The Employment Rights Bill is continuing to make its passage through Parliament and will next week be heading into the Report stage. Ahead of this the government has responded to some of the consultations it has been carrying out in relation to areas such as statutory sick pay (SSP), and further amendments to the Bill have been put forward.
We take a look at some of these developments below.
Amount of SSP for low paid workers
Following consultation, the government has announced that workers will be entitled to SSP at the lower of 80% of their average weekly pay or the standard rate of SSP (currently £116.75 per week). This change is in addition to those making SSP a day one right that had already been put forward in the Employment Rights Bill.
In their response paper the government stated in respect of the 80% figure that “it is important that the percentage rate strikes the right balance between providing the financial security that our lowest earners need, retaining the incentives to return to work when appropriate, and limiting the costs to businesses… We have also listened to employer concerns about discouraging some employees from returning to work when they are able. It is the government’s view that [this change, should still encourage employees to return to work, and their full pay, when they can”. The government has also said that “whilst we recognise that there are likely to be small additional costs, particularly for small and medium-sized employers, these will likely be offset by the benefits that the changes will bring in reducing presenteeism and therefore boosting productivity and efficiency”.
Increased penalty for failure to comply with collective consultation obligations
The cap on protective awards in collective redundancy situations will be doubled. In brief, this award is made by employment tribunals where an employer has failed to consult as required when proposing 20 or more redundancies within a period of 90 days or less. The award is paid by the employer to the affected employee(s) and is currently capped at the equivalent of 90 days’ pay – this will be increased to 180 days’ pay.
The government has said that “we wish to ensure that employers will not be able to deliberately ignore their obligations, and it should never be the case that it is financially beneficial to do so”.
Employment tribunals will continue to have discretion to vary the length of the protected period, up to the maximum, as they consider just and equitable in all the circumstances, having regard to the seriousness of the employer’s breach, as well as any mitigating factors.
Guaranteed hours contracts and agency workers
The Government is amending the Employment Rights Bill so that it would allow them to implement measures in the Bill that apply to zero / low hour workers to agency workers. These include a right for low and zero hours workers who meet certain requirements to be offered guaranteed hours at the end of a relevant reference period that reflects the hours worked during that reference period, rights around reasonable notice of shifts /shift changes and shift cancellation payments.
The government has said that they “understand the need to apply zero hours contracts measures to agency workers differently, because of both the generally temporary nature of agency work and the tripartite relationship between the agency worker, the temporary work agency, and the end hirer. The Government’s priority is to design solutions that work, addressing one-sided flexibility and providing agency workers with greater security, while also retaining necessary flexibility for employers in how they manage their workforces”.
The details of how measures will work in practice will require secondary legislation, however some key points from the government response include:
- Responsibility to offer guaranteed hours to qualifying agency workers will fall on the end hirer rather than the employment agency. There will be an exception to the requirement to offer guaranteed hours where there is a genuine temporary work need
- Responsibility for providing the agency worker with reasonable notice of shifts will be on both the employment agency and the end hirer – an employment tribunal will be able to appropriately apportion liability based on the responsibility of each party for the failure
Further amendments
Some non-government amendments to the Employment Rights Bill have been tabled ahead of the Report stage, those that appear at this time to have the greatest amount of backing are:
- Statutory leave and protection for victims of domestic abuse
- Changes to the rates of statutory maternity pay, other statutory family leave pay
- New rights for someone bereaved by pregnancy loss
- The establishment of a ‘Working Time Council’ to consider issues relating to a move to a four-day working week
These and other amendments will be considered at the next stage, and we will have to wait and see which, if any, are accepted.
We will keep you updated on developments in relation to the Employment Rights Bill, in the meantime if you have a HR issue you would like assistance with, please get in touch.