In our response, we cover:
Make Work Pay
- Shoring up capability, skills and understanding of employers (particularly SMEs), HR professionals, and line managers, to support successful implementation of Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 25) measures.
- Ensuring the ERA 25 does not negatively impact youth opportunity.
- Investing in supporting and expanding enforcement mechanisms to ensure the ERA 25 reforms achieve its aims.
- Continuing tripartite working with government, employer reps, and trade unions.
Pro-business, pro-worker
- Emphasising the mutuality of the employment relationship during this reset of employment relations through the ERA 25.
- Reinforcing the government’s four principles of modern industrial relations (collaboration, proportionality, accountability, and balancing interests of workers, employers, and the public) through a statutory code of practice and enhanced resources for Acas.
- Raising relevant skills of HR professionals, line managers, trade union reps and negotiators, and the wider workforce and business community.
Support young people to earn or learn
- Strengthening skills development in young people.
- Rebuilding an effective pre-apprenticeship system.
- We reiterated our call to implement an Apprenticeship Guarantee for young people.
- Providing a package of employer support.
- Ensuring the ERA 25 reforms don’t discourage employers from hiring young people.
Break down barriers to opportunity for disabled people
- Encouraging disability workforce reporting.
- Expanding Access to Work.
- Strengthening Disability Confident.
- Ensuring Pathway to Work advisors are condition-specialist and focused on retention as well as recruitment.
- Embedding safeguarding and co-design at every stage of employment support.
- Integrating health and employment services, learning from international models.
- Focusing on individuals, not conditions.
- Facilitating effective workplace adjustments.
- Upskilling line managers.
- Widening access to a wider range of flexible working opportunities.
