Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
In October 2024, the UK Government introduced the Employment Rights Bill 2024-25. Here, we take a look at the plans to be implemented by the Bill, and how these will directly impact the construction sector.
What is the Employment Rights Bill 2024-25?
The Employment Rights Bill is pitched by the UK Government as ‘the biggest upgrade to employment rights for a generation’. Enhanced productivity and sustainable, inclusive and secure economic growth are key drivers behind the legislation. The aim is to raise living standards and achieve better support for businesses.
Limited company contractors are not affected by the Bill, and not all the rules apply to temporary agency workers who are on an agency payroll. Permanent employees, and employees of umbrella companies working on temporary engagements, are affected by the Bill.
Highlights of the Bill include:
Workplace Flexibility For Enhanced Job Security:
Banning zero hours contracts, which are widespread in construction and considered to be exploitative, and replacing them with rights to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts, and compensation if a shift is cancelled at short notice.
Eliminating ‘fire and rehire’ dismissals when an employee is fired and then rehired on less lucrative or favourable terms.
Strengthening collective redundancy rights by ensuring employers consult and notify trade unions or employee representatives when 20 or more redundancies are expected, so that redundancies are considered across the entire workforce, not just at a particular site.
Providing a ‘day one’ right to protection from unfair dismissal.
Commenting for a Contractor Umbrella article, Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), said: “…the introduction of day one rights has the potential to hinder hiring. Risk-averse employers may look at methods of pushing the risks onto others in the supply chain, such as staffing companies, which places these businesses in a difficult position.”