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The new Employment Rights Bill 2024 is likely to take 12-18 months to progress through parliament. Key provisions are unlikely to come into force until at least 2026 so the government is now commencing a series of consultations to speed up the implementation process. It is an opportunity to respond and ultimately influence changes to the Bill.
All the consultations outlined below close on 2 December 2024.
The Employment Rights Bill contains provisions which are intended to:
Making Work Pay: Consultation on strengthening remedies against abuse of rules on collective redundancy and fire and rehire. This consultation is looking for opinions on:
The government also intends to further consult next year on strengthening the collective redundancy framework. This will include consulting on increasing the minimum consultation period for 100 or more redundancy dismissals from 45 to 90 days (which would revert it to the minimum level of consultation required prior to April 2013).
The Employment Rights Bill aims to tackle zero hours contracts which were too ‘one-sided’ by introducing:
‘Making Work Pay: Consultation on the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers’. This consultation seeks views on how to apply the above to agency workers.
Two provisions are aimed at increasing the number of workers eligible for statutory sick pay (SSP). The first is the removal of the lower earnings limit (LEL) which is currently £123 per week. Those employees earning less than this currently do not qualify for SSP.
Making Work Pay: Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay. This consultation proposes introducing a taper to the current SSP rate of £116.75 per week for those earning below the LEL. This would mean they are entitled to whichever is the lower of 1. a set percentage of their average weekly earnings or 2. the current SSP flat rate. Rates ranging from 60% to 80% of average weekly earnings are under consideration for these low earners.
The government have made no secret of their intention to modernise Trade Union law. This newly launched consultation heralds the beginning of that: Making Work Pay: Consultation on creating a modern framework for industrial relations. Opinions are sought on several changes:
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