Briefing | Northern Ireland 'Good Jobs' Employment Rights Bill: Way forward outlined

In total, there are approximately 50 policy measures that the Department, presuming agreement by the NI Executive as a whole, will seek to implement. The Annex in ‘The Way Forward’ document provides an accessible summary of all proposals and their planned delivery. Some will require primary legislation, others secondary legislation and still others policy and guidance development. The main employment bill is not expected to be introduced until 2026, although some other measures may be introduced sooner.

The response analysis shows areas of agreement across stakeholders, but also exposes clear fault lines, particularly between responses by employer groups and trade unions. The final proposals are an attempt to reconcile these, with some areas that go further than employers argued for and others not as far as trade unions did. Significant consultation is set to continue and the CIPD will be playing its part in representing member views at the highest levels.

The following summarises the proposals across the four main themes and puts them in context of the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and existing GB employment law.

Terms of employment

Some of the biggest changes relate to employees on zero- and low-hours contracts. Crucially, the final proposals do not suggest a full ban on zero-hours contracts and the consultation recognises that there are workers who benefit from their flexibility and that some employers use them on the basis of genuine business need. Key proposals include:

• Zero- and low-hours employees will gain the power to request a banded contract, which would guarantee a number of hours that reflect patterns of work – most likely over a 26-week period. This right to request differs to GB proposals which will require employers to offer guaranteed hours – GB proposals also suggest a 12-week reference period. Banded hours contracts are in place in the Republic of Ireland.
• Employers will be required to inform employees of this right through the written statement of particulars when employment commences.
• There will be a requirement for a reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for shifts cancelled or curtailed at short notice – details will be consulted on further. This is an area where there will possibly be alignment with GB proposals that are also currently in development.
• Exclusivity clauses in contracts under the lower earnings limit will be banned, like in GB.
• Powers will be provided that would permit the right to request banded hours to other types of contracts in the future. This is a slight point of difference with GB proposals, where amendments to the ERB specified that the new right to guaranteed hours would extend to agency workers.

The complexities of employment status, in particular the interaction with the UK-wide taxation system, resulted in a more cautious approach. New guidance for individuals and employers will be developed. The Department will also endeavour to work with the UK Government (which is expected to consult on this soon) on this issue rather than legislate unilaterally – something that the CIPD called for in our submission.

Legislation will make it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee in order to alter the terms of their contract (so-called fire and rehire), where that employee does not agree to such alterations, with the only exception being immediate financial difficulty the employer can evidence. This approach aligns with GB proposals in the ERB.

A written statement of core employment terms and conditions will now be required for all employees and workers, on or before the first day of employment, and the information that an employer is required to provide in the principal statement will be expanded. This will include information about a worker’s terms of employment, including pay, working hours and paid leave. It will also include information on a worker’s right to join a trade union. This will align NI with GB.

Furthermore, agency workers will gain the right to a Key Information Document and the so-called Swedish Derogation will be abolished. This will align NI with GB.

Pay and benefits

The consultation response analysis showed there was broad support for proposals around the fair and transparent allocation of tips. Both UK and Irish Governments legislated on this and the Department will seek to introduce similar measures:

• payments for service will be required to go to workers fairly and transparently, aside from deductions required by law
• employers will be required to keep records of payments for service received and distributed, with workers having a right to request access to those records
• a new statutory code of practice to set out the principles of fairness and transparency.

In another area of alignment with GB, workers will gain the legal right to a payslip, which will need to contain information on the number of paid hours worked by an employee or worker, in situations where pay varies by time worked.

The holiday pay reference period will be extended to 52 weeks. There are no other proposals included, for example around rolled up holiday pay or a backstop for holiday pay claims as exists in GB.

There will also be additional guidance developed around record keeping requirements to comply with the Working Time Regulations. While the majority of respondents to the consultation agreed with adopting the GB approach (which legislated to stipulate that businesses are not required to keep detailed records of working hours for workers), no legislation will be taken forward in NI.

Finally, a new statutory code of practice will be developed around the so-called ‘right to disconnect’, looking at the system in the Republic of Ireland. While similar proposals were expected to be made in GB, they have so far not been progressed.

Voice and representation

The consultation included a broad range of proposals in relation to trade unions and collective action. Unsurprisingly, most are being taken forward. There are points of difference with GB proposals here too, albeit some differences already exist today.

