Speculation is rife for what the new Prime Minister intends for employment law, but as John Hayes explains, the most likely outcome would be mere tinkering.
Reports over the weekend have suggested that there could be a “bonfire of workers’ rights,” if Liz Truss is appointed, as we now know to be the case, as the new Prime Minister.
According to a report in The Times, Truss and her new cabinet are likely to look at the Working Time Regulations, which came into force in the UK in 1998 on the back of the EU Working Time Directive.
These rules impose limits on weekly working hours, although workers can opt out of this as part of their employment contract. The legislation protects workers from discrimination if they choose not to opt out.
However despite her “messaging” as an avowedly right-wing Tory leader, I believe this is unlikely to happen.
Truss considering overhaul of working time rules
Firstly, we have one of the best employment law systems in the world, and it doesn’t need much change. Most of the challenges with UK productivity have nothing to do with UK employment law.
Secondly, the “big ticket stuff” such as tax rates or energy shortages, which will dominate the new PM’s in-tray will have nothing to do with employment law. The biggest single change for employers would be a reduction in the rate of NICs (recently introduced by a Conservative government, in part to pay for the Covid response).
Thirdly, there may be some “tinkering” but it won’t...
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