Employment Rights Bill - update

You may have seen updates over the past week regarding the progression of the Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) through Parliament. To recap, the Bill was published in its original form, back in October 2024. The Government held a series of consultations at the end of 2024 on several aspects of the Bill. Various amendments were proposed in late January and further amendments (informed by the consultations) were proposed in early March, ready to be considered at the report stage. The Bill has now completed its third reading in the House of Commons and will move to the House of Lords for debate. If the House of Lords propose further amendments, they will be sent back to the House of Commons for approval.

We have set out some key points from the most recent round of amendments below:

• Rights for zero/low hours workers – the Bill includes rights for workers on zero or low hours contracts (including agency workers) to be offered a guaranteed hours contract at the end of a reference period and to receive reasonable notice of any changes to shifts or working times, with proportionate compensation where shifts are cancelled.
• Collective redundancy consultation – the maximum protective award for failing to collectively consult on redundancies will double from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay. The original proposal to remove the words ‘from any one establishment’ relating to 20 plus redundancies will be dropped.
• Fair Work Agency (FWA) – the latest amendments set out that the FWA will be able to submit Employment Tribunal claims on behalf of individuals, even if the individual chooses not to. The FWA will also enforce compliance with the requirement to keep holiday records for 6 years and enforce workers’ rights (for example regarding failure to pay holiday pay and statutory sick pay).
• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – the Bill already provides for SSP to be paid from the first day of sickness absence for all employees. The amendment sets the weekly rate of pay for low earners to either 80% of their normal weekly pay or the flat weekly rate (£118.75 for 2025/2026), whichever is lower.
• Umbrella companies – the amendments would act to ensure that workers can access comparable rights and protections when working through an umbrella company, as they would when taken on directly by a recruitment agency.
• Bereavement leave for pregnancy loss – this amendment would give mothers and their partners the right to two weeks of bereavement leave if they have suffered a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.
• Industrial relations – proposed amendments include simplifying the information requirements for industrial action ballots and reducing the notice period that unions have to provide ahead of strike action to 10 days, streamlining the trade union recognition process, introducing e-balloting, extending expiry of mandates for industrial action from 6 to 12 months and providing for a digital right of access to the workplace for collective bargaining purposes.

Many of the above proposals (particularly in relation to guaranteed hours for zero/low hours workers) are complex and we are currently analysing the amendments in further detail and considering the impact that this will have on the education sector. There may be further amendments as it continues to progress through Parliament. In terms of timings, whilst there have been some predictions that the Bill will receive Royal Assent in July 2025, this is not confirmed. In any event, the majority of the Bill will not take effect when it becomes law as further regulations will be required.  We will continue to keep a close eye on developments.