Jul 17th, 2024
9 mins
BFFF members should be aware that the new Labour administration has reiterated its plans to legislate on a broad range of employment laws that have implications for occupational safety and health in its first 100 days in power, after winning a landslide victory in the UK’s General Election earlier this month.
A move to end ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts remains one of the priorities
In its Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering a New Deal for Working People, Labour argues all jobs should provide ‘a baseline level of security and predictability’. To help achieve this, the new government plans to legislate so that ‘everyone has a right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, based on a 12-week reference period’.
This policy is part of a broader move to end what the new administration sees as a ‘one-sided flexibility’ that largely benefits the employer.
The new administration wants to rebalance the employer-worker relationship so that all workers have greater protections through interventions such as ending ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ practices.
As part of this process, Labour plans to reform current legislation to provide ‘effective remedies against abuse’ and says it will replace the government’s ‘inadequate’ statutory code with a ‘strengthened code of practice’.
“Ending fire and rehire means workers can be safe in the knowledge that terms and conditions negotiated in good faith can’t be ripped up under threat of dismissal,” says the new government.
The Labour administration also plans to provide basic individual rights from day one for all workers, arguing that this will end the current arbitrary system that leaves individuals waiting up to two years to access basic rights of protection against unfair dismissal, parental leave and sick pay.
In addition, the new government plans to clarify worker status. Its Plan to Make Work Pay document notes that the UK has a three-tier system for employment status: employees, self-employed or ‘workers’. However, this makes it difficult for individuals to determine which category they are in and consequently what employment rights and protections they are entitled to. Business can also struggle to properly place staff and comply with its legal obligations, argues Labour.
To resolve this issue, the government says it will move towards a single status of worker while transitioning to a simpler two-part framework for employment status.
“We will consult in detail on how a simpler framework that differentiates between workers and the genuinely self-employed could properly capture the breadth of employment relationships in the UK, adapt to changing forms of employment and guard against a minority of employers using novel contractual forms to avoid legal obligations, while ensuring that workers can benefit from flexible where they choose to do so,’ promises the administration.
“We will also evaluate the way flexibility of “worker” status is used and understood across the workforce and the way it interacts with and is incorporated into collective agreements.”
Key areas Under the new Labour government, the following areas are highlighted as ones to watch for:
Building safety Labour state they will take ‘decisive action’ to improve building safety, including through regulation, to ensure there is never a repeat of the Grenfell fire. It remains to be seen whether this will take the form of further fire safety and building safety regulation, or just seeks to legislate to determine liability for building safety standards/improvements, in order to protect leaseholders. The HSE is the building
safety regulator and it will be during the next government that the regulator’s role in action will be seen. The ongoing Grenfell Inquiry is set to publish its final report in the first months of the new government and it is yet to be seen if criminal enforcement action will follow on after the work of the Inquiry has concluded.
Mental health Wellbeing is often the overlooked aspect of the Health and Safety at Work Act, but the duty on employers is to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, employees’ wellbeing, as well and their health and safety. The labour manifesto talks about Britain being in the middle of a mental health epidemic and sets out some measures for support set out in terms of health reforms and to engage with stakeholders to support the wellbeing of workers.
Modernisation There is a commitment to review health and safety guidance and regulations with a view to modernising legislation and guidance where it does not fully reflect the modern workplace. Labour also says it will bring in new guidance in relation to extreme temperatures in the workplace.
COVID-19 Labour have committed to a review of whether existing regulations and guidance is adequate to support and protect those experiencing the symptoms of long Covid.
Harassment Labour claims it will require employers to create and maintain workplaces and working conditions free from harassment, including sexual harassment.
Self-employed workers Clarification around the status of the self-employed and the application of health and safety laws for the self-employed.
Patient safety The manifesto sets out a number of health reforms in the health and social care sector. Among them are commitments to improvements in maternity care and the regulation of NHS managers.
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