Will Labour’s New Deal for Working People impact employment law?

The short answer is, yes, it will.

The King’s Speech this summer outlined Labour’s legislative agenda for their early months in government. Two employment bills were announced, the Employment Rights Bill and a draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. The Prime Minister’s accompanying briefing note provided further detail of Labour’s ‘New Deal for Working People’.

A new Employment Rights Bill

This will likely include these notable changes:

1. Parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment (with special rules for probationary periods)
2. No more zero-hour contracts, workers should have a contract that reflects their regular hours
3. An end to ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ by reforming the law and replacing the statutory code
4. A stop to lower earnings limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick pay
5. Flexible work to become the default for all workers from day one – requiring employers to accommodate reasonable requests
6. Banning the ability to dismiss a woman for six months after they return from maternity leave (with certain exceptions)
7. The creation of a Fair Work Agency to enforce workplace rights
8. A new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector
9. The repeal of the law on minimum service levels for industrial action
10. Simplified process of statutory recognition for trade unions
11. A new right for workers and union members to access a union within workplaces.

The draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

This proposes to “enshrine the full right to equal pay law” for disabled people and ethnic minorities. The same bill also proposes mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting.

Other changes to keep an eye on

Apprenticeship levy – The King’s Speech also mentioned the reform of the apprenticeship levy. During the election campaign, Labour spoke about relaxing the rules in relation to the levy, so that half of it could be used to train existing staff.

Living Wage – Labour’s pledge to provide a genuine living wage for working people. The first steps have already been taken to introduce this, with the Government altering the Low Pay Commission’s remit at the end of July, to require it to factor in the cost of living when recommending minimum wage rates.

We now await the draft legislation itself.

Further Reading

• How will the new Labour Government impact the workplace?
• Case highlights nuances in discrimination for a disability