Predictable bill provides a surprise

The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill was introduced by MP Scott Benton back in 2022.  The Bill aimed for workers to be able to request more predictable terms and conditions of work and, with government backing, the Bill progressed through the parliamentary stages.   Its aim was for a statutory right for workers to request a change in respect of hours, times and place of work.

The Bill received Royal Assent on 18th September 2023 and then became an Act.  The Act (The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023) inserted the relevant legislation into the Employment Rights Act 1996 however, an effective date for its implementation was never stated in Regulations and so, it remained in limbo.

The content of the Labour government’s Make Work Pay initiative references factors which impinge on the content of the Act, most notably its aim to end “one-sided flexibility” through the ban of zero hours contracts and an aim that all workers have the right to a contract to reflect that number of hours worked on a 12-week reference period.   With this being the case, it seems likely that the Act will never be implemented and has been an expensive paper chase.

See our previous news here.

Aspire Comment

It seems that the government want a clean slate to implement change on worker rights and so, decided to scrap the measures in The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023.

The Labour party made much of its intent to address certain issues in its first 100 days in office and the 12th October 2024 deadline looms large.  There is a huge amount of content in the published ‘Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay’ so it will be interesting to see the extent of their plans and schedule for implementation in their next update.