Last updated: 05/07/2024
Change in direction? Preparing employers for a UK general election
Employers are assessing the potential workforce implications of July's UK general election. To help organisations to prepare for the election, we have created an interactive tracker that analyses the employment policies from the main political parties in an accessible format below:
As the political parties publish and refine their employment policies and manifesto commitments, we will be updating the content throughout.
Snapshot A summary of key policies across the main political parties
Conservatives
The Conservative Party manifesto has few employment law commitments. It proposes amending the Equality Act to provide that the protected characteristic of sex means biological sex (the scope of this change is not clear), reforming the fit note process, maintaining the National Living Wage at two-thirds of median earnings and further implementing the minimum service levels strike legislation. It has more extensive immigration pledges, including a legal annual cap on migration.
Before the election, the Party had committed to strengthening family-friendly and atypical working rights, extending employer duties to prevent sexual harassment and addressing the fair distribution of tips during 2024/2025 (read our Alert for further details). Other policies included legislating to limit contractual non-compete clauses to three months and consulting on changes to TUPE, tribunal fees, umbrella companies, European Works Councils and the use of agency workers during strikes.
Labour
Described as a Plan to Make Work Pay, Labour has highlighted the following from its New Deal for Working People:
- deliver a genuine living wage (linked to the rise in the cost of living and inflation) and strengthen enforcement
- ban “exploitative” zero hours contracts
- strengthen the enforcement of workplace rights
- end dismissal and re-engagement (so-called ‘fire and rehire’)
- consult on merging ‘worker’ status with ‘employee’ status (thereby extending employee rights to workers)
- give workers basic rights from day one (including unfair dismissal)
- act to close gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps
- make work more family-friendly
- tackle sexual harassment and harassment by third parties
- boost collective bargaining
- repeal some industrial action regulation
- increase employer consultation duties during digital/technological change
- extend sick pay
In its manifesto, Labour has committed to implementing the above Plan in full. It has promised to work in partnership with trade unions and business to introduce legislation within 100 days of entering government, and will consult before it is implemented. Read: New Deal link May 2024
Other parties1
Lib Dems: In its manifesto, For a Fair Deal, the Party has made a number of employment policy pledges, including the following:
- extend the duty to publish diversity pay and other data for larger employers
- strengthen the right to work flexibly
- introduce new rights and protections for carers and those who have been in care
- extend family-related leave/pay rights, including increasing pay during leave
- establish a new Worker Protection Enforcement Agency
- reform worker status, including the burden of proof at tribunal
- give casual workers a right to request a fixed-hours contract and higher minimum wage
- review and extend NMW (e.g. apprentices, rate-setting) and extend SSP
Reform UK:
- Freeze non-essential immigration, limit international students and raise NI tax on foreign workers
- Abolish IR35
- Cut “red tape”, including employment laws
- Replace the Equality Act
- Leave the European Convention on Human Rights
Green Party:
- Their manifesto proposes extensive changes to trade union law, day one rights for all workers, a higher minimum wage and a max. 10:1 pay ratio for employers
SNP:
- The SNP manifesto demands the devolution of employment rights and the minimum wage, with a promise to increase the minimum wage and SSP, extend maternity/parental leave and pay, end exploitative zero-hour contracts, ban so-called ‘fire and re-hire’, close the gender pay gap, protect the right to strike and create a single status of worker
1 Other parties include: Liberal Democrats, SNP, Reform UK and Green Party, based on polling data: General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News
In focus
A comparison of the political parties’ key employment policies, by topic
A detailed list of employment policies, by main political party
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