Update: Employment Rights Bill 2024
On 27 November 2025, an amendment paper on the Employment Rights Bill 2024 (the ‘Bill”) was published. Here’s what’s new:
1) Time Limit for Employment Tribunal Claims
Currently, complainants must file claims, excluding redundancy pay, within three months of the incident or risk their case being struck out due to a time bar. Often three months is insufficient for the complainant to fully process the situation and seek legal advice. Many have criticised this short window. By doubling the time limit up to 6 months, hopefully it will make a reasonable timeframe for employees to raise claims.
2) Unfair Dismissal
Unfair dismissal will now be a day-one right. This means employees can claim unfair dismissal from the first day of employment, rather than after the current two-year qualifying period. Thought, there are two sides to the coin to this amendment, a nine-month probation period is introduced, during which employers can more easily dismiss employees without following the full process.
3) Flexible Working
Flexible working, defined as working arrangements that suit an employee’s needs, will become the default for all employees under the Amendment Paper. Employers must approve flexible working requests from employees starting a job unless they can prove it’s “unreasonable.” Valid reasons to refuse include the burden of additional costs, the detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand, the inability to re-organise work among existing staff, the inability to recruit additional staff, and the detrimental impact on quality.
4) Sick Pay
The government promises to scrap the lower earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, meaning employees will be eligible from day one of illness. The current practice is that employees must be ill for more than three days in a row and earn at least £123 per week to qualify. The Amendment Paper extends this entitlement to all employees, including those earning under £123, to be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay from, expanding access to an estimated 1.5 million people.
5. Fire and Rehire
The practice of dismissing employees to rehire them on worse terms, often used during cost-cutting initiatives, will now be banned in most situations. Companies may still use it if they are at risk of insolvency.
6. Zero-hours contract
Zero-hours contract, which do not guarantee any hours of work, have faced criticism for creating job insecurity and financial instability for workers. The Amendment Paper introduces a guaranteed minimum number of hours for workers, a right to contract, aiming to provide workers with more predictable income and improved working conditions.
The Amendment Paper represents one of the most significant shifts in employment law in Great Britain. Stay tuned for the Government’s Next Step Document for further updates.
This writer, Astrid is a pupil barrister in Malaysia. She has a keen interest in Employment and Constitutional Law and will be pursuing this interest in her work as a pupil barrister.
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