Employment Rights Bill: what are the implications for higher education institutions?
The Employment Rights Bill proposes significant reforms to employment law, including new day-one rights for workers, limiting the use of zero hours contracts and making it more difficult to refuse flexible working requests.
The Employment Rights Bill was published on the 10 October 2024 and proposes the most significant and far-reaching reform to employment law in the UK for many years. The proposals are subject to consultation which is designed to gather feedback on the proposals, particularly their practical impact, and they may be refined as a result of this consultation. Most of the provisions are not expected to come into force until Autumn 2026.
The key reforms include:
Unfair dismissal – a day-one right
Employees will no longer need two years' service to claim unfair dismissal.
The Bill provides for regulations to set out an 'initial period' of employment (or a statutory probationary period) during which a modified version of the right to unfair dismissal will apply. The length of the statutory probationary period is to be subject to consultation, but the government has said it currently favours a nine-month period.
In practical terms, this will mean that HEIs will be able to fairly dismiss employees within the statutory probationary period if they are unsuitable for their role. However, they will need to follow some form of process in order to do so and show good objective evidence for their decision.
Zero hours contracts
The Bill proposes to strengthen rights for workers on zero hours contracts by requiring employers to offer guaranteed hours if a worker consistently works more than their contracted hours over a set reference period (the length of which is to be confirmed in regulations).
Zero hours workers in this position will also be entitled to compensation for qualifying shifts which are cancelled at short notice.
HEIs may need to consider what impact this will have for various categories of employees, particularly hourly paid lecturers.
Flexible working
There will be a presumption in favour of flexible working and the Bill proposes to make it harder for employers to refuse requests for flexible working.
The grounds for refusal will remain the same but where a flexible work request is refused, the employer will be under a statutory obligation to explain the exact basis for its decision which must be objectively reasonable. The Bill also creates the power for regulations to be passed setting out the steps an employer must take in order to comply with the existing requirement to consult the employee before rejecting a request.
Statutory sick pay, parental and other leave
Employees will be able to claim statutory sick pay from the first day of sickness absence and the earnings threshold will be removed.
The qualifying periods for paternity and parental leave will be removed, giving employees these rights from day one. Employees will also be able to take paternity leave after shared parental leave, so that the entitlement is not lost where shared parental leave is taken first.
Sexual harassment
The new law requiring employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment came into force on 26 October 2024.
The Bill proposes to strengthen this by requiring employers to show that they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and to introduce a duty for employers to protect workers from harassment (of all types) by third parties.
Supporting HEIs to prepare for change
The Bill proposes 28 individual reforms, many of which will require detailed regulations to bring them into effect.
We will continue to monitor the Bill’s progression and provide updates on the key areas of focus. As further details emerge, we will provide practical guidance to help HEIs to prepare for these significant changes.