Looking forward to 2020 and changes expected under Conservatives

Published: 20/12/2019
Written by Curwens Solicitors

With the landslide Conservative win last Friday, we take a look at what the future of #ukemplaw holds with Boris Johnson at the helm as PM.

Although radical reforms in favour of the employee are unlikely, certain employment law reforms which are already in the process of being implemented will come into effect.

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill is expected to be put before Parliament before Christmas Day in the hope of ratification before our exit from the EU on 31 January 2020, however the future of employment law post-Brexit remains unclear.

With little mention of the ‘Good Work Plan’ in the election manifesto, the Conservatives have pledged as follows:

  • Increased workers rights such as more predictable working contracts, and reasonable protections (possibly notice periods, compensation for shift cancellation).
  • A new state enforcement body to tackle issues of non-compliance by the most exploitative employers with an expansion of the current state enforcement agencies remit to include recourse in respect of holiday pay for vulnerable workers and umbrella companies operating in the agency workers sector. 
  • Review of proposed IR35 changes that are due to come into effect in April 2020, which propose to tackle a long-standing HMRC concern over non-compliance by companies. 
  • Addressing pay disparity between certain groups and creating transparency although it is unlikely that there will be any change requiring compulsory ethnicity pay reporting.
  • Implementation of a planned reform providing priority access to redeployment opportunities for pregnant women or new parents in a redundancy situation.
  • Extended leave for neonatal care and increased rights in respect of paternity leave, carers leave, ‘default’ flexible working arrangements.
  • Increase in the National Living Wage.

The changes are less radical and pro-employee than the opposition parties, as the primary focus is clear, what remains to be seen is the impact on businesses as they grapple with the changes that Brexit will bring relating to points based immigration systems and an end to free movement between the EU and UK which many industries have relied upon.

All we can do is -watch this space………

For advice on employment law matters please contact our employment team on 0208 363 444 or fill out our online enquiry form.

This blog has been written for guidance purposes only.

Please note that our briefings are for informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal advice.

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Your data will not be disclosed to any third parties without your consent or as otherwise allowed by the relevant Data Protection legislation and will only be used for responding to your query (or purposes associated with that purpose).

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