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Monday, September 14, 2026

UK Government Proposes Reform of Employment Law - SHRM

The U.K. government has proposed significant reform of key aspects of U.K. employment law.

In the "Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy" policy paper (the "Paper") published recently, the government identified an opportunity to improve post-Brexit employment regulation while maintaining U.K. labor standards, which it states are some of the highest in the world.

The "Retained EU Employment Law Reforms" consultation paper has now been published. It contains the reform proposals in relation to the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE Regulations) summarized below.

The government has identified these areas as being too onerous on business to be used effectively, or too complex for workers to know, understand and use.

Working Time Reform Proposals

Working time reform proposals include:

  • A proposal to merge the current basic statutory annual leave entitlement of four weeks (derived from EU law) with the additional U.K. entitlement of 1.6 weeks, to create one annual leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks. This means there would be only one set of rules under the WTR, including in relation to the calculation of holiday pay, carry-over of holiday and calculating holiday during the first year of employment. The aim is to remove the administrative burden and complications for employers of distinguishing between two annual leave...


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