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A. The Employment Rights Bill contains over 28 proposals for employment law reform; the extension of workplace rights was a key feature in Labour’s 2024 election manifesto.
Adult social care is subject to particular focus in the Bill and proposals centre around improving pay and other terms and conditions for the workforce. It’s “a typically low paid sector”, according to a Government Factsheet explaining the rationale behind the proposals, which affect domestic recruitment and retention.
To address this, a new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body (ASCNB) will be formed to facilitate the introduction of a fair pay agreement. These are not a common concept in the UK. The objective is to empower workers and the trade unions that represent them to negotiate fair pay and conditions, including staff benefits, terms and training. This will no doubt drive wages up meaning adult social care employers should expect to pay more to their workers.
Your client is likely to have an opinion on how the agreement is shaped. The Government plans to consult widely on this; this will be an opportunity for your client to become involved.
The Low Pay Commission (the advisory body on national minimum wage increases) has recommended that the issue of entitlement to pay during a sleep-in shift should be addressed in the fair pay agreement.
Currently, workers are not entitled to receive national minimum wage for time spent asleep during a sleep-in shift where suitable sleeping facilities are provided and the worker is expected to sleep for all or most of the shift.
The Bill is not so wide to cover all of the manifesto points. This is because some of them can be addressed by existing laws, or by non-legislative means. For example, the Government has plans to remove age bandings from the national minimum wage structure so that every adult worker benefits from a genuine living wage.
This will be done gradually so may take a number of years to achieve. No further clarification is yet available on what this means for the apprenticeship rate of pay.
Current rules on pay for travel time will be enforced for workers with multiple working sites.
There are still several parliamentary stages to go before any of these proposals are confirmed; change is not expected until 2026.
