The government has unveiled its Employment Bill that introduces a raft of reforms that is intended to overhaul the employment landscape.
It is anticipated that the updates will not be approved and implemented until Autumn 2026, with many provisions being subject to consultation.
However, employers should review their policies and practices now to ensure that they have enough time to implement changes to ensure they will be compliant.
There are 28 provisions but the key points to note are:
Dismissal
- The requirement for two years’ service to gain protection from unfair dismissal will become a ‘day one’ right that begins when the employee starts work.
- The possible introduction of a statutory probation called an ‘initial period’ of employment during which a dismissal will only be fair if the employer follows the steps that will be set out in future regulation. The ‘initial period’ has been reported in the press as likely to be 9 months.
Fire and Re-Hire
There is also a commitment to prohibit employers from firing employees and re-hiring them on less favourable terms than their original contract.
- The Bill makes dismissing an employee for not agreeing to changes to their employment contract an automatically unfair reason for dismissal, unless it can be evidenced that the contractual change was to genuinely avoid financial difficulties.
- However, this would be quite onerous and indeed employers may instead consider re-structuring and redundancies as this would be simpler to show.
Zero Hour Contracts and Guaranteed Hours
- The Bill contains obligations on employers to offer workers on zero-hour contracts guaranteed hours and to provide reasonable notice for shifts that have been organised.
- If a shift is cancelled, moved or curtailed without reasonable notice, the employer must compensate the affected workers.
Statutory Sick Pay
- The Bill removes the requirement to earn at least £123 per week to be qualify for statutory sick pay and allows for it to apply from the first day of incapacity, rather than on the fourth consecutive day.
Sexual harassment
- The upcoming changes to anti-sexual harassment legislation is bolstered by the additional requirement for employers to take “all reasonable” steps to prevent harassment of their workers by third parties, with future regulation set to detail what is “reasonable”.
Leave
- Under current legislation, parents are entitled to bereavement leave but the Bill extends this right to everyone else. If more than one person dies and the relationships with the deceased qualify for bereavement leave, then a person is entitled to leave in respect of each deceased person.
- There is also a commitment to remove the 26 weeks’ qualifying period for parental leave and paternity leave and instead make it a ‘day one’ right.
- Parents will be able to take their paternity leave and pay in addition to and following shared parental leave.
Flexible Working
Employers are prohibited from refusing an application for flexible working without having reasonable justification for doing so. If refused, the grounds must be explained.
Other provisions
Additional proposals in the Bill include:
- Requirement for the written statement of particulars of employment to state that the worker has a right to join a trade union
- Employers with over 250 employees will need to develop and publish an action plan detailing how they are tackling gender pay gaps and supporting employees experiencing menopause
- Collective consultation and notification requirements will apply when an employer is proposing to make 20 or more redundancies, regardless of whether the redundancies are taking place across several establishments of the business
- Employers to consult with workers when creating or amending their tipping policies to help ensure fair distribution of tips
Contact Peach Law today to find out how these changes will impact your business and what steps you will need to take to make sure you are compliant with the amended legislation.
Email: hello@peachlaw.co.uk
Tel: 0161 478 3800
