The Employment Rights Bill: Get Ready Now, Thank Yourself Later

Dec 09, 2024
An image of ducks in a row with text: get your HR ducks in a row

If you’re an employer this brand new year that approaches is bringing with it a whole raft of new challenges...

2025 marks the start of Labour’s Employment Rights Bill coming into force in earnest, and between now and the end of 2026, there’s likely to be A LOT of change.  This means you'll have to get your head around a bundle of new parameters, including:

πŸŸͺ Changes to the harassment law – in October 2024, the law changed to penalise you if you don’t take steps to prevent sexual harassment happening in your workplace; the next step is to make you liable for the act itself, even when committed by a third party.

πŸŸͺ Unfair dismissal protection for employees from day one – this is a BIG one.  The Government plan to remove the ‘two years’ service’ restriction on unfair dismissal, which will completely change the way you need to recruit, train and manage your employees.

πŸŸͺ Right to flexible working – part of the proposed changes include you no longer being able to easily refuse flexible working requests.  If you do refuse, you’ll need to demonstrate that it was “reasonable” to refuse.

πŸŸͺ SSP from the first day off – another proposed change is sick pay coming into force immediately, on the first day an employee calls in sick.

Further changes include:

  • Establishing parental and bereavement leave from day one  

  • Ending exploitative zero hour contracts   

  • Ending unscrupulous practices of fire and rehire and fire and replace  

  • Delivering stronger dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers  

  • Establishing a new Fair Work Agency with new powers to enforce holiday pay  

You can find factsheets about each of the changes on the government website: click here

 


 

These changes comprise the biggest upheaval in employment law for decades...

While you have still got a little bit of time before they come into force, it’s going to be critical you take the right action to protect your business and get your HR ducks in a row before the changes come in.  If you don't you'll be leaving your business extremely vulnerable.

If you need support to navigate through the changes, and prepare your business for the long-term, reach out to us.

Do you need help with your people management?

Whether you’ve got a specific HR query, you need your HR foundations in place, or you’re looking to build on those foundations and create a team that can function without you, we’d love to talk about how we can help you make it happen.

Give us a call on 01980 622167, or click below to book a call.

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