What does a Labour government mean for workplace reform?

The election is over, and we now have a new Labour government. So, what does this mean for employers?

The Labour manifesto was probably the most ambitious of all the parties, promising more than sixty changes to employment laws. Labour’s manifesto was clear; it wants to boost wages, make jobs more secure and support working people to thrive. Labour wants to strengthen the collective voice of workers, whilst improving their terms and conditions and ensuring protections at work are fit for today.

As part of this it plans to introduce a raft of employment laws and measures.  This includes banning zero-hour contracts and establishing a single status of ‘worker’, thereby removing the current distinction between employees and workers. For those operating in the care and supported housing sector, this will impact areas such as “bank” worker contracts, which are commonly used and provide both flexibility for organisations and individuals. Organisations will need to review their approaches to resourcing and workforce planning, if the proposed changes go ahead.

Labour has also pledged to improve information and consultation procedures and adapt unfair dismissal and redundancy legislation to prevent workers being dismissed for not agreeing to less favourable contract terms. They also plan to introduce more day one employment rights, including rights not to be unfairly dismissed. However, employers should still be able to have probationary periods included within employment contracts.

Labour has also pledged to repeal the recent anti-strike clause, wanting to focus more on strengthening trade unions right of entry to workplaces, simplifying the process of union recognition and require employers to make employees aware of their rights to join a trade union. We know that key to an organisation’s success is employees feeling informed, engaged and able to have a voice and therefore organisations must continue to do all they can to provide opportunities to engage, inform and consult with their employees and build positive and productive relationships with any unions that represent their employees.

Labour’s manifesto was aimed at making work pay. As part of this, Labour have focussed a number of their priorities on pay in the social care sector. This is likely to have a significant impact on the finances of the housing organisations who specialise within this area. Some of the main changes include:

• Introducing a New Deal for Social Care Workers to ensure that these workers have a route to better conditions, training and progression.
• Establishing a new Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) in the adult social care sector, empowering workers (and the trade unions that represent them) to negotiate fair pay and conditions.
• Removing the National Minimum Wage age bands, stating they will increase the rate to £10 per hour for those currently on a rate below this.
• Making the minimum wage a real living wage and reform the role of the Low Pay Commission to support this.

In terms of equality, Labour will require large firms (no details at this stage what is considered large) to develop, publish and implement action plans to close their gender pay gaps and ensure that outsourced workers are included in gender pay gap and pay ratio reporting. The publication of ethnicity and disability pay gaps will also be made mandatory for employers with more than 250 staff. Labour will also require employers with more than 250 staff to produce Menopause Action Plans, setting out how they will support employees through the menopause, and promises to publish guidance for employers on measures to consider in relation to the menopause.

What should organisations do now?

As always, the devil is in the detail, but Labour have pledged to act swiftly whilst committing to fully engage and consult with employers.

Organisations will need to be ready to respond to consultations, undertake impact assessments of the changes to their policies, practices, workforce and also financial business plans to be fully prepared and ready to make any changes as they become law.

It is also important that organisations do not forget to ensure that they fully engage with their employees. If everything goes through as promised this will bring a significant amount of change for employees, it is important that employees feel informed, are consulted and fully understand the changes including any impact on them.