The government’s Employment Rights Bill was presented on 10 October 2024. In the following summary, Rufus Hood, Country Manager UK at digital staffing agency Coople, shares his thoughts on how it is going to impact businesses and how to prepare for the upcoming changes in 2026 commenting:
“The government’s new Employment Rights Bill was presented to Parliament on 10 October. Rather than this being the version that is passed into law, it’s highly likely that some parts of it will be amended. Some of the measures the government has previously mentioned would form part of the Bill were not included, such as the ‘right to switch off’ which will now likely be guidance rather than legislation.
“Employers will need to be aware of the changes to employment legislation that are on the horizon, to make sure that they remain compliant with the law. They might also need to be aware of any increased costs they might incur. For instance, it has been proposed that employers will pay a set charge to zero-hour and irregular hour workers if a shift is cancelled at short notice. Costs to pay staff who are on leave will also increase, as employees will now be entitled to more types of leave from Day one of their employment.
“Much of the new legislation is expected to come into play in 2026, meaning businesses have some time to prepare. In order to get ahead of these changes, employers should review the bill and conduct an assessment to see what the impact will be, especially of the policies that seem most likely to become legislation. Certain industries may be affected by particular changes – for instance, hospitality is currently quite reliant on zero-hour workers. According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 32% of hospitality staff are on zero-hour contracts. HR managers should begin reviewing policy documents and updating their processes. Line managers should be trained on requests that might be made to them by staff exercising their new rights.
“The government has provided more details about the proposed new restrictions on zero-hour contracts. Workers on zero-hour contracts, or very low contracted hours, will be given the right to move to a new contract that more accurately reflects the hours they work. Employers will offer the set hours contract periodically, calculated looking back over how many hours the employee recently worked on average. Some aspects of this legislation are yet to be determined through a consultation process, including what this will mean for agency workers – consultation is expected to begin soon.
“Several new rights for workers have been proposed that would begin from day one of employment, including paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, as well as the right to request flexible working. Statutory Sick Pay will be available from day one, and it will also now be available to workers on lower earnings as the previous Lower Earnings Limit will be scrapped.”
