King's Speech (17 July 2024) Employment Rights Bill
- patricia0727
- Jul 17, 2024
- 2 min read
The new government included in its manifesto multiple changes that they pledged would be brought into Law. We published a summary of those pledges in the form of a video presentation https://www.pw-la.com/our-videos.
Today on 17 July 2024 the King's speech at the opening of Parliament gave a clear indication of what raft of employment legislation to expect.
The following is a summary of the briefing notes on the King’s Speech, published by the Prime Minister’s Office, found at
The new Employment Rights Bill will include the following provisions to:
ban ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts, ensuring workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work and that all workers get reasonable notice of any changes in shifts with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed
end the practice of ‘fire and rehire’ by reforming the law to provide effective remedies and replacing the previous Government’s statutory Code of Practice
make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal a ‘day one’ right (subject to probationary periods to assess new hires)
strengthen statutory sick pay, by removing the lower earnings limit as well as the three-day waiting period
make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable
strengthen protections for new mothers, by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances
establish a new Single Enforcement Body, also known as a Fair Work Agency, to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights
establish a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector and, following review, assess how and to what extent such agreements could benefit other sectors
reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, to establish national terms and conditions, career progression routes and fair pay rates
update trade union legislation, removing unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity – including the previous Government’s approach to minimum service levels – and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining
simplify the process of statutory recognition and introduce a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces.
There is also to be a new Equality (Race and Disability) Bill which will provide full rights to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people. There will also be mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for employers with 250+ employees to help close the ethnicity and disability pay gaps.
If you are an employer we can help with implementation of policy and procedure changes that are likely to be required and can guide you through the changes as they are required to be implemented. Equally, we are able to advise employees on their rights under the new legislation once implemented.
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