Despite the fact most of the Government’s promised employment law reforms have been kicked into the long grass, the appetite to talk about reform in this area shows no sign of let up. In this briefing, we discuss the latest proposals.

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the Employment Bill (first announced back in December 2019) was absent from the Queen’s Speech delivered on 10 May 2022. That Bill was meant to pave the way for a number of important reforms including:

• Making the right to request flexible working a Day 1 employment right.
• Extending redundancy protection to pregnant workers and those returning from various forms of family leave.
• Introducing a new right to neonatal leave and pay.
• Introducing a new right to one week’s unpaid leave for carers.
• Introducing a new right for workers to request a more predictable contract.
• Introducing a single enforcement body for key employment rights.

It is not clear when, or even if, these reforms will be implemented.

Elsewhere, the Government had committed to regulate the use of non-disclosure agreements, introduce a mandatory duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment and introduce a statutory code governing “fire and rehire” practices. All of these commitments have yet to be delivered. On top of this, the Government has yet to publish its response to the consultation on restricting the use of non-compete clauses in employment contracts. Several other consultation responses and reviews remain outstanding, for...

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