Employment Rights Bill

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, I wish luck to the new Peers with their maiden speeches, and I look forward to listening.

Employment legislation constantly needs to be updated to reflect the changing needs of our society. Therefore, a review is necessary from time to time, but does this Bill reflect a balanced review for both employees and employers? I ask the House to note my registered interest as a part-owner of a small to medium-sized company employing 130 people.

As a relatively small employer, I want to focus on Part 1 of the Bill. The changes to the right not to be unfairly dismissed and the removal of the qualifying period will generate uncertainty among employers, especially SME employers, who do not have significant HR resources. The change is not a bad one and it will focus employers on getting systems in place to ensure that the individuals they employ can fulfil the roles with the skills and knowledge required and have the right attitude for the business and the job. Therefore, I ask the Minister to clarify the probation period, as already requested by the noble Lord, Lord Palmer. This is essential to allow employers the flexibility at the beginning of a contract to see if the employee meets the needs of the job, and to terminate the contract in a responsible way if they do not. Meeting this requirement to dismiss someone in a way that is not unfair is time-consuming, costly and stressful for both employees and employers. To support this change, will the Government review the provision of occupational health services to the SME sector, which is so commonly needed when relations between employees and employers break down?

The second area I wish to address, and will look to research further before Committee, is dismissal for failing to agree to a variation of contract, more commonly known as “fire and rehire”. Will the Minister say why the change to the current legislation is needed, as it appears to be working? Having recently been through the process in our business of requesting variations to individual employees’ contracts to improve efficiency and services to our clients, I know that the current rules ensured that we treated them fairly and with respect and allowed us the flexibility to change things. These proposed changes will make it extremely difficult for employers to make small, reasonable changes to contracts, as the new arrangement is so unclear and demanding on businesses.

My third concern relates to sexual harassment and the question of “reasonable steps”. The change to “all reasonable steps” just creates fear and uncertainty for employers, who want to protect their employees but currently have no clear guidance. I therefore ask the Minister to provide a clearer explanation of what is meant by “all reasonable steps”.

Employment Rights Bill

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 29th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I too support Amendment 5. Without small businesses growing and taking on people, we will not achieve the outcomes that the Government have set for getting more people into work. I referred in a debate on an earlier group to the 80% target.

I am conscious of what happened with the Kickstart scheme. We particularly encouraged small businesses to participate in the scheme and to consider the opportunity of an extra pair of hands, giving them the confidence that they could grow their business and employ people, often for the first time. That was an important step in thinking about how to minimise risk in the first instance. A considerable proportion of people were offered permanent jobs as a consequence.

That first step of taking people on is often the hardest for many small businesses and microbusinesses. That is why I would be even happier if this amendment was altered on Report to make it solely for microbusinesses, not just small businesses, as that first step is one of the hardest.

We already have thresholds in many other employment practices. We already have thresholds about things that connect with pension contributions, and other financial thresholds have been referred to. But this is about having the courage to take on people. You may decide to expand your services, whether in the care sector or elsewhere, as you do not want to let clients down, but you need to make sure that you can guarantee quality support to your clients. That is one of those uncertain things when we discuss a wide range of the amendments to Part 1 of the Bill.

There are other opportunities where I will raise the issues impacting small businesses in the Bill, but overall we should take the successful approach of previous Governments, including Labour Governments, of keeping small businesses out of this area. The impact assessments talked about mitigations they plan, but there is no mention of what those mitigations may actually be, and that level of uncertainty is one of the things that will hold back growth, which we are led to believe is the number one mission of this Government. I fear that without some of the exemptions, we will not see that growth coming in our UK industry.

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

I rise in support of the gist of these amendments with regard to small businesses. I declare my interest as the owner of a medium-sized business with 130 employees, so it would not apply to me. But the burden on small businesses, certainly of Part 1, will seriously restrict their ability to grow and have the courage to take that step of employing people. I certainly think that micro-businesses should be exempted from a lot of these burdens. As we go through Part 1, we need to keep those micro-businesses in our thoughts.

[Baroness Kramer (LD)]

My Lords, I am channelling the noble Lord, Lord Fox, who has been called away. He, on behalf of these Benches, cannot accept a two- tier workplace in regard to employment rights, which obviously form the content of this Bill, so we will not be supporting these amendments.