Key Takeaways from King’s Speech: From Banning Exploitative Work to Offering Better Protection
In the King’s speech to Parliament on the morning of 17 July 2024, King Charles outlined the legislative agenda posed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government. Among the 39 bills and draft bills, announced in the King’s Speech, were two separate bills about employment law.
The King’s Speech on the new Employment Rights Bill
The King’s Speech confirmed a new Employment Rights Bill that would “introduce a new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”. The full details of this Bill have not yet been revealed; however, it is set to be introduced within the first one hundred days of the new government.
The bill is may include the following commitments:
- A ban on exploitative zero-hour contracts
- Ending the ‘fire and rehire’ practice in which employers ensure employers are voluntarily agreeing to lower pay and reduced terms and conditions
- Providing basic protections for unfair dismissal, parental leave, and sick pay to workers from day one
- Making flexible working a day one right
- Removal of the lower earnings limit and the three-day wait period for Statutory Sick Pay
- Enhanced redundancy protection for mothers up to six months after returning from maternity leave
- Establishing a new Single Enforcement Body, known as a Fair Work Agency, to enforce the new rights
- Changes to trade union legislation, and the process of statutory recognition for unions
- Establishing a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector to empower workers to negotiate fair pay and conditions
- Reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body
New Employment Law Bill Could Be a Gamechanger for UK Workers
There has been an increase in the number of zero-hour contracts, rising to over 1 million in the last decade. The Bill looks at banning these zero-hour contracts and offering predictability and security for workers. As they are less secure forms of work, the bill will ensure workers have the right to a contract which reflects the hours they regularly work.
This means that contracts that do not offer a minimum number of guaranteed hours will be disallowed. Workers will also gain the right to be given reasonable notice of any changes to their shits or working time and be compensated where appropriate notice is not given.
Additionally, the rate at which employees change jobs has been declining, largely due to the lack of security as employees wait up to two years to gain access to basic rights. The Bill would signify a massive shift in the current landscape for employees allowing for protection against unfair dismissal and access to sick pay and parental leave from day one of their employment.
Employers will still be able to offer a probationary period for new employees, however, whether these basic protections will apply during that period is yet to be seen.
Other Notable Changes in The King’s Speech
Keir Starmer’s Labour government will further the work done by the previous Labour government and ensure the minimum wage is a genuine wage that people can live on as well as remove the discriminatory age bands.
The King’s Speech on The New Draft Equality (Race And Disability) Bill
In addition to eradicating exploitative practices, the King’s Speech mentioned a new draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. This bill would seek to tackle the inequality for ethnic minorities and disabled people.
Currently, Claimants face significant barriers when bringing pay discrimination claims on the grounds of race or disability, enshrining in law the full right to equal pay will make it easier for people to bring unequal pay claims. The draft Bill also seeks to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability reporting for employers with 250 or more employees to help close pay gaps.
The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill is a draft bill. Hence, it will likely be less of a priority than the Employment Rights Bill and will take longer to come into force.
Did The Labour Government Miss Out on Addressing Any Other Potential Changes?
Among the measures introduced in the King’s Speech, there are several other changes the new Labour government could enact as addressed in their pre-election manifesto.
The most notable of these include removing the three-tier system for employment status. The aim involves moving towards a simpler two-part framework which differentiates between workers and the self-employed. They could also commit to strengthening the current protections for whistleblowers, primarily those for women who report sexual harassment at work.
As it stands, the Labour government has made mention of significant changes to the employment tribunals. These include further digitisation and an increase in the time limit within which employees can bring an employment tribunal claim from three months to six months.
Potential changes we might see include:
- Further clarity and an update to the outdated legislation covering the right to bereavement leave for all workers.
- Determining the right to consultation on the number of people it impacts across the business, rather than in one workplace
- Banning of unpaid internships except where they are a part of an education or training course
- Requirement for employers with over 250 employers to produce Menopause Action plans which will set out how they will support employees through menopause.
- Enablement of employees to collectively raise grievances to ACAS
- Introducing the ‘right to switch off’ to promote a healthier work-life balance
Although mentions of these measures were notably absent from the King’s Speech we will expect the new Labour government to press ahead with the whole package of reforms it has previously announced.