Big change is coming for how companies employ people. The Government is proposing nearly thirty amendments to the law. This will include stronger protection from unfair dismissal, making it much harder to use zero-hour contracts, and new rights for trade unions.

However, these changes won’t come into effect for a few years, and we don’t yet have all the detail on how the laws will work. So there will be plenty of time to prepare, and ITC will be providing guidance on how to meet the new requirements.

For now, ITC members can get ahead of the curve by:

1. Meeting Ethical Manager standards in your contracts (talk to ITC about variations if needed)
2. Following fair workplace policies and procedures, especially around grievance and disciplinary issues
3. Double-checking the employment status of people you engage to make sure no-one is misclassified (see ITC’s new helpsheet below).

ITC members are encouraged to contact us for employment law advice. It is always better to seek advice too early than too late!

You can read a summary of the changes in the Employment Rights Bill here.

NB: the Employment Rights Bill will cover Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland, where employment law is a devolved matter. The Northern Irish Executive is proposing its own changes to employment law – find out more here.