On 10 October 2024, Ministers introduced the Employment Rights Bill. The legislation broadly aims to upgrade workers’ rights, helping deliver economic security and growth to businesses across the UK. 

BRC is currently preparing a detailed analysis of the Bill and will deliver an update with further details to the HR and CSR Communities in the coming week. At present, we wish to provide immediate visibility on certain elements of the Bill’s content based on the Next Steps paper outlining the Government’s plan to Make Work Pay. The Explanatory Notes, which summarise what each part of the Bill will mean in practice, can be found here. 

Below you can find a background and overview on the Bill, its implications for modern slavery enforcement, and how BRC are engaging with government to ensure best implementation of the proposed regulation.  

The Employment Rights Bill 

The Bill is 158 pages long and covers 28 separate policies – the large majority of which will be subject to detailed consultations. The Bill represents a framework to deliver Government’s plan to Make Work Pay. A small number of consultations are expected from early 2025 with the majority expected to take place after Royal Asset, which is expected no earlier than summer 2025. The reforms will take effect no earlier than 2026.  

According to its Policy Paper, the Bill will: 

  • Introduce ‘Day 1 rights’ of employment, including entitlement to Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave as well as protection from Unfair Dismissal, while allowing employers to operate probation periods (Government will consult on a consultation on a new probation period for new hires). 
  • Establish Bereavement Leave and making Flexible Working the default. 
  • Address one-sided flexibility by banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, abolishing the scourge of fire and rehire and strengthening provisions on collective redundancy. 
  • Establish the Fair Work Agency, a new enforcement body for workers’ rights. 
  • Bring forward measures to modernise Trade Union laws. 
  • Increase protection from sexual harassment, introducing gender and menopause action plans for large companies and strengthening rights for pregnant workers. 
  • Strengthen Statutory Sick Pay.  

BRC has been engaging with Labour on these proposals for several years, and member engagement has been instrumental to informing our positions. We’d like to thank you for your input, and we look forward to continuing collaboration on this. 

BRC will engage regularly with officials throughout the passage of the Bill, to ensure regulations are fit for purpose.  

About the Fair Work Agency 

Government have outlined plans for the establishment of the Fair Work Agency (FWA), previously referred to as the Single Enforcement Body, to protect workers and ensure accountability across the spectrum of labour exploitation. The FWA intends to combine under one enforcement body the powers of various authorities operating to investigate forms of labour exploitation, including the Gangmasters and Abuse Authority (GLAA), HM Revenue and Custom (HMRC) National Minimum Wage Unit, and the Employment Agency Standard Inspectorate (EASI). This move aims to redress the current state of arrangements to investigate labour exploitation cases, which remains under-resourced and fragmented. 

Tackling modern slavery remains an urgent priority for members, with an estimated 17.3m of the 27.6m people in forced labour worldwide facing exploitation in the private sector. The impact of good enforcement and effective regulation of modern slavery and labour exploitation is significant: victims often face insufficient investigation, remediation and victim support, and so the FWA must be equipped to investigate, charge, and enforce across the spectrum of labour abuse. 

BRC have written to Justin Madders MO, Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets, setting out our support and expectations for the development of the FWA. In the letter, BRC have asked: 

  • On scope: For a regular review to ensure sectors with the highest risk of worker exploitation are in scope for the FWA.  
  • On powers: For the FWA to retain the specialist powers granted to the GLAA and gain additional powers to: 
    •  To investigate and prosecute labour market offences falling short of the higher threshold to be deemed modern slavery; 
    • To investigate and prosecute serious allegations of labour exploitation and abuse of workers working in the UK under the seasonal workers’ scheme; 
    • To investigate and publicly publish companies not compliant with Section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act; 
    • To issue significant financial penalties to perpetrators of labour abuses, and disqualification of directors for serious incidents. 
  • On resourcing: For the FWA to be adequately funded and resourced in alignment with the ILO minimum standard benchmark, to increase levels of inspections and enforcement; and for the labour exploitation and modern slavery expertise held within the current GLAA is maintained through substantial training. 
  • On form: For the FWA to operate independently from Home Office powers and governance and immigration enforcement.

BRC has a mission to support businesses in tackling all forms of labour abuse across operations and supply chains. We have called for the FWA to have the appropriate scope, powers, resourcing, and form to achieve its outcome of protecting vulnerable workers. Further details can be found in the Annex to the letter, available here. 

Government’s Modern Slavery Agenda: What We Know So Far 

  • The Department of Business and Trade will be leading work on the implementation of the FWA over the following 18 month timeline (including stakeholder consultation). This will also  oversee transfer of the key functions of the existing enforcement bodies to the FWA. 
  • Once the FWA is established, the FWA plans to work with businesses to provide support on employment law compliance and understand how this is projected to impact their operations. 
  • The Home Office is issuing further guidance on how to comply with Section 54 (Transparency in Supply Chains) of the Modern Slavery Act, to help businesses submit Modern Slavery Statements. 
  • The Home Office are currently reviewing whether the  Modern Slavery Act is fit for purpose, and are considering further legislation to tighten modern slavery enforcements (e.g. new due diligence requirements for businesses in scope). We will update members when we have more details on this. 
  • The Home Office are reviewing the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and how it can be improved. The NRM is the current framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery and ensuring they are receiving the appropriate support.