• Trade unions will have the right to request access to workplaces, including digital access. Employers will not be able to unreasonably withhold access, but such access will not be automatic and will require adherence to certain provisions. This seems to differ from GB proposals since those introduce negotiated ‘access agreements’, although no specific operational detail is available yet.
• The statutory recognition threshold will be reduced from 21 to 10 workers. GB proposals did not include changes to the worker threshold, but suggested a lowering of the 10% union membership requirement – something, conversely, not included in the NI proposals.
• The notice period for industrial action will remain at 7 days and not lowered to 5 days as proposed in the consultation. GB proposals in the ERB cut the current 14 days to 10.
• There will be a new code of practice on facilitating workplace relationships. No further changes to legal protections for trade union officials are proposed.
• The 12-week protection time limit on dismissal for employees taking part in industrial action will be removed. This mirrors proposals in GB. Unlike in GB, no changes are proposed to broader protections from unfair dismissal, which have a one year qualifying period in NI.

The consultation also included a series of questions around TUPE, seeking to bring NI law in line with recent GB changes. The Department concluded that due to the complexities involved and likely further change in GB law, it will not take any changes forward immediately.

Work-life balance

Most of the proposals in this area seek to bring NI in line with GB, although some differences remain.

Changes to the right to request flexible working mirror updated GB provisions and include:

• the right to make a flexible working request will become a day-one right
• employees will be permitted to make two statutory flexible working requests per year
• employees will no longer be required to state the potential impact of a flexible working request
• for employers, the statutory grounds for refusing a flexible working request will remain unchanged, but they will be required to demonstrate that they have acted reasonably in doing so
• one existing point of difference with GB is the shorter length of time employers have to respond to the requests – a meeting needs to take place within 28 days and a decision reached 14 days after the meeting, compared with a total of 2 months in GB.

Carer’s leave will be introduced, on the same terms as across GB:

• an employee with caring responsibilities will be entitled to take up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave every 12 months
• unless in an emergency situation, an employee will be required to provide their employer with notice
• an employee who takes carer’s leave will have similar employment protections to those applying to other kinds of statutory leave.

It is intended for carer’s leave to be a paid entitlement, but there are significant financial and legislative constraints for its introduction. The Department has commissioned research on the benefits and costs of paid carer’s leave in the first instance and it says that it will provide a “legislative basis” for paid carer’s leave – allowing NI to create a dedicated statutory payment when funds allow or using consequential funding should a paid entitlement be introduced in GB.

Neonatal care leave and pay will also be introduced, most likely the same as across GB, although guidance around evidence requirements will need to be developed:

• it will apply to parents of babies admitted to neonatal care in the first 28 days following birth, and who spend at least seven continuous days in neonatal care
• eligible parents will be permitted a week of neonatal care leave (and pay if applicable) for each week the child is in care, up to a maximum of 12 weeks
• neonatal care leave will be a day-one right, with neonatal care pay requiring 26 weeks employment and earnings above the LEL (currently £125 per week)
• neonatal care pay will be paid at the lower of the statutory rate (currently £187.18 per week for the year 2025/26) or 90% of average weekly earnings.

There will also be additional protections from redundancy for pregnant employees (with protection starting from the point of informing their employer) and those who have recently returned to work after a period of maternity, adoption, or six or more weeks of shared parental leave (with the protection period extended to 18 months). This brings NI in line with GB. However, the Department is aware that further changes in this area are being proposed in GB as part of Make Work Pay and has confirmed it will update its proposals so they are on par with GB.

Lastly, there are changes to paternity leave, bringing NI in line with GB:

• paternity leave will now be a day-one right for employees
• employees will be permitted to take paternity leave as two separate blocks of one week, or a single block of two weeks
• the department will allow paternity leave to be taken at any time within the first 52 weeks following birth or adoption, rather than 56 days as at present
• the notice requirements for paternity leave will be reduced from 15 weeks to 28 days
• while there are no immediate changes to this entitlement, the Department will legislate to make it possible to increase the duration of paternity leave in the future.

In addition to the above proposals, it is likely that the GB proposals around Statutory Sick Pay reform will be replicated in NI and gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting regulations are likely to be laid soon as well. Combined with uncertainties in global trade conditions, minimum wage increases and National Insurance changes, this is a period of substantial change that employers will need to navigate.

We will continue to engage our members through Policy Forum events to help inform the CIPD position on all employment matters.