Show notes
Not decided who to vote for yet? Employment law / HR issues close to your heart?
Then look no further as Rebecca Cairney and Patrick Byrne review the manifestos of the key players ahead of the general election next month, and delve into what that might mean for UK employment law, should the relevant party come into power. Covering: Labour, Conservatives, Reform UK and Liberal Democrats.
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Transcript
Patrick: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of Weightmans Employment Insights podcast.
My name is Patrick Byrne. I'm an associate in our employment team in Manchester.
I'm joined today by my colleague, Rebecca Cairney, a principal associate in our employment team in Liverpool. Hello. Rebecca, thanks for joining the podcast.
Rebecca: Thanks, Patrick. Thanks for having me.
Patrick: So we all know the general election is really close now. We've got less than two weeks to go, until the fourth of July.
There's been a lot of coverage and TV debates, but there maybe hasn't been as much of a focus on employment law reforms that the main parties might be planning and committing to in their manifestos.
So, which parties are you going to talk to us about today?
Rebecca: Thanks, Patrick. Yep. So I'm gonna give a run through of the labor manifesto first, which is the the chunkiest, has got have got the most information.
I'll then cover the conservative party.
I'll go into a little bit about Reform UK, although there's not a great deal to to say there, and also, finishing off with the Liberal Democrats.
Patrick: Great. So, yeah. Let's talk about Labour. So what key changes to employment laws might they be proposing?
Rebecca: Yeah. So Labour have promised to introduce legislation within a hundred days.
And going by the changes that they have set out that are relevant to employment law, I think then they're giving themselves an awful lot to do within that first hundred days.
It is probably also worth noting that they have pledged to consult with businesses and unions before passing any legislation so we do suspect that this introduction to legislation within one hundred days will just be in a draft form. Because as I say, I think they've given themselves an awful lot to do. So firstly, looking at discrimination, they have said they're going to introduce dual discrimination.
So rather than having to present two separate claims for example for less favorable treatment for disability and sex.
They have said that you can put one claim in related to two protected characteristics.
They're also going to introduce a race equality act, which is very similar to the equal pay rights that we couldn't be have currently have in place based on gender, but that it will be based on ethnicity and asking large employers sort of placing new duties on them to produce ethnicity and disability pay gap reports.
So so more onus on employers, and also a requirement for employers with more than two fifty fifty employees to have a menopause action plan.
Now I don't have a a great deal of information about all of these things because obviously they're just lifted from the the various manifestos. But we'll have to, I suppose, wait and see what happens next month, before knowing or being able to get a bit more detail about any of this.
I think the other the other few points of interest from Labour's perspective is on sort of casual and zero hour contracts.
So they've said that they're going to ban exploitative zero hour contracts, And the keyword there certainly is the word exploitative because they haven't gone as far as to say that it would be an outright ban.
They're also going to introduce a right for employees to have a contract which reflects the hours that they're working. So that will be based on a twelve week reference period, and the right to have a contract based on that.
They want to end the practice of fire and rehire, although they, again, have stopped short of an outright ban on that. And they want to introduce some day one rights so for sick pay, parental leave and also for unfair dismissal which I think is really interesting although they have said that there will be sort of special status for probationary periods, again yet to see what that would look like in practice, but also an extension of tribunal time limits So all claims at the moment have to be brought within three months less a day and they want to extend that period to six months. So very very employee friendly, I think, is is the message here.
The other the other key key point that I wanted to focus on from labor's perspective was on trade unions and sort of industrial action.
So they've said that they're going to, make collective redundancy consultation requirements dependent on the number of redundancies across establishment and they want to reverse the changes made under the Trade Union Act twenty sixteen where there was an increased requirement turnout for ballots, more information required on ballot papers.
And also of note I think for employers that the current two weeks notice that needs to be given of a ballot for industrial action, they want to reduce that down to one.
They want to abolish the minimum service levels, act that was brought in, twenty twenty three.
They want to remove the requirement for fully postal balance for industrial action and also make it easier for unions to gain recognition by removing the requirement that forty percent of those entitled to vote on recognition right a right for trade unions to access workplaces for recruitment and organizing purposes, which, of course, they can't do at the moment.
And finally, update the requirement for a section one statement, that's issued to obviously all new starters to inform staff of their right to join a trade union. So very union friendly, very employee friendly, and lots of onus, by the sounds of it, on employers.
