Boost to workers and unions as government unveils new employment laws
Rhys McKenzie explains what’s in and what’s out of the government’s employment bill, which promises new rights for millions of workers and fairer deal for trade unions.
The government unveiled its Employment Rights Bill in October, promising to deliver “the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation”. The bill proposes 28 changes to employment law aimed at boosting protection for workers and making it easier for unions to organise in the workplace. But some key promises from Labour’s election manifesto – including the ‘right to switch off’ outside working hours – have been left out of the legislation.
Commenting on the bill, MiP chief executive Jon Restell said: “Action to improve the lives of working people is welcome, and if delivered in full, this bill will give a much needed boost to workers across the country.”
Christine McAnea, general secretary of UNISON, described the bill as a “sea change” in industrial relations, which brought to an end “years of worsening industrial relation and unnecessary hostility towards unions”.
Most of the new rights in the bill, which has also been endorsed by the Trades Union Congress, will not come into force until 2026 due to lengthy consultation periods and the time needed to pass legislation through parliament.
Day one rights
The bill includes a significant extension of rights for new staff, who would be protected from unfair dismissal from their first day of employment. Under current laws, other than in exceptional circumstances, staff with less than two years’ service can be sacked without reason, as long as they are paid for their contractual notice period.
Alongside this, the government wants to introduce a new statutory probation period, the length of which is currently open to consultation. Ministers have suggested it should not exceed nine months – an extension of the six month or less required by most employers . Workers would still be able to claim unfair dismissal during their probation period if they were dismissed unlawfully.
Parental rights
The bill would remove the 26-week qualifying period for paternity and parental leave, giving new parents these rights from day one of employment. Parental bereavement leave will also be replaced by a more general right to bereavement leave. Although details have yet to be confirmed, the government says its intention is to extend statutory bereavement leave to more workers. Ministers have also promised to review the parental leave system, although this is not addressed in the bill.
The bill also proposes further protections for pregnant workers and returning mothers, who already have additional rights in redundancy situations, such as priority access to suitable alternative employment. The new laws – expected to be enacted through secondary legislation – will make it unlawful to dismiss employees during pregnancy and within six months of their return to work except in specific limited circumstances.
Flexible working
Flexible working is hugely popular with the public — TUC research has found that four out of five workers in the UK want to work flexibly. Due to legislation passed by the previous Conservative government, flexible working has been the default option for all workers from day one since April 2024.
Labour bill would make it slightly harder for employers to refuse a flexible working request. While they will still be able to turn down a request due to very broadly-defined ‘business reasons’, the new laws mean employers will only be allowed to refuse flexible working requests if “it is reasonable to do so” and will have to provide an explanation to the employee. How this will affect the outcome of flexible working requests, if at all, remains to be seen.
Labour’s promise to introduce the ‘right to switch off’ — the right for workers to refuse to engage with work though emails, phone calls or messages outside of their contracted working houses — is not included in the bill. Ministers say this right will be enshrined in a statutory code of practice, subject to consultation during 2025. The government hopes this will encourage employers to agree policies with employees, although it’s unlikely there will be any specific sanctions for breaching the code.
Social care staff
The impact poor pay and conditions for social care staff has on both health and care services is well known and, in a bid to tackle this, the bill includes provisions to establish a Fair Pay Agreement for the whole social care sector. The bill gives the secretary of state significant powers to establish a negotiating body made up of unions and employers to determine pay, terms and conditions and other matters relating to employment. The scope of this body will include all adult social care workers including agency staff.
Other measures in the bill include:
- statutory sick pay to be paid from the first day of illness rather than the fourth
- more rights for staff on zero-hours contracts, including an entitlement to a limited number of hours
- closing loopholes the permit employers to ‘fire and rehire’ staff
Strengthening trade unions rights
In addition to strengthening rights for individual staff, the Employment Rights Bill will restore and enhance some trade union rights.
The bill would repeal in full the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 which allowed employers to break lawful strikes by ordering staff to work.
It will also roll back most of the 2016 Trade Union Act, which made it extremely difficult for unions to operate and organise members. Under new laws, workers will be able to take industrial action if a simple majority of staff vote for it. It also removes the requirement for paper balloting, so workers will be able to vote digitally in strike ballots, ensuring more members can have their say.
New measures included in the bill will also improve workplace access for trade unions and provide more protection for activists. Employers will be required to inform all new staff of their right to join a union, and will have further obligations to grant workplace reps ‘facilities time’ — time off work to carry out trade union duties.
Many of the measures outlined in the bill are subject to consultation and may change as the legislation passes through Parliament. Some NHS organisations are already asking staff for their views on aspects of the bill — including the arrangements for partnership working with trade unions. MiP strongly encourages members to engage with their own organisation’s consultation processes with the Employment Rights bill.
MiP chief executive Jon Restell added: “The NHS has a proud tradition of partnership working with trade unions, the results of which have brought benefits to both staff and the many employers in the NHS. The strengthening of workers’ rights to engage with their unions will help modernise industrial relations in the NHS and beyond.” //
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