This Act gives fathers and partners a day-one right to take paternity leave where a mother has died.

Currently, maternity leave and adoption leave are day-one rights and do not require any qualifying period of employment, but those taking paternity leave must have worked for their employer for 26 weeks to qualify. This Act makes an exception to the 26-week requirement in cases where the father or partner is bereaved because the mother has died.

Under the Act, the employee will also be permitted to take paternity leave after shared parental leave and the requirement that paternity leave be taken only for specified purposes does not apply in cases where the child also dies.

Those who are adopting a child or becoming parents through surrogacy arrangements have the same rights as fathers and partners where the member of a couple who has elected to take adoption leave dies.

The Act allows the Secretary of State to make regulations with provision for "Keeping in Touch" days, which enable an employee to do some work for their employer during a leave period without bringing the leave period to an end.

The Act does not make provision for bereaved fathers, partners or adopters to receive Statutory Paternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay.

The legislation was originally going to provide for a father or partner, bereaved by the death of a mother, to take shared parental leave. However, because shared parental leave is dependent on the parent having access to another form of parental leave whereas paternity leave is not dependent on any other entitlement, paternity leave was chosen as the vehicle to deliver the new entitlement. The intention is that a bereaved father or partner will have 52 weeks of leave available during the first year of their child’s life.

Regulations will be required to bring the Act into force and we don't have a specific date of enforcement at this point

The Government has announced that it will introduce a statutory limit of three months on the length of post-termination non-compete clauses in employment and limb (b) worker contracts.

Non-compete clauses are restrictive covenants inserted into employment contracts to prevent individuals from working for a competitor or establishing a competing business for a defined period after termination.

Limb (b) workers are in dependent working relationships but are not employees. They are generally required to do the work themselves and only have a limited right to send someone else. They are entitled to core statutory employment rights but are more likely to have casual and flexible working relationships, often involving multiple and sometimes rival employers.

The three-month statutory limit on non-compete clauses will only apply to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) as employment law is devolved to Northern Ireland.

Legislation to introduce the statutory limit will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows.

The Employment Rights Bill will update and enhance existing employment rights and make provision for new rights. It will also make provisions regarding pay and conditions in particular sectors and make reforms in relation to trade unions and industrial action. It will further create a new Fair Work Agency that brings together existing bodies for the enforcement of employment law.

The Bill introduces measures to:

- make certain employment rights apply from the first day of employment, including protection from unfair dismissal and entitlement to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave

- establish bereavement leave for all employees (currently it only applies to parents)change the flexible working rules so the employer must give a reasonable explanation to refuse a request

- give workers on zero-hours contracts the right to a guaranteed-hours contract if they work regular hours over a defined period

- abolish fire and re-hire so that it is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a contract variation

- strengthen provisions on collective redundancy

- establish the Fair Work Agency to bring together existing enforcement functions

- modernise trade union laws

- improve pay and conditions through a Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care

- re-establish the School Support Staff Negotiating Body

- increase protection from sexual harassment, including introducing employer liability for third-party harassment

- require large employers to produce gender and menopause action plans

- ban dismissal of women who are pregnant, on maternity leave and during a six-month return-to-work period, except in specific circumstances

- remove the waiting period before Statutory Sick Pay can be claimed and remove the lower earnings limit for making a claim

- repeal legislation setting out minimum service levels requirements during strike action.

The Bill provides for the repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) legislation to come into effect on Royal Assent. It provides for various clauses related to trades unions and industrial action to come into effect two months later. The rest of the provisions will come into force after regulations are made by the Secretary of State following consultation.

In its policy document, Next Steps to Make Work Pay, the Government says it will begin consulting on these reforms in 2025 and anticipates the majority of them will take effect no earlier than 2026. Reforms of unfair dismissal will take effect no sooner than the autumn of 2026.

This Bill puts forward proposals for a new right to 10 days paid safe leave for people experiencing domestic abuse, to address issues related to that abuse. These issues could include, e.g. finding a place of safety, dealing with health or housing issues, childcare, attending court or police interviews, attending counselling, etc.

This Bill is currently progressing through Parliament.

This Bill proposes to establish an independent Office of the Whistleblower to protect whistleblowers and whistleblowing.

Under the current measures in the Bill, the Office of the Whistleblower will:- set, monitor and enforce standards for the management of whistleblowing cases- provide disclosure and advice services- direct whistleblowing investigations- order redress of detriment suffered by whistleblowers.

The proposed office would aim to provide employees and individuals with greater protections and backing when speaking out against organisations, particularly larger ones.

By having this office in place, the Bill also proposes that it will be a designated body to which people can report when they have made a disclosure.

A similar Bill was put before Parliament in the previous parliamentary session, but progress on this was lost when Parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election in July 2024.

Yes under Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 (Amendment) Bill, if passed into law, this Bill will amend the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 to place new requirements on employers as follows:

- to take proactive measures to prevent violence and harassment in the workplace

- to make provision for protections for women and girls in the workplace

- to require the Health and Safety Executive to publish a Health and Safety Framework on violence and harassment in the workplace, including violence against women and girls in the workplace.

Effectively, this Bill will expand employers’ health and safety duties to include prevention of workplace harassment, adding to employers’ existing proactive duty to prevent sexual harassment at work.

Under the provisions of this Bill, employers that fail in their positive duty to prevent sexual harassment could face enforcement action by the Health & Safety Executive, which could include criminal liability and unlimited fines.