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Earlier this month, we outlined the anticipated impact of the general election result on the Employment Practices Liability (“EPL”) claims market. Read more here: “Things Can Only Get Better”? An EPL Claims Perspective.
The following is a short update on the issues discussed in that article in light of the King’s Speech given on 17 July 2024.
The King’s Speech added little detail to the proposed reforms to Unfair Dismissal Law, merely reiterating that a new Employment Rights Bill will make “protection from unfair dismissal available from day 1 on the job for all workers” but that it “will continue to ensure employers can operate probationary periods to assess new hires.”
Part of the rationale given for this change is that “Extending protections to workers from day one will encourage more workers to switch jobs, which is associated with higher wages and productivity growth. Wage rises are around usually three-times higher for those who move jobs compared to those who do not.”
Our original article shows the significance of, and the uncertainties that arise from this change.
The Speech did not reference the above New Deal proposals to reform the Employment Tribunal system, but that is most likely because it is considered that they can be achieved through secondary legislation. It is unlikely that they have been abandoned.
The Speech again added little detail to proposed workplace rights reforms discussed in my original article, and essentially repeated in short summary the points already made in the New Deal document.
The Speech states merely that the Employment Rights Bill to come will be “reforming the law” in relation to ‘fire and rehire’ to “provide effective remedies and replacing the previous Government’s inadequate statutory code.” The uncertainty as to what this means, as was discussed previously, remains for now.
Perhaps as expected (see comments under ‘Timing and scope’ in my original article and below) the Bills proposed in the Speech do not address the ambition to merge the current ‘employee’ and ‘worker’ forms of status, consistent with the acknowledgement in the New Deal document that such was likely to be a longer-term project. It remains to be seen when (or if) this proposal is taken forward.
The Speech’s proposals again say little further about unions, commenting merely that the Employment Rights Bill will be “updating trade union legislation so it is fit for a modern economy, removing unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity – including the previous Government’s approach to minimum service levels – and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.”
As was promised in the New Deal document, the Speech commits to introducing the new Employment Rights Bill within the first 100 days of the new Government. Quite when the Bill will be passed, and quite when specific provisions within it will take effect and to whom, remain to be seen.
Comment
The proposals set out in the King’s Speech do not contain any surprises from an EPL perspective, nor offer much by way of any further detail. This is not surprising given the broad purpose of a King’s Speech, and the wider volume of proposals to address in it (such as those relating to transport, energy, railways, devolution, border security, policing, health, etc).
However, it does confirm that some of the most notable EPL-related reforms discussed in our original article will indeed be legislated on in the coming months, as was promised. The remarks and suggestions to employers and insurers in our earlier article remain, and meanwhile, we await the detail to come when draft legislation is put before Parliament.
“Things can only get better”? An EPL claims perspective
Read our original article on some of the proposals and how they might impact EPL claims.
United Kingdom