Yesterday, the government published its new Employment Rights Bill for consideration by parliament. Most recruitment businesses in the UK are cautious about the impacts of some of the changes.
Below, I’ve summarised my thoughts on what this could mean for recruitment businesses…
1) Importantly, this Bill is to provide a statutory framework for future changes. It is a long way off coming into effect through detailed regulation.
2) As expected, it paves the way for removal of the 2-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal rights, and looks set to create a statutory maximum probation period.
Likewise, employees will have rights from Day 1 to benefits like parental, paternity and bereavement leave.
3) SSP will kick in without the 3-day wait period, and there will be increased protection for pregnant workers and new mothers.
4) I’m pleased to see a change of tone in discussions of “non-traditional” work: there is an acknowledgement that zero-hours contracts can suit people’s circumstances, and that lots of temporary workers don’t want a permanent job.
5) The “industry voices” quoted by the government do appear to be from big employers: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-unveils-most-significant-reforms-to-employment-rights. Let’s hope there will be a much wider consultation with small and medium businesses (including virtually all recruitment businesses) in the near future.
Us small and medium businesses make up 99.9% of UK private sector businesses, employing 61% of the workforce. The costs of some of these proposals are typically much more difficult for these businesses to absorb.
Let’s see how they think the changes will impact the government’s declared no.1 mission: to kickstart economic growth.