The eagerly anticipated Employment Rights Bill 2024 was published on 10th October 2024 and as expected, a number of key changes were announced. There will now be a period of consultation, so these changes potentially won’t come into effect until 2026. This means there is plenty of time to get prepared. We’ve summarised some of the key changes below:
🚫Unfair dismissal rights from day one – as expected, changes will be implemented providing protection from day one (currently two years). However, there is due to be a consultation about introducing a statutory probationary period which could be for up to 9 months during which a ‘lighter touch’ dismissal process could be followed.
📌Fire and re-hire restrictions – will make it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a contract variation. This practice will only be allowed to avoid severe financial difficulty which affects the viability of a business.
📆Day one rights for SSP – Statutory sick pay will be available from day one (removing the waiting period) with no lower earnings threshold.
📄Zero-hours contracts – individuals on a zero-hour contract will have a right to request guaranteed hours if they have regularly worked over a defined 12-week period. They can also expect reasonable notice for shifts and compensation where shifts are cancelled at short notice.
⏰Flexible working – will be a default position. Already a day one right since earlier this year, employers can still refuse a request but must provide their reason in writing.
👫Changes to family friendly legislation – the requirement for employees to have a year’s service before being eligible for Parental Leave will be removed. Also planned is a move to make it unlawful to dismiss a woman who is pregnant, on maternity leave or for six months after her return except in specific circumstances.
📋Redundancy – the 20 employees affected guideline for collective consultation will now apply to the whole business and not just to one site.
💐Bereavement leave – a statutory right will be introduced for a period of one week. It remains at two weeks for parental bereavement leave.
📌Harassment protection – the bill strengthens protection for harassment requiring employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent harassment including for third party harassment.
At this stage, nothing has been announced about the Right to switch off, single status workers and equal pay reporting for race and disability.
So how can you start to prepare for these changes?
While we don’t yet have the details, there are some steps you can start to take now:
✅Review your contracts and policies – do you have an up-to-date probationary, dismissal and flexible working policy in place?
✅Consider training managers on implementing these policies – are probationary periods clearly set out with performance expectations, any meetings and issues documented effectively, is any induction training provided sufficient?
✅Review your recruitment processes. The changes to Unfair dismissal will make it even more vital that you get your recruitment decisions right – could you make your recruitment process more robust?
✅Audit your workforce – are you using zero-hour contracts? Do these people work on a regular basis for you? Would a part time or FTC contract be more appropriate?
And most importantly…
✅Engage an HR Specialist 💪 who can work with you now to get prepared and continue to support you with implementing changes once more details are announced.
We are here to help
Get in contact at info@gfhr.co.uk if you’d like to talk through what these changes mean for your business.