The Private Members’ Bills HR Professionals Should Look For - Guest Article by Ian Holloway
There are various ways in which legislation can be made that affect employers. The headline news always refers to those announced by a Government. Yet, the UK Government is part of the UK Parliamentary system, which is formed of Members from all political parties, not just the governing party. This gives rise to the Private Members Bill, of which there are three different ‘types’:
- The 10-minute Rule Bill – simply, this is where the Member (of Parliament) can apply to draft a Bill and then has 10 minutes on selected days to present it (in 10 minutes). It is often an opportunity for MPs to voice an opinion on a subject matter and the UK Parliament website says that these types of Bill rarely become legislation
- The Presentation Bill – this is where the Member presents their Bill in the House of Commons where the name is read out announcing its existence. However, there is no opportunity for the MP to speak about the contents of the draft legislation. Again, the UK Parliament website says these types of Bill rarely become legislation
- The Ballot Bill – all MPs’ names are placed into a hat and the first 20 that are drawn then have the opportunity to talk about the Bill on one of 13 Fridays in a Parliamentary Session. As a result of the time set aside and the way these Bills are prioritised, Ballot Bills may have the chance of passing all the necessary stages to become legislation
In the 2022/23 Parliamentary Session (due to end in November 2023), there are several Private Members’ Bills that employers and HR professionals should keep their eyes on, especially as they have received UK Government support:
Carer’s Leave Bill
This Bill was introduced by Wendy Chamberlain who is a Liberal Democrat Member. The Bill will make it a statutory right for employers to grant unpaid leave for employees who have caring responsibilities.
This has received UK Government support meaning that it will become legislation.
Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill
This Bill was introduced by Virginia Crosbie (Conservative) and will ensure that tips, gratuities and service charges are fairly allocated to workers regardless of how they are made (i.e. cash, electronic etc).
This has received UK Government support meaning that it will become legislation.
Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill
This Bill was introduced by Yasmin Qureshi (Labour) and will give employees the statutory right to request to work flexibly from day 1 of employment. The employer will not be able to refuse this request ‘unless the employee has been consulted about the application’ – which is not the same as the employer having to grant the request if, say, flexible working will have a detrimental impact on quality and/or performance.
This has received UK Government support meaning that it will become legislation.
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill
This Bill was introduced by Stuart C McDonald (SNP) and will give employees the statutory right to leave (and pay if they qualify) in cases where a newborn child has to receive neonatal care within the first 28 days of the child’s birth.
This has received UK Government support meaning that it will become legislation.
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill
This Bill was introduced by Dan Jarvis (Labour) and will make further provisions about protection from redundancy during or after pregnancy or any child-related leave (adoption, paternity etc).
This has received UK Government support meaning that it will become legislation.
Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (No.2) Bill
Unlike the above, this is a Presentation Bill by Jonathan Gullis (Conservative) and will allow future legislation to reduce the auto-enrolment and auto-re-enrolment age from 22 to 18 and remove the Lower Qualifying Earnings Band (the one that used to be aligned in value with the Lower Earnings Limit).
This Presentation Bill has received support from the current Secretary of State for Pensions meaning that it will become legislation.
Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill
Another Presentation Bill, this time from Scott Benton (Conservative). It will give the statutory right to allow workers and agency workers to request more predictable terms and conditions of work.
This Presentation Bill has also received UK Government support meaning that it will become legislation.
Employers and HR professionals need to look for the progress of the above legislation and the dates they are effective.
Something to watch for, however, is that all of these employment law-related Bills will apply in Great Britain only. This is because employment law is a devolved matter (to Northern Ireland). Therefore, employers with workers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland will need to consider that their policies and procedures are correct, stating the employment law jurisdiction in which they apply.
Ian has been in the payroll profession for over 30 years, processing payrolls from all sectors, large and small. He moved from hands-on exposure in 2011 to becoming involved in educating the profession. His wide-ranging experience and up-to-date knowledge ensured he was able to impart this information to UK professionals through course material, social media, newsletters and face-to-face presentations.
Today Ian combines both these and is involved with a vital aspect of the payroll environment, that of working with the software that actually does a lot of the hard work for the profession.
Ian approaches education and communication very much from the perspective of how this will impact the software, the employer and the worker. So, whilst the legislation is vital, compliance and effective communication are paramount.
Connect with Ian on LinkedIn.
