Employment Rights Bill: key measures and next steps

Paula Kathrens sets out the principal elements of the Employment Rights Bill, which has been described as the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.

Employment Rights Bill: what are the proposals?

The Employment Rights Bill, published on 10 October 2024, has been described as the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation. The key proposals in the Bill will impact most UK employers.

The Government’s stated aim of the Bill is to upgrade workers’ rights, tackle poor working conditions and benefit businesses and workers alike. Employers need to be aware of the proposed changes:

Unfair dismissal

Employees will have day-one unfair dismissal rights with a “light touch” dismissal process applying during the “initial period of employment” (IPE). This is likely to mean a meeting with the employee to explain the reasons for their dismissal. The IPE could be between three to nine months.

Zero-hours workers

Employers must offer “qualifying workers” a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period (likely to be 12 weeks). They do not have to accept the offer. Employers will be required to provide reasonable notice of shifts and to make a payment for shifts cancelled, curtailed or changed at short notice.

Fire and re-hire

It will be automatically unfair to dismiss someone who refuses to agree to a variation of their contract except where the variation is to ensure the business can be carried on as a going concern and where there is “genuinely no alternative”.

Supporting working families

Employers will have to state why it was “reasonable” to refuse a flexible working request and there will be a new general day-one right to bereavement leave. There will also be improved protection for pregnant women and those on family leave returning to work. Parental and paternity leave will become a day-one right.

Statutory sick pay

The lower earnings limit and current waiting period of 3 days before Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is paid will be removed so that SSP is available from the first day of sickness absence.

Protection from harassment

Employers’ duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment will be extended to taking “all” reasonable steps. Protection from third party harassment will be reinstated to the Equality Act 2010. Sexual harassment disclosures will count as “qualifying disclosures” for whistleblowing purposes.

Collective redundancy

Collective consultation is triggered where an employer proposes to dismiss as redundant, within 90 days or less, either 20 or more employees at “one establishment” or at least the “threshold number of employees” (not yet decided) which will not be fewer than 20 employees across the employer's organisation.

Equality at work

Large employers will be required to produce action plans on how to address their gender pay gaps and how to support employees through the menopause.

Industrial relations

Employers will be obliged to inform workers about their right to join a trade union. The Bill repeals “minimum service levels”, simplifies industrial action notices, makes balloting more accessible and improves transparency around trade union recognition among many other proposals.

Employment Tribunal claims

The time limits for Employment Tribunal claims will be extended from three months to six months. Currently, most claims must be brought within three months although some, e.g. statutory redundancy pay, already have a six month time limit.

What are the next steps?

The Government has confirmed that most reforms will take effect no earlier than 2026. Until then, there will be ongoing scrutiny of the Bill as it makes its way through the Parliamentary process. In addition, throughout 2025, there will be various consultation papers issued about key aspects of the Bill. At this stage, the Government has not confirmed timescales for the implementation of the Bill.

Paula Kathrens is an Employment Law Partner at Blake Morgan. For more information on the Bill, go to the firm’s Employment Rights Bill hub.