Employment Rights Bill: nine-month probation among 28 reforms

The Employment Rights Bill 2024, unveiled today, includes a maximum nine-month statutory probation period among 28 reforms, as the Government reveals draft legislation 'to boost pay and productivity'.

Nine million workers will get more rights from day one of their job as the Government consults on the new statutory probation period for new hires, allowing for a proper assessment of an employee's suitability for a role.

The existing two-year qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal will be removed, delivering on Labour's manifesto commitment to ensure all workers have protections from day one.

The Employment Rights Bill includes 28 individual employment reforms, from ending "exploitative" zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire practices to establishing day-one rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave.

Statutory sick pay will be changed, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and scrapping the three-day waiting period before it begins.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said: "This Government is delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation, boosting pay and productivity with employment laws fit for a modern economy. We're turning the page on an economy riven with insecurity, ravaged by dire productivity and blighted by low pay.

"The UK's out-of-date employment laws are holding our country back and failing business and workers alike. Our plans to make work pay will deliver security in work as the foundation for boosting productivity and growing our economy to make working people better off and realise our potential.

"Too many people are drawn into a race to the bottom, denied the security they need to raise a family while businesses are unable to retain the workers they need to grow. We're raising the floor on rights at work to deliver a stronger, fairer and brighter future of work for Britain."

Flexible working 'default' where practical

The reforms, introduced two days before Labour's 100-day deadline, include measures to help make the workplace more compatible with people's lives, with flexible working made the "default where practical".

Large employers will be required to create action plans to address gender pay gaps and support employees through menopause, while protections against dismissal will be strengthened for pregnant women and new mothers.

A new Fair Work Agency, bringing together existing enforcement bodies, will be established to enforce rights such as holiday pay and to "support employers looking for guidance on how to comply with the law".

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: "It is our mission to get the economy moving and create the long-term, sustainable growth that people and businesses across the country need. Our plan will give the world of work a much-needed upgrade, boosting pay and productivity."

The bill will end "exploitative" zero-hours contracts, although a definition of exploitative is not yet forthcoming.

The Government says that research shows 84% of zero-hours workers would rather have guaranteed hours. People on zero and low-hours contracts will have the right to a guaranteed-hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period, giving them pay security while allowing them to remain on zero-hours contracts if they prefer.

Loopholes that allow fire-and-rehire and fire-and-replace will be closed as the Government creates measures to give greater protections against unfair dismissal from day one.

Detail still to be worked through

Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, said: "The changes being made represent the greatest shift in employment legislation in decades and there is clear recognition that there is much detail still to be worked through and this will take some time."

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: "While there is still detail to be worked through, this bill signals a seismic shift away from the Tories' low-pay, low-rights, low-productivity economy."

Today, the Government is publishing a "Next Steps" document outlining reforms it is looking to implement in the future. Subject to consultations, this includes:

• A right to switch off, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances
• A commitment to expand the Equality (Race and Disparity) Bill to make it mandatory for large employers to report ethnicity and disability pay gaps
• A move towards a single status of worker and transition towards a simpler two-tier employment status, and
• Reviews into parental and carers leave to ensure they deliver for employers, workers and their loved ones.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, said: "I'm pleased the Government has recognised the importance of flexibility to both workers and businesses. This is crucial for hospitality, which employs 3.5 million people and provides countless flexible roles for working parents, students, carers and many more.

"We look forward to continuing our engagement and consultation with the Government on its plans, which are not without cost, to get the details right for all parties."

Clumsy and chaotic

Tina McKenzie, chair of policy and advocacy for the Federation of Small Business, said: "This legislation is a rushed job; clumsy, chaotic and poorly planned - dropping 28 new measures onto small business employers all at once leaves them scrambling to make sense of it all.

"Beyond warm words, it lacks any real pro-growth element and will increase economic inactivity, seriously jeopardising the Government's own 80% employment target."

As reported on Monday, many of the measures included in today's bill could take years to be enacted.

Personnel Today will publish more analysis of the Employment Rights Bill once it is available.