The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has this evening announced a major U-turn scrapping the Government’s plans to make unfair dismissal protection a right from the first day of employment.
Currently employees secure protection from unfair dismissal after 2 years service. The Government had planned to make this a day 1 right, subject to a ‘light touch’ initial period of employment. This light touch regime was to be confirmed via further legislation in due course and was a source of significant uncertainty for businesses.
This proposal had faced significant challenge in the House of Lords who had proposed scrapping the light touch regime in favour of simply reducing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to 6 months. The Government had rejected this proposal twice but now appears to have relented in order to help smooth the passage of the Employment Rights Bill.
The Government has confirmed that other new day 1 rights such as to sick pay and paternity leave will still go ahead.
This is a major concession by the Government which had made this a central plank of it’s manifesto commitments. Time will tell whether this helps to break the deadlock on the Employment Rights Bill and allows the Government to get this through the rest of the Parliamentary process.
If you have any queries relating to unfair dismissal rights, the Employment Rights Bill or any other employment matter please speak with our Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and we will be in touch.