What will the General Election mean for HR?

It’s been a long time coming but the General Election is just over a week away.  There is incredibly strong feeling around this election after the events that have played out over the last few years impacting the country as a whole.  We all have our own thoughts about the politics affecting the NHS, education, crime, social care etc but from a professional perspective, I’m always interested to know how the outcomes of an election will affect what we do day to day!

As business owners, you’ll no doubt be interested to know how the various parties will want to change how your employ your staff, so we’ve summarised the key points the three major political parties have included in their manifesto.

Conservative Party

1. Cutting national insurance for employees to achieve 6% NI rate by 2027.

2. 15 hours free childcare for working parents from September 2024.

3. From September 2025, 30 hours free childcare for working parents from the age of 9 months to school age allowing more parents into the marketplace.

4. Funding for 100,000 high quality apprenticeships.

5. Making it clear that ‘sex’ means biological sex within the Equality Act.

6. Maintaining the National Living Wage at two thirds of median earnings, forecasted to be £13ph.

7. Overhaul the fit note process so people aren’t signed off work as a default, moving the responsibility for Fit Notes away from GP’s to other work and health professionals.

Labour Party

1. Labours Plan to Make Work Pay: A New Deal for working people delivered within 100 days:

   1. Banning exploitative zero hours contracts. (NB: We don’t think this means a ban on zero-hours contracts – just those that unfairly disadvantage the worker).

   2. Ending ‘fire and rehire’ tactics.

   3. Introducing ‘basic rights’ from day one including:

      1. Parental Leave

      2. Sick Pay

      3. Unfair dismissal – currently two years of service.

2. Strengthening the voice of workers through their trade unions.

3. Creating a ‘single enforcement body’ to uphold employment rights.

4. Strengthening women’s rights to equal pay and protections from maternity and menopause discrimination and sexual harassment.

5. A landmark Race Equality Act to enshrine in law the right to equal pay for Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and strengthening protections against dual discrimination.

6. Introducing the full right to equal pay for disabled people. Introducing disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers.

7. Ensuring the minimum wage is a genuine living wage, accounting for the cost of living and removing ‘discriminatory’ age bands so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage.

Liberal Democrats

1. Boosting the take up of apprenticeships, by guaranteeing they are paid at least the national minimum wage by scrapping the lower apprentice rate.

2. Making parental leave and pay a day one right and extending them to self employed parents.

3. Doubling statutory maternity and shared parental pay to £350pw (currently £184.03pw)

4. Increasing paternity leave to 90% of earnings (capped for high earners).

5. Establishing a new ‘dependent contractor’ status in between employment and self-employment with basic rights such as minimum earings, sick pay and holiday entitlement.

6. The right to request a fixed hours contract after 1 months of zero hours or agency work.

7. Extending statutory sick pay to those earning less than £123 pw.

8. Aligning statutory sick pay with the national minimum wage.

9. Making statutory sick pay available from the first day of absence (currently the fourth).

10. Supporting small employers with statutory sick pay costs (pending consultation).

It's fair to say that each political party has some interesting policies in this respect and all of them will garner a mixed response.

Let's see where we'll be come 5th July!!