The British Labour Party had promised that "within the first 100 days" of its July general election victory, it would table "the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation" in Parliament. The timetable has been kept. Formed on July 5, Keir Starmer's government tabled a highly ambitious Employment Rights Bill in the House of Commons on Thursday, October 10, designed to restore rights and stability to employees after 25 years of casualization of work in the UK.
The notorious "zero hours" contracts should be practically abandoned, as should abusive "fire and rehire" practices that enable bosses to lay off and then rehire on less advantageous terms. However, the bill lacks details at this stage and these will not be specified and adopted until 2026 – after a long period of consultation with employers and trade unions.
"We're on a mission to end exploitative work, and we're legally enshrining our promises so no employer can abuse the system to rob their workers of the basic rights and dignity they deserve," declared Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. Having come to politics through trade unionism, this 44-year-old with a courageous journey (growing up in a dysfunctional family and leaving school at 16) has championed the reform and will continue to defend it in the coming months.
Loopholes in British law
The bill therefore proposes that employees on zero-hour contracts be contractually entitled to a fixed number of hours after a certain period. These zero-hour contracts have existed for decades, but they proliferated in the early 2000s. They give employers maximum flexibility and keep employees in a state of great vulnerability, all at wages too low to live decently. "Fire and rehire" practices will be limited to extreme cases, such as when a company is threatened with bankruptcy and has no choice but to offer lower wages to its employees in order to survive.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has also promised that the "national scandal" of P&O Ferries "can never be allowed to happen again," by putting an end to loopholes in British law. In 2022, the British ferry company announced the dismissal of 800 sailors without warning, then promptly rehired temporary staff, paid less than the legal hourly wage, using the fact that their ships were flying foreign flags and that their employees were partly working outside British territorial waters to avoid fines or criminal prosecution.
The government also intends to give employees access to a large number of rights from the first day of their contract, including maternity and paternity leave, unpaid parental leave and the right to protection against unfair dismissal. Finally, the right to flexible working (working from home, etc.) will be strengthened. These provisions could encourage hundreds of millions of inactive Brits to find a job again: 35% of 18 to 24-year-olds in the country are unemployed, partly due to mental health problems.
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