Events and briefings

The government has initiated a call for evidence on several key areas of equality law and practice.

The call for evidence seeks to gather perspectives to inform the forthcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill and provides a valuable indication of the government's considerations on future policy development. In the article our lawyers delve into the key aspects of the call for evidence, the timing considerations and what employers should do next. The areas considered include:

• Equal pay rights for ethnic minority and disabled people
• Ensuring that outsourcing of services cannot be used to avoid paying equal pay
• Improving enforcement
• Improving pay transparency
• Workplace harassment
• Strengthening protections against combined discrimination
• Socio-economic duty
• Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)

New enforcement body: Fair Work Agency The Employment Rights Bill (the “Bill”) is currently progressing through its parliamentary stages and is expected to be finalised this summer, with a staged implementation during 2025 and 2026 (and potentially beyond). In this article, we consider the Bill’s major changes to the enforcement of workplace employment rights, including the Fair Work Agency’s new enforcement capabilities and practical implications for employers.

Consultation launched on mandatory reporting The government has today launched its consultation on mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. This consultation signifies the beginning of the government's efforts towards fulfilling its commitment to "create a more equal society and support a growing economy”. Together with an anticipated call for evidence on extended equal pay protections for ethnic minority and disabled people, the consultation will inform the Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which will establish the legal framework for the new pay gap reporting requirements and the extended equal pay protections. In this briefing, our lawyers examine the issues that the consultation seeks to address and outline the steps that employers can take now to prepare for the forthcoming changes.

Employers should prepare for change The Employment Rights Bill (“Bill”) is expected to be finalised this summer, with a staged implementation during 2025 and 2026 (and potentially beyond). It includes over 28 employment reforms and, cumulatively, the scale, breadth and complexity of the changes are significant for employers. The government has just announced further changes to the Bill and associated policy-making, in part to respond to consultations it undertook late last year. This briefing and our tracker outline the latest developments, including changes to statutory sick pay, collective redundancy consultation, zero hour and low-hour contract worker rights and to trade union legislation.

The Employment Rights Bill (“Bill”) is currently progressing through its parliamentary stages and is expected to be finalised this summer, with a staged implementation during 2025 and 2026 (and potentially beyond). In this briefing, we analyse the proposed changes to family friendly rights, including flexible working.

In this briefing, our lawyers Tom Bray and Jen Mann review provisions which have important repercussions for employers seeking to change employees’ contractual terms, including through dismissal and re-engagement (“fire and rehire”). Key points include: • Changing terms, including dismissal and re-engagement • What does the Bill say? • Practical implications for employers

The Employment Rights Bill is currently progressing through its parliamentary stages and is expected to be finalised this summer, with a staged implementation during 2025 and 2026 (and potentially beyond).

In this briefing, our lawyers review the provisions that are expected to change how employers manage collective redundancy consultation, and the risks of not complying. This briefing covers:

• What does the Bill say?
• Practical implications for employers
• Who needs to be consulted?
• How to approach diverse consultation exercises?

Welcome to our December UK labor law quarterly update. This edition contains the following content:

News round-up

• Compensation uplift for breaching collective consultation: January 2025 implementation
• The Employment Rights Bill: focusing on the new union right of access and statutory recognition changes

UK labor case law

• Tesco Stores v USDAW: dismissal and re-engagement
• RMT & Unite v Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive t/a Nexus: mistakes in collective agreements
• Secretary of States v PCS: unions enforcing check-off arrangements

Eversheds Sutherland labor law podcasts, publications, events and training

• The Labor Exchange podcast: In our latest Labor Law Exchange podcast, Stephen Chegwin and Clare Ward review three significant UK labor law cases, with additional details provided in this edition's labor law update below.  Listen on: Apple, Spotify and Twenty Three.
• Our Collective labor, trade unions and IR - UK law and best practice training, Birmingham and virtual, February 2025

In our recent briefing for education institutions on the Employment Rights Bill we set out what we thought were the key forthcoming changes. We mentioned that a number of consultations would be forthcoming in due course and the first four of these have now been published concerning:

• collective consultation and fire and re-hire
• creating a modern framework for industrial relations
• the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers
• strengthening Statutory Sick Pay

Consultation on the first three of these closes on 2 December with the one on statutory sick pay closing on 4 December. Read this article as we will explain what they cover.

The UK Government has confirmed it intends to bring forward a Pensions Schemes Bill in the first session of this Parliament. The Bill will implement changes to the regulatory regime for private pensions to deliver further consolidation, address the growing number of small deferred pension pots and enhance value for members. It will also seek to broaden pension investments to help drive economic growth. Our Speedbrief outlines the specific measures that will be included in the Pensions Schemes Bill and highlights other Bills likely to be of interest to the pensions industry.