There are a couple of other other bits and bobs that they've said. So right to switch off, for example, making flexible working a default right. So lots and lots of information. And as I say, sounds like they're feeling themselves a lot to do in that first a hundred days if if, of course, they are, as the poll suggests, the ones to be in power.
Patrick: Yeah. It sounds like there's some significant changes there. I think one is the I mean, the day one rights from fair dismissal would be a big, big change.
And I wonder if I mean, do you have a view on that in terms of I think the reference to a possible exceptions that for probationary periods is interesting.
I mean, would it be prudent for employers, if they aren't already, to make sure they have probationary wording in their contracts?
Rebecca: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, it's something that we always recommend anyway.
And and I suppose it's yet to to see what they propose doing in practice. So whether, you know, if you did need to dismiss somebody early on within their probationary periods, whether there would be kind of a retracted process to be able to do that.
But, obviously, then balancing that with with more of an onus on employers given that at the moment, they they've got this two year period before employees have have unfair dismissal rights. So definitely something for people to be thinking about.
And and, of course, as soon as we do have more information, if, of course, it is labor that take power, then, you know, we will do another podcast, setting out kind of the practical implications of all of this as in when it it all comes to fruition.
Patrick: Yeah. That sounds great.
Could you tell us a little bit about the conservative's approach then and whether they have any pledges around employment rights?
Rebecca: Yeah. Absolutely.
So I think you'll you'll see here there's a bit of a stark contrast between what Labour have said and what Conservative have said. So, much more reserved in terms of what they're saying, obviously, with an employment law focus.
The the the clear, I think, message is in relation to cutting taxes.
So they want to cut employee national insurance to six percent by April twenty twenty seven. They want to abolish the main rate of national insurance for the self employed, and they're committed to not raising income tax or VAT.
They've also pledged to maintain the national living wage in each year of the next parliament at two thirds of median earnings.
And I mean there have been a few questions asked about this. So certainly, for example, where they're saying they're cutting, the the main rates of national insurance for the self employed. Yeah. There's been questions asked about that, about the implications of, you know, state pension entitlements, for example. And I think, the pension secretary, where the pension secretary came out and said that, you know, they might still be entitled to a state pension even with a zero percent contribution to National insurance, which I suppose is is employees who are paying their national insurance. You you might want to have a think about the the equity of that maybe.
But, yeah, certainly, a huge focus on on cutting taxes.
The the next thing that they've focused on is this reform of disability benefits.
So we did hear Rishi Sunak saying, you know, referring to us having a a sick note culture, and he wants to review the way that fit notes are distributed.
And he wants to move the responsibility of that from, sort of away from GPs and into the specialist work and health professionals or or possibly occupational health professionals.
Basically trying to ensure that any assessments are done by professionals who have a specific expertise in in occupational health and can can really get into, the interplay I suppose, between health conditions and and work capabilities.
So if conservatives take power, we'll see what comes of that.
And the other big one, I think, from the conservatives is they want to change the definition of sex.
So, they want to to to set out that they acknowledge biological sex as a reality, and they they have said that, they've acknowledged, you know, those with differing gender identities.
But, they they are proposing new And they also want that to be consistent across the UK, so also including, Ireland and and Scotland in that.
So, I suppose it's a case of having to wait and see.
I suppose, crucially, from my perspective, that there was a lot that wasn't in there. So we know that there's been this consultation on the reintroduction of employment tribunal fees, there was a proposal of a fifty five pound fee for issuing an employment tribunal claim, and also for for, appealing against decisions of employment tribunal, so to the EAT.
So that there was no mention of that in their manifesto. They haven't said anything about that, so we don't know if that's still on the table or not.
And, also, this, statutory cap that they've proposed of on noncompete clauses in, employee and worker contracts. So they announced that back in May twenty twenty three, and I think they'd said that they were going to introduce that when parliamentary time allowed. So that's not gone to fruition yet and, again, is is not in the manifesto.
I did say it would be, short and sweet on the conservatives, but that that is that is the crux of it.
As I said, labor, very much in in the firing line for employment law and and making a load of changes, not so much from the conservative perspective.
Patrick: Yeah. I think it's as you would expect for those traditional parties with lots of employee friendly proposals from Labour and and then less so on the part of the Conservatives.
There's two two other parties that we want to discuss and their manifestos.
Could you tell us a bit about the reform UK Party and have they committed to anything in in terms of employment law reforms?
Rebecca: They have.
A bit weird and wonderful if I'm completely honest. So so I suppose that the first, the first anomaly is that they've referred to their manifesto as being a contract rather than an actual manifesto.
