In 2022, the Conservative government announced it would bring changes to employment rights as set out in the Employment Bill of 2022.
One such change was to establish a new single enforcement body for employment rights. Giving them the power to review and act on key legislation including:
- Underpayment under the Gangmasters Licensing and Employment Agency Standards
- National Minimum Wage compliance
- Enforcement powers regarding Statutory Sick Pay and Holiday Pay rules
- Control and transparency requirements in supply chains / modern slavery statement reporting.
Most of the groundwork to the above was set out originally under proposals put forward by Matthew Taylor as part of the work undertaken in the ‘Good Work Plan’.
Following a series of delays to the introduction of the Bill, many of which were created by the pandemic, meant it resulted in some of the original items either being shelved or requiring further consultations leading to the creation of new individual Bills.
Whilst some laws achieved Royal Assent, i.e., flexible working being one, along with some changes/enhancements to Statutory rights (Parental Leave and New rights for carers leave), no further updates were announced about the formation of the single enforcement body, instead, the government focused on funding to the current departments managing each area.
With the recent change in government the incumbent Labour government has put employment law at the forefront of their manifesto, announcing that they will review enforcement under one umbrella to focus on ensuring employment rights are maintained specifically, and ensuring adequate protected rights from unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave.
Ban exploitative zero hour contracts
Labour will end ‘one sided’ flexibility and ensure all jobs provide a baseline level of security and predictability, banning exploitative zero hours contracts and ensuring everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, based on a 12-week reference period.
How they will achieve this remains to be seen.
National Minimum Wage
Perhaps the more contentious of the these as the government stated they will-:
“Remove the discriminatory age bands to ensure every adult worker benefits, and we will work with the Single Enforcement Body and HMRC, and ensure they have the powers necessary to make sure our genuine living wage is properly enforced, including penalties for non-compliance”.
Again, how they will achieve this and at what cost to employers, remains to be seen.
There is no doubt that more changes will follow as the present government continues to review the ‘state of affairs’ resulting from the outgoing Government.