One of the key elements of the Labour Party’s manifesto for the 2024 general election was its “Plan to Make Work Pay”. Among the promises in the Plan were that the Party, if elected, would deliver a “genuine living wage”, ban “exploitative zero hours contracts” and end fire and rehire practices. In Labour’s first King’s Speech since being elected to government, it sought to make good on those promises.

The government plans to introduce significant changes to some key areas of employment law, primarily through the new Employment Rights Bill. The content of the Bill is not yet known, but a briefing note from the government sets out the main proposals.

They are to:

• make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal “day 1 rights”, subject to probationary periods;
• ban zero hours contracts;
• end fire and rehire and fire and replace practices;
• strengthen statutory sick pay by removing the three-day waiting period and the lower earnings limit;
• make flexible working a day 1 right;
• make it unlawful to dismiss a woman within 6 months of her return to work from maternity leave, except in specific circumstances;
• establish a new body called the Fair Work Agency to aid in the enforcement of workplace rights;
• establish a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector;
• reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body;
• remove certain restrictions on trade union activity, including minimum service levels; and
• simplify the route to statutory recognition.

The government says these changes will be introduced within its first 100 days of taking office, so the draft bill is anticipated shortly. The bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

In addition, the government also announced a new Equality (Race and Disability) Bill which intends to “enshrine the full right to equal pay in law” for persons from ethnic minorities and disabled persons. This bill proposes mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. We await further details as to how such reporting will work in practice.

Photograph: “Pedestrians” by Pixabay user Brian Merrill used under Pixabay content licence