LONDON (Reuters) – All British workers, including nearly a million agency workers, will be entitled to a contract which reflects the hours they regularly work, according to amendments tabled by the government to its flagship employment legislation.
The Employment Rights Bill, which the government says is the biggest upgrade to UK workers’ rights in a generation, was set out in October.
Having consulted with business groups and unions, who traditionally fund the Labour Party, the government on Tuesday published amendments to the bill ahead of the next stage of the parliamentary process.
It said one of these will ensure that agency work does not become a loophole in its plans to end exploitative zero hours contracts, which do not give workers’ guaranteed hours.
Some business groups oppose guaranteed hours, arguing it will make part-time jobs less viable and businesses less competitive as they pay for hours they don’t need.
Other amendments to the legislation will make statutory sick pay a legal right for all workers, strengthen remedies against employer abuse of rules on redundancies and create a modern industrial relations framework.
The substance of the reforms proposed in October remains intact, including plans to end fire-and-rehire practices and granting new rights on parental leave.
The legislation will be one of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s biggest reforms since Labour’s election victory in July. The government has framed the plans as the best way to avoid the industrial action that has disrupted services over recent years.
Business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry, welcomed the government’s engagement but said it remained concerned.
“There is a real risk that this legislation imposes a thicket of regulation across all businesses which prevents them from creating the high-quality, secure jobs which we all want to achieve,” CBI CEO Rain Newton-Smith said.
(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle)
