Talking Employment Law: The Employment Rights Bill - Part 1

In October 2024, the Government unveiled its Employment Rights Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament to become law. This Bill introduces major reforms to workers’ rights.

In part 1 of the Employment Rights Bill podcast in the ‘Talking Employment Law’ series, Louise Keenan and Lucy White, members of the employment team at Clarkslegal, will discuss some of the main provisions of the Bill, including: 

• Unfair dismissal 
• Family rights
  • Bereavement leave 
  • Unpaid parental leave
  • Paternity leave 
  • Extension of protection for pregnant women and new mothers

Please contact our employment team if your business needs help with any of these proposed changes. It’s important to seek advice and plan for the changes now to be ready when they come into force.   

Transcript

Louise Keenan – 00:06

In October 2024, the Government unveiled its Employment Rights Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament to become law. This Bill introduces major reforms to workers’ rights.

This podcast is part of a series of podcasts which will be discussing some of the main provisions of the Bill.  For this podcast we’ll be focusing on the government’s proposals with regard to unfair dismissal and family rights.  

My name is Louise Keenan, I am an Associate in the employment team at Clarkslegal and this is Lucy White who is a Solicitor at Clarkslegal.  

It’s important to first highlight that as this is a Bill, it is subject to change and so the provisions we’ll be discussing may be amended as it makes its passage through parliament. 

Lucy White – 00:50

Thanks Louise.

Yes, so, shall we start by looking at unfair dismissal which has been a real hot topic since the Bill was unveiled.

Louise Keenan – 00:59

Yeah, that’s a great place to start – go on then.

Lucy White – 01:02

Currently, employees need to have two years’ service to bring a claim for ordinary unfair dismissal.  

The Employment Rights Bill plans to remove the two-year length of service requirement for ordinary unfair dismissal claims, making this effectively a ‘day one’ right.  Existing rights with no qualifying period, like automatic unfair dismissals, are unaffected.  

Louise Keenan – 01:23

That’s going to have a really big impact on businesses.  

Lucy White – 01:27

It really is, however, thankfully the Government is proposing to introduce a statutory probation period to ensure employers can properly assess the employee’s suitability for the role.  At the moment a nine-month statutory probationary period is being proposed though this may change.  The idea is that employers would be able to dismiss fairly during this probationary period (save in respect of redundancy) with a lighter touch and less onerous process.  In cases of redundancy, the statutory probationary period would not apply and employees would have unfair dismissal rights from day one.   

Louise Keenan – 02:05

Now that’s actually a really interesting point to flag because I don’t know if everyone realises that there will be this distinction between redundancy dismissals and other types of dismissal.

Lucy White – 02:17

Yes, it is an important one to flag in the current climate as we’re seeing more and more redundancies and so employers need to be mindful that in the future these employees may have greater protection here from day one.  But I find it interesting that there are no proposals as yet on statutory redundancy pay being available earlier. 

Louise Keenan – 02:39

Yes, it’s more about the process and unfair dismissal rights at the moment isn’t it. 

Lucy White – 02:43

Yes, and just to add, the Government has said that it is committed to consulting on the length of the statutory probationary period, the process for dismissals during that period and the compensation award regime for dismissals during this period. This suggests that a different compensation scheme could apply for probationary dismissals, presumably this would be less than the full award typically available for unfair dismissal claims.

Louise Keenan – 03:09

Yeah, the Government say don’t they that the purpose behind all this is to strengthen employment rights, end one sided flexibility in the workplace and increase job security. They think the changes will help to ensure new hires are not fired arbitrarily and will help to drive up standards in workplaces.

Lucy White – 03:29

Yeah, they said didn’t they that around 9 million employees currently have less than two years’ service with their employers and therefore have very limited protection against unfair dismissal. 

Louise Keenan – 03:40

Yeah, it’s also worth highlighting before we move on to family rights, that currently there is a requirement for an employee to have two years’ service before they are entitled to written reasons for their dismissal (save in certain circumstances). But this will also be removed under the Employment Rights Bill so they would get this following completion of the statutory probation period.   

The Government have confirmed that these reforms relating to dismissal will take effect no sooner than Autumn 2026. There’s a bit of time here, so we recommend that employers take the time now to prepare and address any issues within their workforce such as conduct and performance issues.  

Lucy White – 04:20

So, now turning to family rights, in particular bereavement leave, unpaid parental leave, paternity leave and extension of protection for pregnant women and new mothers.

Louise Keenan – 04:33

Not a lot then

Lucy White – 04:34

Yeah, there are quite a lot of changes.  

