Get ready for the biggest upheaval in employment law– the King has spoken!

In the King’s Speech yesterday, Labour set out the legislative agenda for their first months in government. 

According to the briefing notes, the Employment Rights Bill, which is likely to come in to effect in October 2024, will include:

• Making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day 1 (subject to special rules for probationary periods).
• Removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick pay
• Banning zero-hour contracts, making sure that workers have a right to a contract that reflects the hours they regularly work
• Ending ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ by reforming the law and replacing the statutory code
• Making flexible working the default for all workers from day one and requiring employers to accommodate this as far as is reasonable
• Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after she comes back to work (with certain exceptions)
• Creating the Fair Work Agency to enforce workplace rights
• Introducing a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector
• Repealing the law on minimum service levels in relation to industrial action
• Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions
• Introducing a right for workers and union members to access a union within workplaces

A draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill proposes to “enshrine the full right to equal pay law” for disabled people and ethnic minorities. The same bill also proposes mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. Both of these proposals are fraught with practical difficulty.

What employers need to do

Employers needs to start preparing for the changes. October is only 3 months away.  We expect that SME employers will probably consider employing senior staff for the salary that they may have to pay for junior staff or have to slow down recruitment. 

Employers should start putting together a plan and time frame and be ready to continue their business with the changes that are coming their way.

How we can help

We specialise is helping SME’s and our job is to ensure that you are confident in dealing with HR matters, you can expect us to “hold your hand” through the difficult HR decisions that you need to make.

To speak to one of lawyers, please contact us on 020 7903 6888 or email: contact@davenportsolicitors.com

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