Understanding Labour’s plans for reform
Posted on 31st October 2024
Employment Law was a key feature of Labour’s manifesto, with their Plan to Make Work Pay promising sweeping reforms.
The party pledged to introduce new legislation within 100 days of forming a government, and in October published the Employment Rights Bill (which is over 150 pages long). This will tackle some of the reforms promised but not all. With such wide reforms planned, it seems sensible to avoid rushing them all at once. This will likely be a relief for employers.
Alongside the bill, Labour published it’s Next Steps to Make Work Pay plan, outlining the party’s long-term plans and methods of delivery. Including bills, reviews, consultations and codes of practice, it’s a lot to take in – especially for employers who have plenty of other work to get on with.
To help employers understand what will (hopefully) happen and when, we have summarised the plans outlined in the Next Steps document. At the end of this article, you'll find links to our articles examining the impact of the changes.
The Employment Rights Bill
The bill will tackle many of the promised reforms, but there is further detail to be added. In some cases, this will be done by amending the act as it progresses through the process of being passed. In other cases, it will involve regulations and codes of practice, created after the bill has been passed.
The promised reforms that will be tackled by the bill include:
Banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts. The bill requires employers to offer guaranteed hours in certain circumstances and to give reasonable notice when a shift is cancelled or changed, or else pay the worker for the shift.
Changes to flexible working. Labour plan to make flexible working the ‘default’ unless it is not reasonably possible.
‘Day 1 rights’ of employment, including entitlement to Paternity Leave, Parental Leave, and removing the 2-year qualifying period for protection from Unfair Dismissal
Extending Bereavement Leave to anybody bereaved, not just parents
Extending the law around protected disclosures to specifically include protection for disclosures that sexual harassment has occurred or is likely to.
Strengthening rights for pregnant workers and those returning from other types of family leave.
Closing loopholes that allow fire and rehire / replace. Provide effective remedies, including lifting the cap on the protective award where an employers hasn’t properly followed collective redundancy processes.
Strengthening provisions on collective redundancy.
Preventing employers avoiding equal pay by outsourcing services.
Introducing specific measures to improve pay and conditions in education and care.
Introducing measures to modernise Trade Union laws.
Extending the time limit for bringing claims to Employment Tribunals (added by an amendment).
The government will need time to gather evidence and opinions, and reflect these in amendments to the act. The act also needs approval from the House of Commons and House of Lords, both of which involve debates and voting.
The government anticipates that most reforms will take effect from 2026 onwards, and has made especially clear that “the reforms to unfair dismissal will not come into effect any sooner than Autumn 2026, and until then the current qualifying period will continue to apply.”
Currently consulting
The government has committed to thorough consultations around the reforms, with input from businesses, workers and trade unions. The government intends to amend the bill during its passage to reflect the outcome of these consultations.
Some of these consultations are already open for input:
Other consultations will be published in due course. You can keep up with, and respond to, the latest consultations here.
Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
In addition to the Employment Rights Bill, the government intends to publish the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. This will:
extend pay gap reporting to ethnicity and disability for employers with more than 250 staff and measures on equal pay.
extend equal pay rights to protect workers suffering discrimination on the basis of race or disability.
implement a regulatory and enforcement unit for equal pay with involvement from trade unions.
It remains to be seen how equal pay rights will differ from the protection currently offered by the Equality Act 2010. The government plans to introduce the bill for pre-legislative scrutiny during “this parliamentary session”, (by the end of July 2025) so we will have more detail soon.
Existing powers and non-legislative routes
Not all of the promised change will be achieved through new legislation. The ‘Next Steps’ document outlines reforms that will be achieved using existing powers and non-legislative routes, including:
tightening the ban on unpaid internships (a Call for Evidence is expected by the end of the year).
allowing the use of secure electronic balloting for trade union statutory ballots.
supporting workers with a terminal illness through the Dying to Work Charter.
These changes will begin from Autumn 2024 onwards, happening alongside the Employment Rights Bill. There has already been some progress, with the Government changing the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission to take account of the cost of living.
Reforms that will take longer
The government accepts that some of the promised changes will take longer to implement. These include:
a full review of parental leave.
a review of carer's leave, considering the option of paid leave.
consultation around workplace surveillance technologies.
protection for the self employed, including a right to a written contract, extended blacklisting protections and extended health & safety protections.
examining a wide variety of issues with TUPE regulations and processes.
a review of health and safety guidance and regulations, with particular focus on neurodiversity awareness, extreme temperatures, long covid, and reflecting the diversity of the workforce.
enabling collective grievances.
The government has not given dates for when it expects to progress these reforms, although most will need time for extensive reviews, consultations and work with stakeholders.
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