But what they've said that's relevant to to employment law is they want to abolish IR thirty five, in in order to better support sole traders.
I've got a direct quote here that they they've made this general pledge to scrap thousands of laws that hold back British business and damage productivity including employment laws that make it riskier riskier to hire people.
So there's not been any detail as to what laws they are referring to there, but, I did think it was a a kind of general, a a kind of sweeping generalization of of wanting to scrap these thousands of law.
They've actually used the same word. They didn't say they want to scrap EU regulations with immediate effect.
Now, obviously, we know that all the the UK laws on employment are based on EU regulations.
So again, not entirely clear what they mean by that or what it would mean if they were to come into power.
They'd also promised to replace the Equality Act, although it did make me chuckle that they referred to it as the Equalities Act.
And they want what they've said is that the the equalities act, requires positive action and that actually it costs the economy billions of pounds.
You know, it's actually led to exclusion for some.
They think it creates inequality rather than equality, so they they want to replace it. Again, no detail at all as to what they want to replace it with or or whether it would be replaced at all. So I suppose it's just a case of wait and see what comes of that if anything.
Patrick: Yeah. It sounds like a bit of a regulatory bonfire there. Yes.
So I think the last party we wanted to touch on are the Liberal Democrats and Alice Ed Davies party.
Have they been, sort of active in setting out employment law proposals and and wanting to make reforms?
Rebecca: Yeah. A few key points actually from them. So the the Liberal Democrats have said, they want to establish a new dependent contractor employment status.
And I did I did think this again was a little bit strange because they've said it would fall somewhere between an employee and a self employed contractor, and that this dependent contractor would have rights such as, national minimum wage, they would have sick pay, and they would have holiday entitlement.
But, of course, we already have a a worker or, you know, the the full seems to encompass that already. So, I don't know how this dependent contractor would differentiate from the current, worker status.
So that that was, that was one thing that they they've pledged, but we would have to wait and see and and get a bit more details to what that involved.
They want to, again, introduce some day one rights. So they want to introduce, statutory sick pay from day one and also remove the lower earnings limit for access to that. They want to make parental leave and parental pay a day one right, And they want to, and I think this is quite significant, double statutory maternity pay and statutory paternity pay to three hundred and fifty pounds per week.
Kind of sticking with the family friendly leave, they want to introduce a kind of use it or lose it. So a paid leave month for fathers and partners more time off when there's, presumably, when there's been a a birth of a child or adoption of a child.
And, again, they want to require large employers to publish data on pay gaps and progression. So that would be not only on gender, but also ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ, etcetera, and for for employers to essentially publish their their five year plan for for dealing with any pay gaps, dealing with any gaps in progression, and hitting their diversity targets.
And then finally, they want to improve disability support within employment.
So they want to simplify the access to work scheme, which I think would actually be, you know, music to to employers' ears, to be honest. Anybody who's ever had to deal with the the access to work process, it's very long winded. It can be complex.
It can take a long time to get any support through that. So I do think that's a good thing.
And also the introduction of adjustment passports that would, essentially, if if there's an employee with a disability who needs reasonable adjustments making to their role, the passport would record that. So any adjustments, any modifications, any specialist equipment they might need, and they would be able to move that passport from different employers, so it would stay with them the whole time.
And and similarly with equipment. So if somebody needs modified equipment, that would stay with them throughout their, I suppose, employment journey if they were to move employers.
No information on how that, I suppose, would work in practice in terms of funding or payments for that equipment, but, nevertheless, there there we have it.
Patrick: Yeah. It sounds like there's a real push from the Lib Dems on assisting people with, illnesses and and also supporting carers as well.
Rebecca: Yes. They did have, there was actually something in the in the lived, manifesto as well, actually, that said that they would introduce a new equality act protected characteristic of caring.
There's no detail of that.
I think as with all of these, we'll have to wait to see who gets into power and what the details are.
And I think it's stark contrast between, between some of them as expected.
Patrick: Well, thank you very much for that summary.
It's a lot of ground to cover, but I think that's a really handy whistle stop tour for everyone of what the election might have in store, not just for employers, but employees as well.
If you're interested in receiving more employment law updates like this, please subscribe specific, in the employment law and HR world, then please reach out to myself by email at patrick.byrne@weightmans.com, or you can contact Rebecca at Rebecca.Cairney@weightmans.com. We hope you enjoyed the podcast, and thank you for listening.
Thank you, everybody.
