Employment law is poised for significant change. The forthcoming Employment Rights Bill, expected to be unveiled by mid-October, promises sweeping reforms across key areas, including unfair dismissal, fire and rehire practices, flexible working, and zero hours contracts. To help our clients navigate the changes, we are delighted to launch our UK Employment Law Reforms Tracker, which sets out:

 

As the 100-day deadline for publication of the Employment Rights Bill approaches, uncertainty remains as to much of the detail of the proposed reforms. While the Plan to Make Work Pay set out ambitious plans for reform, it gave little sense of how the policies would be translated into legislation. 

Over the past few months, speculation as to the shape of the reforms has appeared regularly in the media. Most recently it was reported that a landing point had been reached on the length of probationary periods intended to be permitted under the flagship policy of day one unfair dismissal rights. Clarification that this will be six months is helpful as it aligns with the approach taken by many employers. However, the issue of greater concern for employers is the extent to which the operation of a probationary period will limit the ability to bring an unfair dismissal claim.

What’s more the scope of the Bill is also unclear. The introduction of a single status of worker (which would harmonise rights between employees and workers) was central to the Plan to Make Work Pay. However, the policy was not referenced in the King’s Speech and it is uncertain whether measures to implement single status will feature in the Bill.

 

With so much change and uncertainty on the horizon, we will be keeping a close watch on developments, and will be keeping our UK Employment Law Reforms Tracker up-to-date.  

Please get in touch if you wish to discuss any of the proposals.

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