Amendments to the Employment Rights Bill 2024

Guaranteed hours

• Provisions to extend some of the rights in the Bill for zero hours workers to agency workers: such as the right to a guaranteed hours contracts (where specific criteria has been met), reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for short notice cancelled, curtained or moved shifts
• these rights (to guaranteed hours and reasonable notice of shifts) can be excluded through a relevant collective agreement if the terms of the collective agreement are incorporated into an individual’s contract of employment

Collective redundancy consultation

• Originally under the Bill, collective consultation was to be triggered if 20 or more redundancies were to take place across the business (rather than at one establishment as had been the case prior to the Bill’s introduction). However, a move back to the original position has been proposed in part ie that collective consultation will now be required if:
  • there are 20 or more redundancies at one establishment but now also
  • in the alternative, if a different threshold is met.
    
    The specifics of this alternative threshold will be outlined in future regulations; however it is expected to be based on redundancies across the whole employing entity, potentially as a percentage or a fixed number (for example, the lower of 10% or 100 employees across the business)
• employers do not need to consult all appropriate representatives together or try to reach the same agreement with all the representatives
• the maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult on redundancies has been increased from 90 to 180 days
• it is confirmed that interim relief (i.e. temporary and early financial relief for employees by way of employment being preserved pending the full hearing on a claim) will not be a remedy available to employees dismissed in breach of collective consultation requirements, as previously planned

Statutory sick pay

• the rate for those earning below the Lower Earnings Limit will be set at 80% of their normal weekly earnings where it is less than the prescribed weekly flat rate (of £118.75 from April 2025) and is payable from day one of sickness

Bereavement leave and pay

• The Bill has provision to convert the existing statutory parental bereavement leave of 2 weeks following the death of a child under 18 or in the case of a stillborn child to a more general form of bereavement leave but it was not to include pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Although this extension has been raised and pushed for, there has been no amendment to address this loss. However, the government has accepted the principle of leave and further amendment is anticipated in this regard as the Bill proceeds through the House of Lords
• Otherwise, issues relating to paternity leave, kinship care and pay for carer’s leave (currently one unpaid week’s leave is available per year following its introduction in 2024) are due to be reviewed in June

Dismissal and Reengagement (aka Fire and rehire)

• It has been made clear that where an employee has not agreed to a variation and the employer then seeks to dismiss and reengage, it would be automatically unfair where either the employee or another person is to be re-engaged to carry out exactly the same duties or substantially the same duties.
• plans to make interim relief available as a remedy to employees affected by “fire and rehire” have been dropped

Fair Work Agency enforcement

• the Fair Work Agency (FWA) created by the Bill will be given additional powers including the ability to:
  • issue underpayment notices (to include applicable penalties alongside the actual underpayments) for unpaid minimum wage, statutory sick pay or holiday pay via courts orders
  • initiate Employment Tribunal proceedings on behalf of workers who do not pursue claims themselves and provide legal assistance in employment matters (and the FWA could also claw back costs for the assistance given from any awards).
  • recover enforcement costs incurred by the Secretary of State/FWA from employers who are not complying with the law

Rights to disconnect

• plans to introduce a "right to switch off" – allowing employees to disconnect from work-related communications outside of working hours – appear to have been dropped

Umbrella Companies

• The Bill is being amended to allow for the regulation of these companies with a view to tackling non-compliance with employment rights and tax. It is to seek to ensure workers employed by an umbrella company have comparable rights and protections to their counterparts working directly through an employment business. Umbrella companies currently act as payment intermediaries but are not subject to the same regulations as employment agencies and employment businesses.

Trade Union reforms

• the Government stated its commitment to remove unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity and agreed the following additional reforms:
  • simplifying the information requirements for industrial action ballots
  • reducing the notice period for strikes to 10 days rather than 7 days as first tabled (from the original period of 14 days)
  • introducing e-balloting, subject to further consultations
  • extending the duration of industrial action mandates from 6 to 12 months and therefore there is a longer period of authority before a new ballot will need to be held to ascertain support for further industrial action
  • streamlining the trade union recognition process, including strengthening protections against unfair practices
  • providing digital/virtual access rights to the workplace for collective bargaining purposes
  • abolishing the requirement for unions to ballot members on political funds every ten years

Factsheets have been published by the Department for Business and Trade relating to the various measures proposed in the Bill: Employment Rights Bill: factsheets - GOV.UK

We will be providing periodic updates regarding the developments and changes to the Bill as it moves through Parliament.

If you would like to discuss these proposals or any aspect of employment law, please do get in touch with our Employment Team on 020 8290 0440 (Bromley) or 01732 496 496 (Sevenoaks) or employment@thackraywilliams.com.

Furthermore, please don’t hesitate to contact us to obtain a free employment documentation health check for your business to ensure it is up to date with the incoming legislation.