Employment Rights Bill Roundup and increase to Statutory Rates
The Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) has now had its third reading in the House of Commons, and has moved to the House of Lords for debate, where it will have its second reading on 27 March 2025. Since the original Bill was proposed, there have been a number of public consultations. We have set out below the most notable changes to the Bill of which readers should be aware following these consultations.
Employment Rights Bill Roundup
Zero hours contracts and agency workers
The Government has responded to the Consultation on the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers by confirming that the requirement to offer guaranteed hours contracts will apply equally to agency workers. They will also be entitled to reasonable notice of shifts, as well as pay when shifts are cancelled or curtailed at short notice.
In most cases, the responsibility for making the offer of guaranteed hours will fall on the end-user, with the responsibility for pay in the case of cancelled or curtailed shifts falling on the employment agency. The responsibility to provide reasonable notice will fall on both parties.
How this will all work in practice will no doubt be subject to much debate, and will be set out in separate regulations yet to be produced. However, what is likely is that this will see significant changes in contract terms between agencies and end-users once the Bill comes into force.
Fire and Rehire and Collective consultation
Some mixed news in relation to the consultation on strengthening remedies against abuse of rules on collective redundancy and fire and rehire, as the Government has confirmed that ‘interim relief’ will not be available in collective redundancy or ‘fire and rehire’ situations. Interim relief is currently only available in very limited situations, and allows an employee to request that the Employment Tribunal order that their employment continue pending the outcome of their claim. The Government has confirmed that this will not be extended to collective redundancy or fire and rehire situations.
In addition, the Government has softened the proposed removal of the ‘one establishment’ rule when calculating the number of redundancies for collective consultation purposes. At present, the requirement to collectively consult only applies where 20 or more redundancies are proposed at ‘one establishment’. It was originally proposed that that the requirement for the redundancies to be at ‘one establishment’ should be removed, which had caused significant concern amongst employers with multiple sites, as even only one or two redundancies at each of a number of separate sites could have triggered collective consultation. The Government has now confirmed that the requirement to collectively consult will continue to apply where there are 20 or more redundancies proposed at one site, but that another higher threshold (to be determined) will apply where multiple redundancies are proposed at more than one site within the same organisation. This is very welcome news for larger multi-site employers.
However, in less welcome news, the Government has confirmed that the maximum protective award will be increased from 90 to 180 days. At present the protective award is payable where an employer fails to comply with its collective consultation obligations. This will also apply under the Bill where there is an automatic unfair dismissal as a result of a prohibited dismissal and re-engagement procedure.
Statutory Sick Pay
It had already been confirmed that the ‘waiting days’ which currently apply before employees receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be abolished, meaning that SSP will be paid from the first day of absence. However, following the consultation on the percentage rate for those earning below the current rate of SSP, the Government has now confirmed that the lower earnings limit will equally no longer apply, and SSP will be payable to all workers. The rate of SSP will be the lower of the current SSP flat rate, or 80% of an employee’s weekly salary where this is lower than the SSP flat rate.
Fair Work Agency – right to bring Employment Tribunal Claims
A significant change has been proposed which will give the Fair Work Agency – the new enforcement agency – real powers to take action by bringing Employment Tribunal claims on behalf of workers, and arranging advice and representation on a worker’s behalf.
In addition, the Fair Work Agency will be able to issue a notice of underpayment of SSP and minimum wage for the previous six years, requiring an employer to compensate the worker for such underpayment within 28 days of the notice. The notice will also require the employer to pay a penalty to the Government, which may be up to £20,000 in some cases.
Trade Unions and Industrial Relations
Finally in the world of Industrial Relations, the consultation on creating a modern framework for industrial relations has led to a number of changes to the proposals in the Bill, including the following:
- The notice required for industrial action will now be 10 days (reduced from the current 14), rather than the original proposal of 7 days;
- The mandate for industrial action will be extended to 12 months;
- E-balloting will be introduced, separately from the Bill
- Right of access for trade unions will include digital access
- Unions will no longer need to ballot every 10 years on whether they wish to maintain a political fund (although there will be a requirement to remind members of their right to opt out every 10 years)
- The recognition process will be streamlined, and there will be increased protections against unfair practices.
Increase to Rates and Limits
The Government has now set out the proposed increase to the rates and limits which apply in Employment Tribunals. The following rates will apply from 6 April 2025:
| Current Limit | New Limit | |
| A week’s pay (statutory redundancy pay calculations) | £700 | £719 |
| Compensatory awards for unfair dismissal | £115,115 | £118,223 |
| Statutory guarantee pay ?(daily rate) | £38 | £39 |
The minimum wage will also increase on 1 April, as set out below:
| Current Rate | New Rate | |
| Apprentice rate | £6.40 | £7.55 |
| 16-17 Year Old Rate | £6.40 | £7.55 |
| 18-20 Year Old Rate | £8.60 | £10.00 |
| National Living Wage (21 and over) | £11.44 | £12.21 |
Finally, the following rates will also be increased from 6 April 2025:
| Current Rate | New Rate | |
| Statutory maternity and adoption pay (after the first six weeks), statutory paternity, shared parental and parental bereavement pay | £184.03 (or 90% of earnings, if lower) | £187.18 (or 90% of earnings, if lower) |
| Statutory sick pay | £116.75 | £118.75 |
Contact details
Gemma.Sherbourne@tyrlaw.co.uk +44 (0)7535 652758 +44 (0)113 521 7556
