The Employment Rights Bill 2024 is now in its final Parliamentary stages and its provisions are likely to come into force over the next two years. At over three hundred pages it enshrines new legal rights and responsibilities across numerous areas of employment policy, from dismissals and redundancies to workplace behaviours and shift management.
In some ways this attempt to do so much with one Bill is not ideal. A number of important questions have needed refining or rethinking through the Parliamentary process, and some may need more as accompanying regulations are consulted on over coming months.
But the Bill’s breadth and complexity is in large part a reflection of how overdue it is. For over a decade there has been little interest from Government in how the world of work is regulated, other than periodic attempts to pick political fights with trade unions. Repeated promises of a wide-ranging “employment bill”, or action on the recommendations of Matthew Taylor’s review of modern working practices, were endlessly deferred.
Meanwhile the UK’s labour market has been evolving in response to a series of interacting disruptions. Increasing numbers of people are reliant on, many of them trapped in, insecure work, in many areas enabled by new disruptive technologies. Social expectations and aspirations for a better working life, with fair flexibilities and more inclusive working cultures, are on the rise, both from younger generations and older workers, some of them simply abandoning careers early if these are not met.
And at a time when the Government urgently needs to boost productivity and sustainable growth, there are worrying signs that employers’ commitment to developing their workforce, and workers’ engagement with their organisation’s success, have both been on a downward trend.
For these reasons Prospect, though not affiliated to any political party, has welcomed the new Bill, while working closely and constructively with Government and Parliamentarians to improve it.
We recognise it will present employers with a significant amount of new law to get their heads around and, perhaps, changes to working practices and business models to consider and plan – though in many areas good employers will find they are already more than meeting the minimum standards the Bill enshrines.
But the real surprise for some may be the fact that this journey of learning and adaptation may be significantly eased by something the Bill makes important new provisions for – and that is the possibility of an increased presence and role for trade unions.
Key details of these measures remain to be determined through imminent consultation around secondary legislation and regulation – but the framework clauses on access and recognition have the potential to open new routes for trade unions to connect with unorganised workers and seek relationships with their employers.
To effectively take advantage of these opportunities and convert them into new members and recognition agreements, trade unions themselves will face real (and healthy) challenges to extend their reach and demonstrate their relevance. Nothing is being handed to them on a plate.
But employers looking to come to grips with the range of new rights and responsibilities included in the Employment Rights Bill should be seeing this plank of the legislation not as an additional challenge, but as potentially part of the solution.
A wealth of experience – which the IPA has played an important role in collecting and curating – shows that resilient relationships with representative trade unions can be a critical ingredient in compliance and change management. Union branches, and the organisations behind them, are unique repositories of expertise and experience for successfully managing individual issues or collective concerns.
Where trust, honesty and mutual respect are well embedded, union reps and officers are more likely to save employers from their mistakes than look to catch them out. And when organisations need to adopt new technologies, adapt to new circumstances or find a way through tough times, workers are much more open to change and challenge when they know the union has their back.
Of course, there may be difficulties and disagreements. Sometimes there might even be disputes. That possibility can never be wished, or legislated, away, because the positive contribution trade unions make as partners is inseparable from their independence and legitimacy in the eyes of their members. But effective engagement with workers and their trade unions creates processes to work through disagreements, and builds relationships that can endure them.
These are not the stories that hit the headlines, but it is the reality of day-to-day dialogue and problem solving in unionised workplaces throughout the country. It speaks volumes that CIPD has found the greatest nervousness about trade union elements of the Employment Rights Bill among employers with no experience of dealing with unions, while those who already work with them every day are much more likely to be sanguine or supportive.
There is a real risk however that some employers’ fear of the unknown will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, if it translates into a defensive or combative response to legitimate aspirations for collective representation on the part of their workers or reasonable offers of engagement on the part of trade unions.
Prospect has been working with the CIPD to build the awareness and shared understandings needed to seize the positive opportunities in these reforms – while highlighting steps Government could take to help them land successfully. The IPA has already made a central and invaluable contribution to that ongoing conversation and campaign – we welcome the perspectives and insights of everyone who shares the goal of a more successful economy based on better work for all.
Martin McIvor
Deputy Head of Research, Prospect