Health and safety reform in Labour's first 100 days

The new Labour administration has reiterated its plans to legislate on a broad range of employment law in their first 100 days in government, that will have implications for employees health and safety.

One of the items at the top of its list of priorities, as outlined in its manifesto, is the move to end "exploitative" zero-hour contracts, as Labour argues all jobs should provide "a baseline level of security and predictability".

Ending zero-hour contracts

To achieve this goal, the new government plans to legislate so that "everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the numbers of hours they regularly work, based on a 12-week reference period". This is part of a broader move to end what Labour sees as a "one-sided flexibility" that largely benefits the employer.

They want to rebalance the employer-worker relationship so that all workers have greater protections through interventions such as ending "fire and rehire" and "fire and replace" practices. As part of this process, Labour plans to reform current legislation to provide "effective remedies against abuse" and say it will replace the government's "inadequate" statutory code with a "strengthened code of practice".

"Ending fire and rehire means workers can be safe in the knowledge that terms and conditions negotiated in good faith can’t be ripped up under threat of dismissal".

Labour also plans to provide basic individual rights from day one for all workers, arguing that this will end the current arbitrary system that leaves individuals waiting up to two years to access basic rights of protection against unfair dismissal, parental leave and sick pay.

Currently the UK has a three-tier system for employment status:

• employees;
• self-employed; or
• workers.

This system makes it difficult for an individual to determine which category they are in and what employment rights and protections they are entitled to, and can mean businesses struggle to properly place staff and comply with its legal obligations. This is why Labour want to clarify worker status.

To resolve this issue the government says it will move towards a single status of worker while transitioning to a simpler two-part framework for employment status.

The administration promises: "We will consult in detail on how a simpler framework that differentiates between workers and the genuinely self-employed could properly capture the breadth of employment relationships in the UK, adapt to changing forms of employment and guard against a minority of employers using novel contractual forms to avoid legal obligations, while ensuring that workers can benefit from flexible where they choose to do so".

"We will also evaluate the way flexibility of 'worker' status is used and understood across the workforce and the way it interacts with and is incorporated into collective agreements".

Ian Manners, Partner at Ashfords LLP, spoke to IOSH Magazine about Labour's pledges, commenting that they seek "evolution rather than revolution".

"For example, moves to clarify the status of the self-employed and the application of health and safety laws for the self-employed builds on work done in recent years to ensure that the self-employed and casual workers were brought within the ambit of the PPE regulations".

"However, without any commitment to extra funding for regulators it remains to be seen whether, even with new guidance or new regulations, this leads to improved compliance and better regulation of our health and safety laws".

Other proposed changes in the workplace

Alongside the changes to employment status, stopping exploitative zero-hour contracts and unfair dismissal protection from day one, businesses can also expect the following from the "Plan to make work pay: Delivering a new deal for working people":

• likely increases in employee costs through raises to national minimum wage and sick pay being paid from the first day of absence for workers and employees;
• anticipated policy to be released relating to an employee's right to switch off;
• more union involvement across the board and a statutory body to investigate firms.

Although not all proposed policies will take effect immediately, and Labour will consult on some measures, businesses should be prepared for potential changes.

Other key health and safety areas to look out for

Manners also told IOSH Magazine other key areas to look out for under the new Labour government:

• building safety: Labour state they will take "decisive action" to improve building safety, including through regulation, to ensure we never again see a repeat of the Grenfell fire again. It remains to be seen whether this will take the form of further fire safety and building safety regulation, or by seeking to legislate to determine liability for building safety standards/improvements, in order to protect leaseholders;
• patient safety: the manifesto sets out a number of health reforms in the health and social care sector, including commitments to improvements in maternity care and the regulation of NHS managers;
• mental health: wellbeing is often the overlooked aspect of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, but the duty of employers is to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, employees' wellbeing, as well as their health and safety, and the manifesto sets out some measures for support set out in terms of health reforms and to engage with stakeholders to support the wellbeing of workers;
• modernisation: there is a commitment to review health and safety guidance and regulations with a view to modernise legislation and guidance where it does not fully reflect the modern workplace. This includes the introduction of new guidance in relation to extreme temperatures in the workplace;
• Covid-19: Labour has committed to a review of whether existing regulations and guidance is adequate to support and protect those experiencing the symptoms of long Covid;
• harassment: Labour claims it will require employers to create and maintain workplaces and working conditions free from harassment, including sexual harassment;
• self-employed workers: clarification around the status of the self-employed and the application of health and safety laws for the self-employed.

For more information on this subject, see:

• Labour's Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering a New Deal for Working People;
• Labour forms new Government - what happens next?