Employment Rights Bill roadmap provides welcome clarity, but implementation concerns remain.
The CIPD is committed to supporting employers and the people profession as their expertise continues to shape these vital workplace reforms
The CIPD is committed to supporting employers and the people profession as their expertise continues to shape these vital workplace reforms
The CIPD has welcomed the Employment Rights Bill implementation roadmap, which sets out how the UK Government plans to phase in new employment rights and protections for British workers.
Our handy tracker summarises everything people professionals need to know about the new measures they’ll need to implement – and when.
But we still have concerns about enforcement capacity and the costs and scale of the change for employers. To help ensure the reforms are workable in practice, we’ll continue to collaborate with policy-makers, ensuring that valuable insights and expertise from employers and the people profession help to inform the implementation plan.
"We were the first to call for this phased roadmap – it’s an important step forward in supporting employers with the most significant workplace reforms in decades. But there’s more work to do to ensure the reforms are workable in practice.”
We're pleased to see this gradual phasing of measures, which will give employers time to prepare and adapt their people practices.
But concerns remain about specific timelines. Employers will have just nine months to prepare for changes to statutory sick pay, including removing the lower earnings limit and ending the three-day waiting period. This comes as businesses are already struggling with rising employment costs from National Living Wage increases and employer National Insurance contributions this year.
While the government has recognised the need to ensure the enforcement system has the capability and capacity to cope with the raft of new laws, we still have concerns about the funding to deliver on this.
It's crucial that Acas receives additional resources to provide advice and guidance to help employers, particularly micro and small firms. This support can help avoid costly and time-consuming employment tribunal claims and reduce pressure on the tribunal system, where waiting times are already at record levels.
There's also need for a comprehensive labour market enforcement strategy encompassing the work of the new Fair Work Agency, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Health and Safety Executive. Additional labour market inspectors and proactive strategies to prevent unfair treatment and improve HR practices will be particularly needed in sectors where there's greatest risk of non-compliance.
Outside of the Employment Rights Bill, the CIPD also welcomed the government's launch of its parental leave review this week. We’re calling for a holistic review to help create a system that works better t for working parents, including extending statutory paternity leave and simplifying the complicated shared parental leave system.
As people professionals, you'll play a crucial role in helping your organisations navigate these changes. The phased approach should give you time to:
The Employment Rights Bill represents the most significant overhaul of employment law in decades. Recognising that driving real change requires professional expertise, policymakers have engaged directly with us to inform key aspects of the bill. This demonstrates how our members' professional standards and credibility enable them to influence policy, not just implement it.
Over the past year, members of our policy forums and senior leaders' network have fed the views and insights of the people profession into government consultations and roundtables, tripartite meetings with trade unions and employer organisations, and meetings with ministers, MPs and civil servants.
We welcome the government’s commitment to further consultation on key areas still to be finalised - including the new statutory probation period and new rights for zero hours workers. We'll continue to feed insights from CIPD members and employers into the process, to help make government guidance as practical and workable as possible.
At a reception at the House of Lords last week, Employment Rights Minister Justin Madders MP committed to continue collaborating with the CIPD and its members on the finer details of the reforms.
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