforce workplace rights. It also sets out that it will use “existing powers and non-legislative routes” to deliver other commitments contained in the Government’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ and the introduce a draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.

When will the reforms take effect?

The Bill is due to have its second reading on 21 October and will then follow the usual passage through Parliament. The Government has indicated that they “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.” They are also looking to progress with the “Delivery of Make Work Pay commitments via existing powers and non-legislative routes” from “Autumn 2024 onwards”.

If you need guidance on how to engage with the consultation process — or if you have any questions about how changes to employment law might affect your business — our expert employment law team is able to assist.

What it means for you

It’s advisable for employers and HR teams to become familiar with the proposed reforms now and take a holistic approach to how they can begin to review and update their own practices to ensure compliance as the Bill progresses.

We’ll be delving deeper into the key strategic priorities for employers over the coming weeks and months, providing the insights and recommendations you need to get prepared and stay compliant.

To find out more about the changes set out in the Employment Rights Bill and beyond that could impact everything from your policies and contracts to recruitment, onboarding and budgets, join our webinar on 23 October. Register your spot.