The Employment Rights Bill would have pushed 3.9 million more people into “secure” jobs had its reforms been in place in 2023, according to analysis by the Work Foundation.
The think tank at Lancaster University is calling on the government to “hold firm” on the core purpose of the new legislation as it approaches Royal Assent in the coming weeks.
The analysis examined the potential impact of two key reforms in the Bill – the introduction of new day one unfair dismissal rights and the ban of ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts – on levels of “secure, moderately insecure and severely insecure” work.
Researchers found that the length of a new statutory probation period to be introduced as part of the Bill is particularly crucial. They concluded that if day one unfair dismissal rights had been in place in 2023 with a six-month statutory probation period, then 1.2 million fewer people would have experienced severe insecurity at work.
Employment Rights Bill
This could have potentially reduced the total number of people in severely insecure work – defined by unstable hours, low pay, and limited protections – from 6.8 million to 5.6 million.
However, if a 12-month statutory probation period were applied, 6.1 million workers would have remained in severely insecure work, with only 700,000 benefiting from more secure work.
It could also have meant 1.6 million fewer workers benefitting from the most secure category of work than under a six-month probationary period.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said: “Strengthening workers’ rights is a critical step towards delivering better living standards for working people across the UK. And while it is right that the Government engages extensively to ensure new measures are workable for workers and employers, ministers must not trade away the benefits of the Bill.
“Excessive delays in being able to access new rights risks significantly reducing the number of workers who will benefit from them at any given time. What might be characterised as ‘small details’ are in reality big choices for ministers, with significant implications for working people.”
The Work Foundation’s report also showed that 92.5% of workers on zero-hour contracts would have benefited from the new right to guaranteed hours had it been in place in 2023. This equates to around one million people, with 7.5% missing out as they had worked for their employer for less than the three-month qualifying period.
Researchers noted that while this new right will significantly reduce the amount of time all zero-hour contract workers face this kind of insecurity for, it will not address the other kinds of insecurity that zero-hour contract workers often also face – such as low pay and underemployment.
The proportion of the UK workforce in secure jobs would have risen sharply from 44.1% (13.9 million workers) to 56.7% (17.8 million), while those in moderately insecure work would have dropped from 34.6% to 25.6%, falling by 2.9 million.
Researchers said those facing disadvantage stand to gain most from the added security of these two key Employment Rights Bill reforms. The proportion of workers aged 16-24 experiencing severely insecure work would have fallen by 8.3 percentage points, down to 38.3%; the proportion of Black and Asian workers experiencing severely insecure work in 2023 would have fallen by 4.6 and 4.5 percentage points, respectively; while women and disabled workers could see reductions in severely insecure work of 4.8 and 4.7 percentage points respectively.
Harrison added: “The Employment Rights Bill has the potential to be transformative for some of the most vulnerable workers in our society – but only if ministers hold firm during the drafting of secondary legislation and new codes of practice over the next two years.
“This could be crucial to wider Government ambitions to support more people into sustained employment. Job insecurity can exacerbate underlying health conditions and lead to people bouncing in and out of employment, or leaving the labour market altogether – which is bad for workers, businesses and the economy.”
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “This Bill can be a game-changer for millions stuck in vulnerable and insecure employment. It’s vital that it is delivered in full.
“Giving workers proper rights from day one and clamping down on exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts will bring Britain closer to the standards working people already enjoy in other countries.
“These common-sense reforms are incredibly popular with the public and will give people the security and respect they deserve at work. They will also stop decent employers from being undercut by the bad.”
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