The Queen’s Speech 2022 – key takeaways for employment

Prince Charles wasn’t the only last-minute revision to the Queen’s Speech: until recently, an Employment Bill was expected to be included for the government to fulfil its 2019 manifesto commitment “to make the UK the best place in the world to work”. It was set as the biggest shake-up of UK employment law for decades.

However, the Queen’s Speech still included key Bills that employers – and HR Directors in particular – should be aware of for their compliance obligations and workforce planning, including the strengthening of the Modern Slavery Act, immigration penalties and application of the national minimum wage in the maritime sector.

The delayed Employment Bill

Labour market fairness took up a fair chunk of the Conservative’s 2019 pitch to voters, with action promised across a vast range of areas and developed further through a raft of government consultations since. Amongst these were proposals related to:

• the creation of a new single labour market enforcement body
• enhanced rights for workers to request more predictable contracts
• compensation for cancelled shifts and minimum notice of working hours
• ensuring workers retain tips
• enhancing regulatory clarity on the use of non-disclosure agreements
• strengthening redundancy protection to prevent pregnancy and maternity discrimination
• introducing an extended leave of 12 weeks for neonatal care
• strengthening paternity and shared parental leave and pay
• a ban on the use of ‘exclusivity clauses’ in certain circumstances, subject to further consultation
• strengthening employee’s flexible working rights, subject to further consultation
• an extended entitlement to leave for unpaid carers.

Whilst not without regulatory cost, employers support some of these measures, such as strengthening family-friendly rights, compensation for shifts cancelled at short notice and the right to request a more predictable contract. These will ensure the UK retains a modern, fair and flexible labour market that can support UK growth.

Despite not including a specific Employment Bill within the Queen’s Speech, the government has indicated that it still intends to deliver some key employment manifesto commitments in the next Parliament and may consider other legislative vehicles to do so. The CBI will frequently review the latest insight and will inform the government’s positioning to ensure that any changes support jobs and fairness at work.

Strengthening the Modern Slavery Act

The Modern Slavery Act (MSA) requires businesses with a yearly turnover of more than £36m to annually report on the steps they are taking to limit and remedy modern slavery risks.

Seven years on from its introduction, the government will strengthen its requirements of businesses and its own accompanying enforcement approach, making changes that:

• introduce civil penalties for organisations that do not comply
• mandate the reporting areas in modern slavery statements
• require organisations to publish their statements on a government-run registry.

Responsible businesses have long been ardent supporters of proportionate measures that counter modern slavery, and the CBI welcomed these changes in its consultation response. We have been keen to stress that only a proportionate approach is workable in practice, and believe greater enforcement should be accompanied by awareness-raising of businesses’ obligations – to prevent unintentional non-compliance.

The CBI has argued that a robust, staged enforcement approach – with fines levied against companies, and not individuals – should also accompany the changing legislation, with a focus on proactively targeting wilful or repeat non-compliance.

CBI will continue to engage with the government both in advance of and during the legislative changes to the MSA making their way through parliament.

Immigration rules changes

The Queen’s Speech included further detail related to immigration, following the Nationality and Borders Bill that entered into force in April. The most noteworthy addition is the government’s plan to increase the maximum penalty for illegally entering the UK or overstaying a visa to four years’ imprisonment.

Other recent developments include changes to the way employers conduct Right to Work checks. The pandemic has enabled businesses to conduct the checks virtually, but this adjustment period is due to end on 30 September 2022. Legislation was passed in April that will allow employers to use Identity Document Validation Technologies (IDVT) if they wish to continue hiring staff virtually.

Application of the National Minimum Wage at sea

The government re-affirmed its commitment to introduce targeted legislation to ensure UK seafarers receive the national minimum wage.

This follows the widely reported actions of P&O Ferries in March, whereby 800 UK-based workers were dismissed without consultation and non-UK based staff hired instead – not subject to the UK National Minimum Wage.

Such situations are incredibly damaging to the reputation of good employers; just ask P&O Cruises, which is an entirely separate entity from their namesake.

What is being proposed however is not without its complexity. The government intends to give British ports new statutory powers via amendments to the Harbours Act 1964 to refuse access to regular ferry services where crew are not paid the National Minimum Wage. The ports are however not currently well placed to do this, with labour market enforcement traditionally sitting with HMRC. The CBI has been urging government to work with the ports in advance of legislation to ensure the measures will work in practice.

Want to find out more?

The team at the CBI is ready to support your business in the aftermath of the Queen’s Speech:

• For anything pensions and employment law, speak to Laurence
• For issues or insight related to labour shortages, get in touch with Katie
• On D&I and the Modern Slavery Act, please reach out to Poppy
• For anything related to immigration changes, speak to Yusuf
• On pay and the future of the National Living Wage, contact Eugenia