What can we expect?
The New Deal for Working People was a central part of the election manifesto for Labour; which signals employment law reforms. The Employment Rights Bill and a draft Equality (Race & Disability) Bill were announced in the Kings Speech on 17th July 2024.
Dismissals
The Employment Rights Bill gives employees the right not to be sacked from day one of their employment.
This law could complicate and add processes to hiring new staff and setting probation periods. Staff can still be dismissed but only after a transparent and fair procedure.
This might dissuade employers from hiring new staff and could incline them to use agency workers. Fixed term contracts won’t help employers circumvent this law because ending a fixed term contract does count as a dismissal under UK law. This could result in an uptick of cases requiring the intervention of the employment tribunal system – which is already buckling under the strain of current demand.
Fire and re-hire
The Employment Rights Bill will provide effective remedies (as yet unclarified) to prevent employers from dismissing employees then rehiring them on different terms. This will now only be permitted as part of essential company restructuring. The current code of practice on fire and rehire which came into force in July 2024 is deemed ‘inadequate’ by Labour government and will be updated with a stronger version.
Redundancy
Despite being a manifesto promise, the King Speech did not address changes in the law to ensure that collective consultation will be activated if redundancies hit a certain number within the whole business, rather than a division or location.
