The Employment Rights Bill
The start of September saw the start of the closing phases of the Employment Rights Bill. This is a large and far-reaching piece of legislation that aims to significantly upgrade workers' rights in the UK, introducing day one rights for leave, improving zero-hours contracts, strengthening sick pay, and updating industrial action rules.
The Bill is currently in a phase in Parliament coined as ‘ping pong’ where it is passed back and forth from the House of Lords to the House of Commons as each House reviews the others’ amendments and rejects or accepts them accordingly. This is the very last stage of legislation for a Bill and once both Houses are satisfied it will be submitted for Royal Assent before it is enshrined into law.
The culmination of the Employment Rights Bill is of particular importance to me as it is one of the first pieces of legislation I dealt with in my role as your Member of Parliament. Last year I had the privilege to be selected as one of the MPs in the House of Commons Committee put together to scrutinise the Bill and I, together with my colleagues from across the House, spent months in committee rooms going over each line of the Bill.
This was a pleasure for me as whilst my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I support the Government’s desire to modernise employment rights there are a number of areas which I believe require further scrutiny. As a small business owner for most of my adult life there were several glaring issues I found when examining the Bill which, in the noble aim of increasing the basic rights of workers left our small businesses getting squeezed at the sides.
A key problem I argued against during the scrutiny of this Bill was that much of the legislation was complex and overwrought with far too many details being left to Ministers’ discretion, or further consultations.
Small businesses simply do not have the resources to keep on top of every change to employment law, particularly when the Government themselves are not certain of what route they will take. I argued time and time again during our Committee sessions for the Government to provide clear and concise support for small businesses to mitigate the impact of the Bill and ensure that they felt they were being supported by this legislation rather than punished by it.
Over the course of the Committee my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I also set out plans to expand parental leave and pay, to give parents genuine flexibility and choice in the crucial early months, by doubling Statutory Maternity and Shared Parental Pay to £350 a week and introducing an extra use-it-or-lose-it month for fathers and partners, paid at 90% of earnings. We called for all parental pay and leave to be made day-one rights, and extended to self-employed parents.
Once the Bill passed through the House of Commons, I handed over the reins to Lord Christopher Fox, my Liberal Democrat counterpart in the House of Lords. Lord Fox and I have been working together on this legislation throughout its passage through Parliament and it was great to catch up with him last week for one of our final discussions on the Bill and its progress.
Though the Bill is in its final stages I will continue to engage with Government Ministers to ensure this legislation is the best that it can be and none of our homegrown businesses get caught in an employment regulations no man’s land. This Bill has the potential to mark a new chapter in how we deliver fairness for both business owners and employees. My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I believe, if done well, it can modernise our legislation to reflect the needs of today’s workforce.
