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The General Election 2024: What Could this Mean for Employment Law?

The upcoming UK general election is set for July 4th, 2024. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the date on May 22nd, 2024, after seeking approval from King Charles III to dissolve Parliament. The official campaign period starts once Parliament is dissolved on May 30th, and the election will be conducted 25 working days later. This election is significant as it will be the first since Brexit and the first under the new constituency boundaries set by the 2023 Periodic Review. These boundaries aim to balance the number of voters per constituency, reflecting shifts in population. But what are the potential changes employment law will face? Well, it depends on who wins the election.

If the Conservatives win re-election, they will introduce:

  • The current agenda, including several key initiatives: extending neonatal care leave and pay, reforming industrial action laws, implementing the Back to Work Plan with changes to fit note policies, regulating the umbrella company market, continuing the National Disability Strategy, clarifying the definition of "sex" in the Equality Act 2010, reintroducing employment tribunal fees, revising non-compete clauses, and proposing changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE).
  • There are further ongoing debates including the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill, Fertility Treatment (Employment Rights) Bill and the Unpaid Trial Work Periods (Prohibition) Bill.

If Labour wins:

The Labour party has laid out roughly 60 changes to employment laws that they would bring in, should they win the General Election. They have also pledged to bring about these changes within 100 days of taking office. Some of the main changes include:

  • Day One Rights: Removing qualifying periods for essential rights such as protection from unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave, making these rights available from the first day of employment.
  • Single Worker Status: Establishing a unified worker status to eliminate the distinction between employees and workers, ensuring all receive the same basic rights and protections including sick pay, holiday pay, parental leave, and protection against unfair dismissal.
  • Strengthening Existing Rights: Enhancing protections for pregnant workers, whistleblowers, those made redundant, and workers under TUPE processes.
  • Raising Wages: Continuing to increase the National Living Wage, immediately raising the minimum wage to at least £10 per hour for all workers, reforming the Low Pay Commission, ensuring paid travel time in multi-site sectors, addressing 'sleep over' hours in social care, banning certain unpaid internships, and establishing Fair Pay Agreements.
  • Statutory Sick Pay: Increasing Statutory Sick Pay and making it available to all workers, including those on low wages.
  • Closing Pay Gaps: Addressing gender, disability, and ethnicity pay gaps by allowing pay comparisons across employers where similar work is done and mandating the publication of ethnicity pay gaps for firms with over 250 employees.
  • Preventing Workplace Harassment: Requiring employers to ensure workplaces are free from harassment, including harassment by third parties.
  • Flexible Working Rights: Making flexible working a default right from day one, requiring employers to accommodate reasonable requests.
  • Family-Friendly Protections: Extending statutory maternity and paternity leave, introducing bereavement leave, making it unlawful to dismiss employees for six months post-maternity leave except in specific cases, and reviewing the shared parental leave system.
  • Responding to Family Emergencies: Strengthening workers' rights to respond to family emergencies with paid family and carer's leave, flexible working, and improved enforcement of these rights.
  • Zero Hours Contracts: Banning one-sided flexibility, ensuring workers with regular hours for 12 weeks or more have the right to a contract reflecting those hours, providing reasonable notice of shift changes, and compensating for cancelled shifts.
  • Fire and Rehire Practices: Improving information and consultation procedures and adapting dismissal and redundancy laws to protect workers who refuse less favourable contract terms.
  • Neurodiversity and Mental Health: Raising awareness of neurodiversity and reviewing workplace provisions for stress, mental health, and long COVID.
  • Right to Disconnect: Introducing the right to disconnect and protection from remote surveillance.
  • Trade Union Rights: Enhancing trade union rights, simplifying the process for union recognition, strengthening protections for union representatives, and requiring employers to inform employees of their right to join a union.
  • Employment Tribunal Claims: Extending the time limit for bringing employment tribunal claims and removing compensation caps.

If the Liberal Democrats win:

As of current, the Liberal Democrats have not released a full manifesto, so not that much is known at this point. However, they have made some pledges around the following:

  • Parental leave reform – Give all workers, including parents who are self-employed, a day one right to parental leave and pay. Each parent would get 6 weeks ‘use it or lose it’ leave, with 46 weeks of parental leave to share between themselves as they desire. After the initial 6 weeks, parental pay would be £350 per week.
  • Paternity pay would be increased to 90% of earnings, with a cap for high earners

Still unsure about how the changes that could take place will affect you as an employer? Please contact us at [email protected]. We are here to support you through these changes and ensure compliance with the latest regulations.

The General Election 2024: What Could this Mean for Employment Law?
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