Employment Law Changes are Coming
The new Labour Government will shortly begin to implement its proposed changes to the workplace that are collectively called ‘Make Work Pay’.
It is committed to introducing some reforms within 100 days of taking power.
The exact nature of the changes remains unclear at this stage but employers should take note that changes are coming and this will influence employment policies, procedures and established practices.
Headline policy announcements include the following initiatives:
- Banning zero hours contracts, meaning that employees will likely have a contract that reflects their typical hourly working pattern.
- Ending fire and rehire or fire and replace practices. Here the suggestion is that flexibility is too heavily loaded in favour of the employer.
- Introducing basic rights from day one of appointment to parental leave and sick pay. Likewise there will be some form of enhanced protection from dismissal at the early stages of employment.
- To strengthen the collective voice of workers, including through their trade unions, which will likely involve the creation of a Single Enforcement Body – a ‘Fair Work Agency’.
- The Independent Low Pay Commission will ensure that the living wage accounts for the cost of living.
- One the areas that has attracted significant attention is making flexible working the default from day one for all workers, with “employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable.”
- They also plan to remove any discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage. This will likely deliver a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK.
There are other components and the full policy paper can be found here.
In October we anticipate seeing the first stage of the practical detail behind these proposals at which stage we anticipate a need for review amongst organisations of all types.
To discuss your employment law needs contact our team.