Employment Law: The Coalition Government's Agenda
News item added 9th June 2010
New government, new ministers, new programme. Following all the excitement of last month’s General Election and the intense negotiations which followed the 'hung parliament' result, what can HR professionals expect in terms of new employment legislation?
The Coalition Agreement document, which runs to over 30 pages, gives us some idea of policies agreed between the two governing parties. These are to be found under a variety of headings with titles like: Banking, Business, Equalities, Europe, Families and Children, Immigration, Jobs and Welfare, Justice, Pensions and Taxation. Long gone are the days when to find the Government’s employment law reform programme you just had to look to the ‘DTI’ or the old ‘Department of Employment’.
First thing to note is that both Conservatives and Lib Dems made it clear in the run-up to the Election that they wanted less legislation – not more. So the Coalition Agreement says that any new legislation should replace existing legislation – not be ‘as well as’ current stuff. In fact the agreement goes further than this and says that the new legislation must be less than the legislation it replaces. Quite how the government will measure the size of new legislation as compared to the rules it replaces, has not yet been made clear. Whereas in the time of Charles Dickens, lawyers were often paid by the number of words they wrote, perhaps now parliamentary draughtsmen and women will be incentivised to write less rather than more!
On a similar theme, the Coalition Government promises to end the so-called 'gold-plating' of EU rules, so that British businesses are not disadvantaged relative to their European competitors. In other words: 'we shall do the minimum we have to in order to comply with our EU obligations – but that’s it folks!'.
There is also a promise to 'review employment and workplace laws, for employers and employees, to ensure they maximise flexibility for both parties, while protecting fairness and providing the competitive environment required for enterprise to thrive'. This is pretty general and vague – a case of wait and see which Regulations implementing EU Directives may perhaps be revised to reduce employer obligations to the EU-acceptable minimum. Inevitably, the following come to mind: part-time workers; fixed-term employees; and perhaps even the Agency Workers Regulations, which are not scheduled to come into force until 2011. And what about TUPE and outsourcing? It will be interesting to see whether the Government will be prepared to relax the TUPE rules to allow bidders and acquiring parties greater commercial flexibility.
Greater flexibility for employees was promoted by both coalition partners before the Election and the agreement promises to encourage shared parenting and flexible parental leave. There is also a commitment to offering all employees the right to request flexible working – after consultation with business. This is something the Lib Dems were particularly keen on. It will be interesting to see how quickly the coalition partners move on this pledge, which will not be popular with many employers – especially smaller ones.
The Equality Act 2010 passed into law shortly before the end of the Labour Government’s term of office. The question now arises as to whether the Coalition will implement the Act in full or go back on provisions relating to equal pay audits. The agreement promises to 'take a range of measures to end discrimination in the workplace'. It is anyone’s guess as to what this 'range of measures' might include – but one hot tip: anonymous job application forms. The new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office – also known as the ‘Minister for Equalities’ is the Lib Dem, Lynne Featherstone MP, who led the campaign in the House of Commons to amend the Equality Bill to allow for 'name-blank' job applications.
Other Coalition Agreement provisions to watch out for:
• Robust action to tackle unacceptable bonuses in the banking sector. Vince Cable is a strong advocate – but George Osborne has responsibility for the sector. The public at large expect action.
• No further sovereignty or powers to the EU; limit the application of the Working Time Directive; imposition of 'sunset clauses' on regulations to ensure that they do not outlive their usefulness.
• Introduction of an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work.
And finally, Employment Tribunals – what has happened to the Conservative Party Manifesto commitment to overhaul the tribunal system to 'deliver fast, cheap and accessible justice'? No mention of this in the Coalition Agreement presumably indicates a lack of support amongst the Lib Dem partners and a reprieve (perhaps temporary) for further tribunal reform.
June 2010
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