REWARD
The Employment Rights Bill latest updates
As the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) continues to make its way through Parliament, Paul Chamberlain, Head of Employment and Specialist Recruitment Lawyer, JMW Solicitors, provides the latest updates and information for payroll professionals in relation to this landmark piece of legislation
T he ERB was introduced in the it’s currently in the House of Lords for scrutiny. If the Bill is passed, it promises to reshape the employment landscape. This update covers the key proposals and the effect they’re likely to have on payroll departments, as well as considering the impact on employers more generally. Statutory sick pay (SSP) The Bill will make SSP a legal right for many more workers by removing the requirement for an employee to earn at or above the lower earnings limit. Payroll professionals must be aware of this change when it’s introduced to avoid claims for unpaid sick pay. Employees on low wages who find House of Commons on 10 October 2024. At the time of writing, themselves unable to work due to sickness will receive either 80% of the average weekly earnings or the current rate of SSP (£118.75 from April 2025), whichever is lower. Payroll professionals will need to adhere to this when calculating sick pay for employees on low wages when the changes are implemented. The Bill also eliminates the three ‘waiting days’ before SSP will be paid. Payroll professionals need to be aware
that the starting day for SSP will be the first day of the employee’s absence and calculate on that basis. At the time of writing, we don’t have a definitive date for when this will all be introduced. Zero-hour contracts The Government has called for an end to zero-hours contracts, calling them “exploitative”. If the ERB is passed, workers will have the right to a guaranteed hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period. Any workers who are offered guaranteed hours will be able to turn the offer down and remain on their pre-existing working arrangement if they prefer. There’ll be an exception to the requirement to offer guaranteed hours where there’s a genuine temporary work need. This is likely to include seasonal demand. It will be important for payroll professionals to keep accurate records of working hours, to determine the members of staff that will need to be offered guaranteed hours. Best practice would be to start collecting this information now to prepare for when the changes come into effect.
Workers will also have the right to be given reasonable notice of shifts and changes in shifts. Short notice can be reasonable in some scenarios, and this will be outlined in secondary legislation. Workers will have the right to payment for any cancelled, moved or curtailed shifts. Responsibility to make these payments will be on the employment agency but they will be allowed to re- coup this from the hirer where they have arrangements with the hirer covering this. Payroll professionals will need to be aware of this when calculating pay for workers who work shifts. Fire and rehire The Bill proposes to end “fire and rehire” arrangements by introducing a new type of “automatically unfair dismissal”. This will apply where workers are dismissed for not agreeing to variations in their contract, or because their employer wants to rehire them on different terms. There’ll be a limited exception to this where the employer is experiencing severe financial difficulty and is about to collapse, making firing and rehiring crucial to the survival of the business.
Day one rights The Bill removes the qualifying period for
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June 2025 | Issue 111
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