King's Speech 2024: Employment rights on the government’s agenda

Today’s King’s Speech outlined the legislation that the new Labour government intends to enact over the coming year. This year’s Speech contained 35 bills and draft bills. The speech, delivered by King Charles, allows the Government to unveil its legislative plan for the new parliamentary session.

The Speech does not normally contain new tax measures (though this year’s did mention the plan to remove the exemption from VAT for private school fees), but it can contain measures of interest from a tax / economic / business policy point of view. We summarise these below.

Employment Rights Bill (GB)

The Bill is the legislative vehicle for the policies in the ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ that require primary legislation.

Measures in the plan include:

• banning exploitative zero-hour contracts
• ending the scourges of ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’
• making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day 1 on the job for all workers
• strengthening Statutory Sick Pay by removing the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers as well as the waiting period
• making flexible working the default from day 1 for all workers, with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable
• strengthening protections for new mothers by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances
• establishing a new Single Enforcement Body, also known as a Fair Work Agency, to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights

Budget Responsibility Bill (UK)

The Bill will introduce a ‘fiscal lock’ which will ensure any government making significant and permanent tax and spending changes will be subject to an independent assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), giving them the power to produce an assessment at a time of their choosing.

The government say it will “ensure that the mistakes of Liz Truss ‘mini budget’ cannot be repeated”.

Pension Schemes Bill (GB)

This Bill makes a number of changes to support those who save into private pension schemes. These include:

• preventing people from losing track of their pension pots through the consolidation of Defined Contribution individual deferred small pension pots
• ensuring all members are saving into pension schemes delivering value through the Value for Money framework
• requiring pension schemes to offer retirement products so people have a pension and not just a savings pot when they stop work
• reaffirming the Pensions Ombudsman as a competent court

Skills England Bill (England)

This Bill will establish ‘Skills England’ which will have a new partnership with employers at its heart, and will also reform the Apprenticeship Levy.

It will identify the training for which the new Growth and Skills Levy will be accessible - this includes consulting on (and maintaining a list of) 67 levy-eligible training to ensure value for money, and that the mix of government-funded training available to learners and employers aligns with skills needs.

Digital Information and Smart Data Bill

This Bill will “harness the power of data for economic growth” by giving a statutory footing to three innovative uses of data that people can choose to participate in and which the government believe will accelerate innovation, investment and productivity across the UK.

Namely:

• establishing Digital Verification Services to support the creation and adoption of secure and trusted digital identity products and services from certified providers
• developing a National Underground Asset Register to give planners and excavators standardised, secure, instant access to the data they need
• setting up Smart Data schemes, which are the secure sharing of a customer’s data upon their request, with authorised third-party providers

National Wealth Fund Bill (UK)

Last week the government launched its ‘National Wealth Fund’. This Bill will put the fund on a statutory footing.

The fund, which will be capitalised with an additional £7.3 billion, will “play a central role in the government’s industrial strategy and growth and clean energy superpower missions making transformative investments across every part of the country supporting thousands of good jobs and making everyone better off, while generating a return for the taxpayer”. It will directly invest in the priority sectors set out in Labour’s manifesto.

English Devolution Bill (England, parts to Wales)

This Bill will establish a new framework for English devolution, “moving power out of Westminster and back to those who know their areas best”.

It will:

• give local leaders enhanced powers over strategic planning, local transport networks, skills, and employment support
• make devolution the default setting, meaning places will be granted powers without the need to negotiate agreements where they meet the governance conditions
• establish a simpler process for creating new Combined and Combined County Authorities
• empower local communities with a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces

Other bills in the King's Speech include:

• a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to ‘get Britain building’
• a Passenger Railway Services Bill to bring rail services back into public ownership.
• a Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill to give the Bank of England more powers to respond to the failure of small banks
• a Product Safety and Metrology Bill to provide a framework for regulating this area outside the EU
• an Arbitration Bill to support more efficient dispute resolution, enacting recent Law Commission recommendations
• a Great British Energy Bill to set up a publicly owned clean power company to accelerate investment in renewable energy
• a Hillsborough Law to introduce a duty of candour for public servants
• a House of Lords Bill to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords
• a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to strengthen regulators and mandate increased incident reporting

As well as bills expected to be introduced in the new session the King’s Speech lists a number of draft bills which will be published for consultation. One worth noting is –

Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill (UK)

This draft bill will replace the Financial Reporting Council with a new regulator – the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority. This statutory regulator will form a platform for other important changes:

• a wider remit, through extending Public Interest Entity status to the largest private companies
• removing unnecessary rules on smaller Public Interest Entities
• powers to investigate and sanction company directors for serious failures in relation to their financial reporting and audit responsibilities
• a regime to oversee the audit market, protect against conflicts of interest at audit firms, and build resilience

Briefing notes on the bills in the King's Speech are available here.