Reform of UK Employment law may be coming back onto the agenda with new announcements on \u201cfire and rehire\u201d practices and the proposed single enforcement body, in addition to suggestions of a summer consultation on flexible working rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the current Conservative government promising UK employment law reforms in the previous Queens speech and its election manifesto, there was no reference to new employment law in this years\u2019 Queen\u2019s speech. However, the government has updated the UK House of Commons that it plans to respond to \u201cfire and rehire\u201d practices and establish a new body to enforce workers\u2019 rights. Also, there are reports that the government may consult on the introduction of the right to flexible work this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFire and rehire\u201d practices<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Covid-19 pandemic employers who \u201cfire and rehire\u201d \u2013 i.e. change employee terms by dismissal and re-engagement – have come under criticism for these practices. Companies such British Gas and British Airways have come under public scrutiny and trade union condemnation, and the cereal company Weetabix has been threatened with strike action if it needs to fire and rehire employees this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK government asked the public body ACAS to investigate fire and rehire practices in October 2020, following the increase in public awareness. ACAS found that this practice has not drastically increased during the pandemic. However, this investigation prompted calls for tightening up the law around unfair dismissal and employee consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the government describes these as \u201cbullying\u201d practices, it has confirmed it will not legislate to regulate this practice in response to the ACAS investigation. The government has asked ACAS to produce further guidance to encourage good workplace practices when employers are negotiating changes to their employees\u2019 contracts, and the government will face further pressure when the Labour MP Barry Gardiner introduces another bill on this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employers will be relieved by the government not prohibiting fire and rehire practices. Generally, employers only use this as a \u201clast resort\u201d when they need to change terms and conditions for businesses reasons \u2013 often due to cost pressures. If they were unable to do this, businesses would have no option but to make cost savings by way of redundancies. With the UK furlough scheme approaching its end, it is likely the government wants to avoid further legislation which could lead to more people losing their jobs altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Single enforcement body<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The government\u2019s announcement on the single enforcement body for employment rights is nothing new. The primary intention of this is to merge various government bodies into one and expand the remit to the enforcement of statutory sick pay, holiday pay and the regulation of umbrella companies (a form of staffing intermediary \/ supplier \u2013 umbrella companies are often found to be operating in a legally non-compliant way).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new body will provide technical guidance on UK employment law and will have a compliance notice system and the ability to apply civil penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no detail about when the new body will begin to operate or how it will be funded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Consultation expected on flexible working<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK government committed to making flexible working the \u201cdefault\u201d in its 2019 manifesto. A consultation ahead of the Employment Bill is expected this summer which will cover flexible working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are no details on this new right and how it would work, but it is likely to cover all types of flexible working \u2013 not just working from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Summing up \u2013 what do employers need to know?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have any specific questions you would like advice on, then please contact: Abi Frederick Abi.Frederick@lewissilkin.com<\/a> or Koichiro Nakada koichiro.nakada@lewissilkin.com<\/a> of Lewis Silkin LLP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reform of UK Employment law may be comin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[168,519,203,520,513,521,514,522,515,523,516,517,52,518],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/202107-legal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1000,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions\/1000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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