Amendments to Employment Rights Bill could add to employers’ woes

Commenting on the amendments to the published yesterday (5 March) 91̽»¨’s Head of Legal Services, Charlie Barnes warns the measures may cause further difficulties for employers.

91̽»¨’s head of legal services, Charlie Barnes said: “The government maintains the view that the bill will increase productivity and generate growth, aiming to put more money in working people’s pockets and make wages fairer and more secure. As employers gear up for increasing labour costs from rising NIC and NMW rates in April, there are concerns that these amendments will only add to those woes. 

“In a highly irregular development, the Employment Rights Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to make an employment tribunal claim on behalf of a worker, and to provide legal assistance to parties involved in a claim. There appears to be no limits on what claims this will apply to. Currently, the conciliatory service, ACAS, is the only government agency which is involved in tribunal claims to aid all parties to resolve disputes, outside of the tribunal process. This amendment gives a government agency the power to step in on behalf of a worker to bring a claim against their employer. It’s not clear what the intended purpose of this is, and its application will largely depend on what resources the government will have at its disposal. 

“If this will be the remit of the Fair Work Agency (FWA), f the government may have to implement the Business and Trade Committee’s recommendation of at least one FWA inspector per 10,000 workers by 2029, equating to approximately 3,000 inspectors. With only 600 NMW, EAS and GLAA inspectors currently, this will require some significant investment from government.”