Employment Rights Bill: Bill 81 of 2024-25

The Employment Rights Bill would reform employment law in a wide range of areas. This includes new rights to guaranteed hours, flexible working and bereavement leave, changes to statutory sick pay, and new duties on employers to prevent sexual harassment at work. The bill would also introduce day one rights to paternity and parental leave, enhanced protections from unfair dismissal, and protections from dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers. Other changes would include alterations to the statutory framework for trade unions and industrial relations, reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body in England and introducing collective bargaining in the social care sector. It would also establish an agency—the Fair Work Agency—to extend the scope of state enforcement of labour market legislation, extend the time limits that apply to the employment tribunal, and make changes to collective redundancy requirements and the working conditions of seafarers.

The government introduced the bill in the House of Commons on 10 October 2024 and it was debated at second reading on 21 October 2024. Committee stage took place over 21 sittings between November 2024 and January 2025. The government introduced 160 amendments at committee stage, including 11 new clauses and two new schedules. The government introduced a further 40 new clauses and five new schedules at report stage, which took place on 11 and 12 March 2025. The House of Commons passed the bill at third reading on division, by 333 votes to 100.

Trade unions have generally welcomed the bill, though have in some cases called for further measures to be taken. Meanwhile some employer groups have expressed concern about potential costs set to be created by some of the measures in the bill and called for further engagement. The Hansard Society is among bodies to have characterised the bill as skeleton legislation and criticised the extent to which it was amended in the House of Commons.

The government published explanatory notes and an updated delegated powers memorandum to accompany the version of the bill introduced in the House of Lords. It previously published a human rights memorandum, together with a series of factsheets and impact assessments on the version of the bill introduced in the House of Commons.