Peers have criticised the number of amendments that the government is making to the Employment Rights Bill, as they debated the legislation in the House of Lords, with one describing it as a ‘patchwork quilt we are getting as we go along’.
With the Employment Rights Bill now at committee stage in the upper house, peers have tabled their own amendments but yesterday attacked the uncertainty of numerous provisions and ministers’ late amendments.
The government is currently consulting on numerous aspects of the Bill, with more consultations in the pipeline. Last week, the CIPD called on the government, “as a matter of urgency”, to start setting out an Employment Rights Bill implementation plan to help employers prepare for its introduction.
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Lord Fox, Liberal Democrat, who tabled an amendment to define the Bill’s purpose, began the debate by saying that peers need to understand what subsequent statutory guidance will look like.
“In many respects, the government are asking your Lordships to stand back and allow them to formulate the details of the Bill gradually, as more and more government amendments flood in and consultations still progress – with outcomes set well after the government hope to finish the Bill,” he said.
“Some might say that they are making it up as they go along, but I will not. Either way, this is not the way to formulate important legislation such as this. We need to know what it actually is.
“The consultations should precede, not succeed, the drafting of a Bill. Government amendments should be few and trivial, not many and fundamental. The operational details of the proposed legislation should be clear and obvious, not opaque.”
Lord Hunt of Wirral, Conservative, said he did not know why the Bill, which was originally tabled in October 2024, had to be rushed through within 100 days of the general election.
“Given the significance of this legislation, surely it would have been better if the government had committed themselves to ensuring thorough and proper scrutiny,” he said, adding that there had been 160 amendments at report stage in the House of Commons – “amendments which, in many cases, received no or little meaningful examination.”
He said it was even more concerning that the government has tabled 27 amendments for committee in this House.
“We have received a letter from the minister warning us that there are more amendments in the pipeline on fire and rehire, the Fair Work Agency, employment [tribunal] time limits, trade union reform and maritime employment.
“What on earth is going on? Why was not this Bill properly prepared?”
He quoted a joint letter from the British Chambers of Commerce, the CBI, the IoD, the FSB and Make UK, which said: “For us the challenge has never been what the government wants to achieve, but the unintended consequences of how they implement it. Unfortunately, the Bill locks in several irreversible policy directions that will force business to make difficult choices between jobs, investment and growth”.
Government amendments should be few and trivial, not many and fundamental. The operational details of the proposed legislation should be clear and obvious, not opaque” – Lord Fox
Lord Hunt said the letter is virtually saying: “Please, on behalf of all the employers – and, indeed, all the businesses in the UK – we rely on you in the House of Lords to scrutinise this Bill properly”.
Lord Hunt added: “I just do not think that this is the right way to treat Parliament. We owe it to the legislative process and to the public we serve to ensure that our scrutiny is neither rushed nor compromised.”
Lord Empey, Ulster Unionist Party, said the Bill obviously has a number of “meritorious proposals” but he agreed with Hunt: “This is a patchwork quilt that we are getting as we go along. For such important legislation, I think we have to pause and get our act together so that the House can see exactly what the big picture is.”
The government minister for legislation, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, addressed the concerns about the later amendments that have been tabled. “I reassure noble Lords that these are technical amendments and that the committee will have adequate opportunity to scrutinise them all properly.”
She added that an implementation plan will be shared as soon as it is available. “We agree that businesses need guidance on the timescale and implementation of the measures in this Bill. We are working at pace to ensure that they have that information.”
Further House of Lords committee stage examination is scheduled for 8 May 2025.
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