Keeping to their word on bringing legislation to parliament within 100 days of entering power, the government has confirmed details of the 28 law changes it will seek to introduce as part of the new employment rights bill 2024.
This is the first major step in implementing sweeping changes to ‘Make Work Pay’, confirming many small businesses’ worst fears and setting out the shape of future employment law in Britain.
With changes described as "the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation", the government is seeking to strengthen rights for employees, but many small businesses are concerned it will simply become harder and more expensive for them to employ people.
While much has been made of these changes, it is important to note that we should not expect to see them become law soon. Periods of consultation will begin in 2025, with legislative changes starting in 2026.
With that being said, employers should prepare for huge change. With so many changes ahead, it’s easy to get bogged down in red tape. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over my career, it's this: If you want to stay in business, you need to adapt and overcome.
All kinds of phrases have been thrown around about this bill, including the ‘skivers charter’, 'stifling business', or ‘anti-employer’, and it would be easy to get bogged down in negativity faced with so many changes and increased costs at a time when so many are already struggling.
The biggest piece of advice I can give small business owners is to look at the employment rights bill not as a problem, but an opportunity.
Make positive moves now to embrace the changes, get your recruitment processes up to speed to minimise the risk of making a mistake, get your contracts and company handbooks up to date, and get the best advice to nip problems in the bud, keeping you out of time-consuming and costly employment tribunals.
Enhancing existing rights
Possibly the most significant change is the planned introduction of a day one right to unfair dismissal protection.
The government will consult on a statutory probationary period, likely to be nine months but not confirmed. It is likely, but again not confirmed, that there will be a simpler route to dismissal during that probationary period before full protection kicks in.
Once in force, this will redefine employers’ current ‘early exit’ procedures. Employers will have a much shorter period to decide on the suitability of an employee before having to engage in, what can often be, the lengthy formal process to fairly dismiss someone. Failure to do this can land employers in front of the already overwhelmed Employment Tribunal.
It's an unfortunate fact that, regardless of how diligent your checks are, sometimes new hires just do not work out, for whatever reason. Either party may feel like the role/person is not the right fit, or it may turn out that the person is simply not able to do the role.
