Government Reforms (2): The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

This Bill, published in late September when Liz Truss was Prime Minister, will automatically repeal any ‘retained’ EU law from the end of 2023 (although this date can be extended until 31 December 2026) unless specific legislation is introduced to retain it.

‘Retained’ law originates from the EU and was retained within UK domestic law following Brexit. There are 2,400 of these retained EU laws and they include much of our UK employment law, including:

• TUPE
• Working Time Regulations (which include the right to paid annual leave and the 48 hour working week); and
• Part-time, Fixed-term and Agency Worker Regulations.

This could mean big and important changes ahead, potentially the biggest employment law shake-up in decades. That said, it is impossible to know, for now, what the Government will choose to retain and what employment rights it will allow to expire.

It is also worth noting that since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister there has been some debate about him de-prioritising the Bill (see here).  As a result we won’t be speculating about the changes, instead, we’ll update you when there is something to share.