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The Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) – the independent regulatory scrutiny body for the government, which assesses the quality of evidence and analysis used to inform government regulatory proposals – has published its opinion on the impact assessments (IA) for the Employment Rights Bill (ERB).
The overall assessment for the IA is ‘not fit for purpose’. In particular, the RPC assessed eight of the 23 individual IAs as ‘not fit for purpose’ and six of these (listed below) are in the ‘highest impact’ measure category in the summary IA:
- Day one unfair dismissal rights.
- Repeal of Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act 2023.
- Adult Social Care Fair Pay Agreement (FPA).
- Flexible Working.
- Repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016.
- Employer liability for all workplace harassment of employees by third parties.
For these IAs, the RPC has concluded that the government has not sufficiently identified the rationale for intervention, not identified all options available and not justified the preferred way forward. Given the number and reach of the proposals, the RPC concluded it would be proportionate for the IA to include labour market and broader macro-economic analysis to understand the overall impact on employment, wages and output, and particularly the pass-through of employer costs to employees.
As an advisory body, the concerns contained in the RPC’s opinion will not necessarily directly impact the ERB, however it is likely that these concerns will need to be explored further, both during the various consultations and through Parliamentary debate.
The ERB will have wide-ranging implications for all businesses. To discuss how the changes may impact your organisation, please do not hesitate to contact James Baker.
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