It’s finally here – Labour’s hugely anticipated Employment Rights Bill, with long-awaited reforms to parental and bereavement leave, sick pay, and unfair dismissal rules. But what do you make of it all?
Labour ministers have today unveiled the Employment Rights Bill – and we want to know what you think about it.
It’s quite the ambitious package, with 28 new measures up for discussion. One of the standout reforms is that workers will now be protected from unfair dismissal right from their very first day on the job, ditching the old two-year waiting period. That’s a big win for new employees.
To balance things out, there will be a statutory probation period of up to nine months for new hires. During this time, employers can let staff go using a ‘lighter touch’ process. The new bill also sees long-awaited reforms to parental and bereavement leave, flexible working, sick pay and zero hours contracts.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “After years of stagnation under the Tories, we’re replacing a race to the bottom with a race to the top, so employers compete on innovation and quality. It’s by making work more secure and modernising workplaces that we will drive up productivity, improve living standards, generate jobs and investment, and pave the way for sustained economic growth that benefits working people.”
However, don’t expect these changes to kick in anytime soon. Officials are saying we might not see any become law until autumn 2026 at the earliest. Measures in the bill include:
Parental and bereavement leave
The Bill gives ‘day one’ rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers. Around 30,000 fathers or partners will be eligible for paternity leave, while an extra 1.5 million parents will have the right to unpaid leave from day one. It will also establish a new right to bereavement leave for workers. Pregnant women and new mothers will get beefed up protections from dismissal whilst pregnant, on maternity leave and within six months of returning to work.
Flexible working
The right to flexible working will become the default for all employees, unless the employer can prove it’s “unreasonable”. There are currently eight reasons bosses can refuse requests such as extra costs or struggles to meet customer demand. But it is not clear how narrowly the change will be interpreted. The Government estimates 1.7million people could return to the workforce – who are currently out of the labour market – due to flexible working and other policies.
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Sick Pay
Statutory sick pay will be strengthened, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in. Under the existing system, workers who earn less than an average of £123-per-week do not qualify. There were 1.5million people earning below this threshold in 2022-23. The bill will also end the three-day waiting period before workers can get sick pay. Instead it will kick in on the first day someone is off sick.
Unfair dismissal
The two-year qualifying period for protections from unfair dismissal will be removed. Instead, the aim is for workers to have this right from day one in the job. An estimated 9 million workers who have been with their employer for less than two years will benefit from this change, according to officials. But there will be a consultation on this part of the plan as it’s one of the trickier elements for businesses, with the change likely to come in 2026. The proposed new statutory period – expected to be around nine months – will promise employers a “lighter touch” process covering dismissals.
Zero hours contracts
The bill promises to outlaw exploitative zero hours contracts, by offering workers the right to guaranteed hours. This could affect around 1 million people. Employers will have to offer a guaranteed hours contract based on a 12-week reference period – and workers on casual contracts will also be entitled to a reasonable number of shifts and financial compensation if a shift is cancelled or cut short. However it stops short of the outright ban initially promised to allow people to stay on a zero hours contract if they want to. This issue has proved thorny with unions, some of whom wanted insecure contracts banned completely.
What do YOU think? Does the bill go far enough? Take our poll above and expand on your feelings in the comments below
