Government starts four consultations as part of its “Make Work Pay” plan

Following the publication of the Employment Rights Bill, the government has now issued four consultation documents as part of its “Make Work Pay” plan. These cover:

• collective redundancy and fire and rehire – the government is seeking views on measures to strengthen the remedies against abuse of the rules on collective redundancy and fire and rehire; for the collective redundancy framework, the government seeks views on a proposal to increase the maximum period of the protective award that an employment tribunal can award, and for fire and rehire practices, the government seeks views on whether interim relief should be available to employees who are bringing an unfair dismissal claim under the new right which will be introduced by the Employment Rights Bill
• strengthening statutory sick pay (SSP) – the Employment Rights Bill will remove the lower earnings limit for qualifying for SSP and the government is consulting on the percentage replacement rate that should apply for those who earn below the current flat rate of SSP
• the application of zero hours contract measures to agency workers – via the Employment Rights Bill, the government is introducing measures to tackle one-sided flexibility in zero hours contracts through a right to guaranteed hours with a contract that reflects the number of hours regularly worked, and a right to reasonable notice of shifts with payment for shifts cancelled or curtailed at short notice, and this consultation seeks views specifically on the application of these two measures to agency workers
• creating a modern framework for industrial relations – this consultation seeks views on various measures to modernise the legislative framework that underpins trade unions, including: simplifying the amount of information unions are required to provide in industrial action notices; strengthening provisions to prevent unfair practices during the trade union recognition process; removing the 10-year ballot requirement on political funds; securing a mandate for negotiation and dispute resolution; extending the expiry of the strike mandate; reducing the industrial action notice period; and the enforcement mechanism for right of access.

The strengthening SSP consultation closes on 4 December 2024 and the other three consultations close on 2 December 2024.