The Liberal Democrats have gone all out on employment law pledges in their Manifesto. In recruitment, they aim to extend the use of name-blind processes and simplify the Access to Work scheme. From the first day of employment, employees would have the right to Statutory Sick Pay (with the lower earnings limit for SSP removed), and parental leave and pay. Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay would be doubled to £350 per week, with a ‘use it or lose it’ month for fathers and partners paid at 90% of salary. There would also be a right to request shares for staff in listed companies of more than 250 people. For the disabled workforce, the Liberals aim to introduce specialist disability employment support, with ‘Adjustment Passports’ to record the adjustments, modifications and equipment a disabled person has received, ensuring that these stay with that person if they go to a new job.

The Conservatives Manifesto is somewhat more restrictive with proposed changes, focusing on reducing national insurance for employees to 6% from 2027, and on abolishing it for the self-employed by the end of the next Parliament – matters of taxation rather than employment. With regard to industrial action which has seen an increase in recent years with the NHS strikes, they aim to continue with the implementation of minimum service level agreements. They also aim to overhaul the ‘fit note’ system to move responsibility from GPs to other healthcare professionals.

Labour aims to implement ‘Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering a New Deal for Working People’, and their main pledges are covered in detail in their Manifesto – a voluminous mixture of bans and new rights. They will ban: fire and rehire (to an extent), Zero hours contracts which are exploitative, and will abolish the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels Act) 2023, removing the requirement for fully postal ballots for industrial action. They also aim to remove all age bands so adults will be entitled to the same minimum wage (with a consideration of the cost of living).

On the other hand, Labour hope to introduce: a new Race Equality Act, a general right to unpaid bereavement leave, greater rights for Trade Unions, and a single body to enforce workers’ rights. Labour also aim to pursue the objective of enacting employment legislation where needed (following consultation with businesses and unions) within 100 days. There is a right for employees to have a contract which reflects the hours they regularly work, flexible working would become a default right unless employers have a good reason to refuse it, and the right to switch off would be introduced (or the right to have discussions with your employer about switching off). The section 1 statement for new starters will inform them of their right to join a Trade Union. New starters would also be entitled to claim sick pay, parental leave and unfair dismissal from the first day of employment. Tribunal time limits would be extended from 3 months to 6 months.

Lastly, what of Reform U.K.? Well in their ‘contract’ with the British public, they aim to abolish IR35 rules to support sole traders. There’s a general pledge to ‘'scrap thousands of laws that hold back British business and damage productivity, including employment laws that make it riskier to hire people…’', and a plan to repeal EU regulations with immediate effect. Unlike the Liberals who aim to introduce a new Equality Act protected characteristic of ‘caring’ and ‘care experience’, Reform, aim to replace the Equalities Act 2010 entirely, arguing that it “…requires discrimination in the name of ‘positive action’. It costs the economy billions of pounds and has become a lawyer’s charter to print money. It has destroyed meritocracy, spread division and led to exclusion for some in majority groups. Scrap all Diversity Equality and Inclusion roles that cost huge sums, create division, inequality and exclusion, and reduce productivity.’' It is uncertain what Reform aim to replace the Equalities Act 2010 with to promote equality and inclusion, as this was the original objective of that legislation.

Are there any similarities in pledges between the Manifestos? For the Liberals, large employers will be encouraged to publish statistics on disability, gender, ethnicity and LGBT+ employment, progression and pay gaps (and Labour’s Manifesto also requests that large companies publish their pay gaps in relation to ethnicity and disability). Moreover, the Liberals intend to establish the status of ‘dependent contractor’ between employment and self-employment, whereas Labour are consulting towards a single status of worker (excluding the self-employed).

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