CIPD consultation response: Make Work Pay – Employment Rights Bill

In October 2024, the Government introduced the Employment Rights Bill to Parliament, which put forward a comprehensive overhaul of employment law and is being referred to as the ‘biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation’.

The Business and Trade Committee launched an inquiry to assess the proposed reforms. The findings report was released on 3 March 2025 and can be found here.

We responded to the inquiry in December 2024, welcoming the opportunity the Bill brings, as well as highlighting the need for meaningful consultation given the scale of the measures and the speed with which the Bill was introduced to parliament. You can read our full response below.

The Public Bill Committee also launched an inquiry into the Bill in 2024, to which we submitted the same evidence as the Business and Trade Committee inquiry.

In our response we highlight:

• CIPD’s research comparing employment protections and labour market outcomes in OECD economies which found that, in most areas, the UK’s less rigorous regulation compared with some other OECD countries is not associated with worse labour market outcomes on most indicators or with an inferior quality of work
• Our research also found that stricter employment regulation is generally associated with a higher level of temporary employment
• Government and the committee must therefore consider the potential for negative unintended consequences of measures in the Employment Rights Bill. Particularly where that might have the effect of creating more insecure work or discouraging employers from hiring people who may need more support or development
• To improve the labour market enforcement system, alongside a Fair Work Agency, there needs to be comprehensive labour market enforcement strategy that includes the new Fair Work Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and the Equality and Human Rights Commission
• We also called for Acas’ budget to be doubled to £120m a year to support its ability to advise and support employers – particularly SMEs – to comply with new regulation.