Legal update
Latest on the Employment Rights Bill
On 10 October 2024, the Employment Rights Bill was introduced into Parliament.
On 5 March 2025, the Government published an amendment paper including certain proposed amendments to the Bill. The amendments proposed by the Government were subsequently accepted by the House of Commons, with the Bill now due for its second reading in the House of Lords on 27 March 2025.
We summarise the key amendments below (the latest version of the Bill is available here):
Zero hours and agency workers
Agency workers will have the right to guaranteed hours contracts, reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for short notice of cancelled, curtailed or moved shifts. This follows the Government’s response to its consultation on the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers, published on 4 March 2025, which notes the Government’s intention to “ensure that agency work does not become a loophole in the plans to end exploitative zero hours contracts”.
Bereavement leave and pay for pre-24-week pregnancy loss
The Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee tabled a non-government amendment to extend the right to two weeks’ bereavement leave and statutory bereavement pay to employees who experience pre 24-week pregnancy loss. The Government did not accept this amendment but accepted the principle of bereavement leave for pregnancy loss, indicating that further discussions and potential amendments will occur during the Bill’s passage in the House of Lords.
Collective redundancies
The obligation to collectively consult over redundancies will be triggered where an employer is proposing to make 20 or more employees at one establishment (or at least the “threshold number of employees”) redundant within a period of 90 days or less.
Under the previous version of the Bill, the obligation to collectively consult and notify the Secretary of State would have applied more often, with potentially significant consequences for employers, in particular multi-site employers.
Employers will also not be required to consult all appropriate representatives together or undertake consultation with a view to reaching the same agreement with all appropriate representatives.
Enforcement
The new Fair Work Agency will have the power to bring Employment Tribunal proceedings in place of workers who are not going to bring proceedings themselves. It will also have the power to provide legal assistance to a person who is, or may become, party to civil proceedings in England, Wales or Scotland relating to employment-related matters. Furthermore, the FWA will have the power to recover costs of enforcement, possibly leading to additional funding for the body.
Employers should take note of the FWA’s significant enforcement powers; once in place, it will have a broad remit to take on enforcement of a wide range of employment rights. For further information, see the Government’s factsheet on the FWA here.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
The weekly SSP rate will be the lower of the prescribed weekly rate (£118.75 from 6 April 2025) and 80% of an employee’s normal weekly earnings. See our article on changes to the statutory caps here.
Trade unions
In line with its response to the consultation on “creating a modern framework for industrial relations”, the Government tabled amendments to improve the process and transparency around trade union recognition and access, including streamlining the trade union recognition process and strengthening protections against unfair practices. These include expanding the scope of access agreements to communication with workers other than by means of physical entry into a workplace (for example, virtually) and widening the definition of “access purposes” to include “support”, meaning that access can be for the purpose of supporting workers.
Umbrella companies
Previously, the Bill did not contain any provisions regulating umbrella companies. The Bill has now been amended to include businesses that participate in arrangements under which persons are supplied by their employer to work for other persons within the definition of “employment business” under the Employment Agencies Act 1973. This is in line with the Government’s response to the consultation on proposals to tackle non-compliance with employment rights and tax by umbrella companies.
Right to switch off
Finally, we note that the Government appears to have dropped plans for the introduction of a new “right to switch off”, which was set to be covered under a statutory Code of Practice rather than through legislation.