Election results 2024: What changes can employers expect?
Day-one employment rights
Labour will remove the qualifying period of employment required for certain employment rights:
Unfair dismissal
Currently, employees must work for two years (up until 2012 it was one year) before acquiring normal unfair dismissal rights. Labour says it will make the right to claim unfair dismissal a day-one right, which would be a huge change and could impact recruitment practices (how thoroughly employers interview/vet candidates, and whether you hire contractors instead of employees), and is likely to result in an increased number of claims. It may be that the consultation process results in a compromise being found, and the period moving back to one year or six months, but Labour is placing a lot of emphasis on day-one rights, so we should presume that will be the case.
Labour also says that probationary periods will be excluded from the day-one qualifying period, and employers would therefore still have time to assess and to fairly dismiss new hires during probation, but would need to follow fair and transparent rules and processes when doing so. There is as yet no clarity about how this probation exception will apply.
It will be important to ensure that your employment contracts are clear about probation periods, their duration, and the other terms applicable. However, as with any performance issue it will also depend on how managers monitor performance/probation, so training managers will also need to be considered.
Flexible working
Labour says flexible working would become a day-one right for all workers (not necessarily just employees) and be the ‘default,’ except where not reasonably feasible. Recent changes in 2024 already permit employees to apply for flexible working on day one and to make two applications per year. Requests can still be turned down based on business reasons, but Labour is inferring that it may be more difficult for employers to turn down flexible working requests under their approach.
Parental leave
Labour says employees would qualify for parental leave on day one (instead of the current 52 weeks). This could also potentially refer to shared parental leave, which employees can only take if they have 26 weeks’ service by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
Statutory sick pay (SSP)
Employees would qualify for SSP on day one rather than on day four (after the current three-day waiting period). Labour would also remove the lower earnings limit so more people would qualify for SSP.