Karen Plumbley-JonesThis month, we focus on the Employment Rights Bill. Parliament is in summer recess until early September, which means that the House of Lords and House of Commons do not conduct official business and no progress can be made on the Bill.
The House of Lords Report Stage took place between 14 and 23 July. The House agreed various non-Government amendments. The most significant changes it made were to reduce the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months and to remove the initial period of employment (ie the statutory probationary period under the Bill). On 17 July the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) published an impact assessment on the new provisions relating to non-disclosure agreements, from which it appears that an agreement requested by a worker may be outside the scope of the new provisions.
The Third Reading in the House of Lords will take place on 3 September, following which the Bill will return to the Commons to discuss the amendments made by the Lords. The DBT is said to be considering offering free HR advice to small businesses via a voucher scheme to help them navigate the contractual changes they may need to make because of the Bill.
See our Employment Rights Bill timeline for up-to-date information on the progress of the Bill, and listen to our latest podcast to find out about the timeline for implementation.