So lets start with bereavement leave. There’s currently no right for employees to take bereavement leave following the death of a loved one (save in the case of parental bereavement leave).  

Louise Keenan – 04:48

Yeah, so that’s the one at the moment where parents are entitled to up to two weeks paid leave following the death of a child under 18 years old or stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.  

Lucy White – 05:00

Yes, that’s right, the Employment Rights Bill however proposes to provide an extended entitlement to bereavement leave to other types of relationships so it is more of a general bereavement leave right.  This will be a day one right but, at the moment, this will be unpaid.    

Louise Keenan – 05:15

It does seem perhaps a bit odd that there will be some bereavement leave therefore that is paid and then some unpaid, I suspect some employers might take a view on paying in all cases.

Lucy White – 05:28

Yeah, perhaps unsurprisingly there’s been a lot of push back on that in the media saying this doesn’t go far enough.  

We don’t have all the details for this right yet. Regulations will be required to set out the details  including who will be eligible to take bereavement leave, how leave can be taken and the length of leave.  It is expected that this will be at least one week (it will remain at two weeks in respect of the death of a child) and that this extended leave will need to be taken within 56 days of the person's death.

Louise Keenan – 05:59

That’s different from parental bereavement leave, isn’t it because that can be taken in the first 56 weeks after the death or stillbirth of a child.  

Lucy White – 06:08

Yes, that’s right.  

Also, to flag that the protections that exist for those who have taken parental bereavement leave (such as the right not to be subjected to a detriment or dismissal because of the parental bereavement leave) will be extended to bereavement leave. 

The Government has also tabled amendments to the bill to allow bereavement leave for pregnancy loss pre-24 weeks. We are still waiting on clarification as to what this will look like, although it is expected that this will also be unpaid.

The Government has said that charities have estimated that bereavement costs the UK economy an estimated £23 billion a year in lost Gross Value Added (GVA) and costs the UK Treasury an estimated £8 billion in reduced tax revenues, increased healthcare costs and income support payments.

Louise Keenan – 07:00

It sounds good therefore, on the face of it but in reality, I do wonder how many employees will actually utilise this because it is unpaid.  

Lucy White – 07:11

Yeah I think that, as many employers already offer some form of paid compassionate leave and, where this is not available, many employees tend to be on sick leave (with payments of SSP or contractual sick pay) following the death of a loved one so I’m not sure either if in practice it’s going to have a big impact.  

Louise Keenan – 07:29

So, we’ll have to wait and see, I guess. 

Turning now to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave then. 

Currently an employee must work for 26 continuous weeks to be eligible for paternity leave and a year before they will be entitled to unpaid parental leave.  It is thought that the current rules may deter employees from changing jobs due to the fear of losing their entitlements here.   

The Employment Rights Bill proposes to remove the length of service requirements for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave making these a ‘day one’ right subject to the correct notice being given.  

Lucy White – 08:06

I think this makes sense, it’s bringing these types of family leave into line with others, such as maternity leave.  

Louise Keenan – 08:11

Absolutely. Currently there is also a requirement that paternity leave be taken before any period of shared parental leave otherwise the right to paternity leave is lost.  The Employment Rights Bill proposes to remove this requirement allowing employees more flexibility. 

The Government has said that it expects this change will impact tens of thousands of fathers who will be brought within the scope of paternity leave provisions. 

Lucy White - 08:35

Yeah, the government mentioned fathers specifically but obviously it is much wider than that impacting all new parents.  

Louise Keenan – 08:44

Absolutely. Finally, the new Employment Rights Bill offers greater protection for pregnant women and new families by extending the existing protections relating to redundancy dismissals to all other types of dismissals and allowing regulations to be made relating to dismissals after a period of family leave (like maternity, adoption, shared parental leave) not just during the period of leave.

Lucy White – 09:08

I think this one is going to have quite an impact but we don’t have specifics yet on a lot of this so we’ll have to see what happens with this.

Louise Keenan – 09:16

Yes, because the government have said that it intends for example to make it unlawful to dismiss employees who have been pregnant within six months of their return to work, save for in specific circumstances but we don’t know what the specific circumstances will be yet so I agree a lot of waiting and seeing.      

Just to note, these changes could come in earlier than 2026.  

Lucy White – 09:40

Yeah, so employers will have to review their policies and may have to do this promptly depending on when the changes come in.  

So that brings us to the end of this podcast.

Needless to say, if your business needs help with any of these proposed changes, please do let us know.  It’s important to seek advice and plan for the changes now so you are ready when they come into force.  

Thank you for listening and please make sure and check our Clarkslegal and Employmentbuddy websites for updates.