The King's Speech - 17 July 2024
2 new Employment bills within 100 days
The King’s Speech is a key constitutional event in Parliament, as it sets out the laws the Government intends to introduce. The new Government delivered it's King's Speech yesterday, and promised 2 new Employment bills:
a new Employment Rights Bill
a new Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
The new bills will be introduced within 100 days - therefore published in October. These changes are described as “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation”. Because any new legislation must be debated in both Houses of Parliament and agreed prior to receiving Royal Assent and becoming law, it is likely that the new legislation would not come into effect until next year.
There are some questions over how the new rights will work in practice. We will have more detail once the bills are published in October.
Below are the key changes that were set out in the Labour manifesto and detailed in our newsletter on 5 July 2024, with commentary in RED on anything that has changed in light of yesterday's King's Speech, as well as some new developments, also in RED.
1. New Day 1 rights – including unfair dismissal
A key manifesto pledge was the introduction of several new “Day 1” rights, including the right to sick pay, parental leave and (crucially) the right not to be unfairly dismissed. Currently, an employee needs a minimum of 2 years’ continuous employment to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. Very soon, this right will apply from Day 1 of employment.
CONFIRMED - subject to probationary periods to allow employers to assess new hires.
In addition, the Government stated in the King's Speech that it will strengthen protections for new mothers, making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return, other than in exceptional circumstances.
Labour also plans to remove the cap on compensation for unfair dismissal (currently £115,115) such that compensation in successful claims is unlimited, like in discrimination and whistleblowing claims.
ASSUMED CONFIRMED - as the Government's briefing note for the King's Speech states that "The Government is committed to delivering its New Deal for Working People in full".
2. Reforming employment status
Labour intends to consult on moving to a single status of worker. The law currently distinguishes between three types of employment status (employee, worker and self-employed) with different rights given to each.
Labour proposes to introduce a single status of “worker” which will include those that are currently workers and employees. All of these individuals will be entitled to the same basic rights and protections. This would mean, for example, that workers could bring a claim for unfair dismissal. A separate category covering those who are genuinely self-employed will remain.
As Labour have stated that they will consult on the detail of how this simpler framework would work, it seems unlikely that this proposal would form part of the bill that Labour will introduce in the first 100 days. Labour has also stated that there will be a single enforcement body to enforce workers’ rights.
CONFIRMED
3. Flexible working – a default right
Labour have stated that they will make flexible working a default right unless employers have a good reason to refuse it. Currently, there is a right to request flexible working from Day 1 of employment, but this would shift to a right to flexible working.
CONFIRMED - but with exceptions where it is not feasible.
4. Deadlines for Employment Tribunal claims
Labour have stated that the time limits for bringing all claims in an Employment Tribunal will increase from 3 months to 6 months.
ASSUMED CONFIRMED - as the Government's briefing note for the King's Speech states that "The Government is committed to delivering its New Deal for Working People in full".
5. Ban on zero hours contracts
Labour also pledged to ban exploitative zero hours contracts and contracts without a minimum number of guaranteed hours. We await further details of what is meant by “exploitative”, as this may not be a blanket ban.
In addition, Labour have stated that they will introduce a new right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours the employee regularly works, based on a 12-week reference period.
CONFIRMED
6. Ending “fire and re-hire”
“Fire and rehire” tactics means the practice of facilitating a change of employment terms by dismissing employees and then immediately re-engaging them on the new terms. A new Code of Practice was published in February 2024, but Labour does not believe it goes far enough and have committed to end the practice.
CONFIRMED
7. A right to switch off
The Labour manifesto also referred to the introduction of a new right to switch off, i.e. for employees to disconnect from work and not be contacted by their employer outside of working hours. This follows a trend emerging across other European countries (e.g. France) and beyond. How this would work in practice is at the moment unclear.
ASSUMED CONFIRMED - as the Government's briefing note for the King's Speech states that "The Government is committed to delivering its New Deal for Working People in full".
8. Changes to collective consultation rights
Collective redundancy consultation is required where an employer proposes to dismiss 20 or more employees at one “establishment”. Under Labour, this will change so that the number of redundancies across the whole business is determinative, rather than the number at each “establishment”.
CONFIRMED
9. Bereavement leave
Labour intend to introduce a right to unpaid bereavement leave. At the moment, this is only available following the death of a child.
ASSUMED CONFIRMED - as the Government's briefing note for the King's Speech states that "The Government is committed to delivering its New Deal for Working People in full".
10. Race and disability
Labour have stated that there will be new obligations on larger employers to produce ethnicity and disability pay gap reports.
CONFIRMED - and there will be a statutory right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people.
We will keep you updated on any further developments, and on the detail of the proposed changes, via our newsletter. Please get in touch if you have any questions in the meantime.