Government Updates Employment Rights Bill Amendment Paper

By Rachel Ellis Partner & Regional ER Manager &

Matthew Rowlinson Employment Rights Lawyer

The Government has published an updated Amendment Paper consolidating all proposed changes to the Employment Rights Bill, incorporating both responses to statutory consultations and new amendments outside those consultation areas. 

Key Changes in the Amendment Paper

1. Guaranteed Hours Provisions  

• The amendment clarifies that the provisions will apply to agency workers.
• Specifically, the end user will have responsibility for offering the guaranteed hours contract to eligible workers.
• Both the agency and end user will be responsible for providing reasonable notice of shifts and cancellations.
• This is a welcome amendment to the Bill, prior to this there had been concern that there would be a large scale move in certain sectors to an agency work model to avoid the legislation.

2. Collective Redundancy Thresholds 

• A previous proposal to remove the ‘one establishment’ rule—which would have triggered collective consultation where 20+ redundancies occurred across a business—has been modified. 
• The updated proposal reinstates the ‘one establishment’ test or a ‘different threshold’ to be determined by regulations, perhaps more than 20 in total over multiple sites. There is no detail on what this means but its envisaged this could be a specific threshold for redundancies across multiple sites. 
• This change reduces the certainty that collective consultation rights would apply in multi-site redundancy situations, when the total number of employees at one site is less than 20, potentially leaving workers without a voice in major job cuts.

3. Stronger Enforcement of Wage Underpayments 

• The amendment grants the Secretary of State new powers to issue underpayment notices covering up to six years. 
• This will apply where employers fail to pay legal entitlements such as minimum wage and statutory sick pay, requiring them to reimburse workers in full. 
• While this is a positive step for enforcement, the effectiveness will depend on robust inspection and penalties to deter non-compliance. 

The Employment Rights Bill is expected to continue its progress through Parliament, with further discussion in the coming months. We will continue to update trade union reps on developments and how they could impact your members.