Bill Deemed Unfit For Purpose

Following our previous report, the RPC has published its opinion on the Bill. The Bill intends to confer more power on the UK Government to operate free of the constraints of retained EU law. It will achieve this by 'sunsetting' retained EU law on 31 December 2023, unless the Government takes specific action to preserve certain pieces of legislation.

The RPC is an independent body that scrutinises how proposed regulatory measures put forward by the Government can affect business and society. Whenever the Government proposes new regulation, it publishes an impact assessment. Those impact assessments are subject to RPC scrutiny.

The RPC has rated the impact assessment as not fit for purposes, based on its concerns about the quality of evidence and analysis it contains. The rating is based on the RPC's concerns in two main areas, namely:

• the equivalent annual net direct cost to business
• the small and micro business impact

Broadly speaking, the RPC has found that the Government has not sufficiently considered or sought to quantify the full impact of the Bill. Meanwhile, the Bill continues to progress through Parliament. The Committee stage of the Bill (where a detailed line-by-line examination of the Bill takes place) is now complete. It remains to be seen how the Government plans to respond to the RPC opinion, and indeed if this will prompt the Government to stop or pause its plans to sunset retained EU law.

For more information on the Bill, please contact Gareth Edwards in our Employment law team on 0117 314 5220. Alternatively, please complete the form below.