Labour's 'day one' working rights will benefit 9m, Angela Rayner says.

14/10/2024


The Labour Government has published its draft workers’ rights legislation, making “day one” rights against unfair dismissal available for employees. The overhaul also includes making sick pay, and paternity, parental and bereavement leave available from the first day of employment to all staff, and flexible working will also be the default position for employees from the outset, unless employers can show it is not reasonably feasible. Additional protections will also be given to pregnant women, those on maternity leave, and within six months’ of returning to work. Labour has also committed to its pre-election policy to ban “exploitative” zero hours contracts, which involves compelling employers to offer a contract after a set reference period yet to be determined. However, there will be no blanket ban on so-called ‘fire and rehire’ practices. An extra 9m staff will benefit, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner says, the number who have been with their employer for less than the current two year eligibility period. Trade unions have welcomed the new legislation. Gary Smith, General Secretary of the GMB called it “a significant step to giving workers the rights they’ve been denied for so long”. Business groups, however, criticised the plans. Martin McTague, Chair of the Federation of Small Business, says the unfair dismissal plans will “inject fear” into the relationship between bosses and staff, while Neil Carberry, CEO of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), said: “We remain concerned to ensure that firms are attracted to investing in Britain, and that businesses can grow successfully here. That means working with businesses to avoid changes that disincentivise hiring.” Shadow Business Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said the package proved the Government was in “cahoots” with “their union paymasters” rather than businesses. Arguably, concerns raised by businesses have led the Government to water their original plans down: companies will be allowed to put new employees on a nine month probation period, and a trumpeted ‘right to switch off’ out of regular working hours, has not been included. Employers will also have eight grounds on which to refuse flexible working requests. A new Fair Work Agency will bring together existing enforcement bodies to enforce rights such as holiday pay and support employers looking for guidance, the government said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out an increase in employer National Insurance contributions in the forthcoming Budget. During Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Conservative party leader Rishi Sunak asked whether the government’s manifesto commitment to not increase taxes on “workers” applied to both employer and employee national insurance, but Starmer refused to answer the question directly. “We made an absolute commitment in relation to not raising tax on working people,” he said, referring to the Labour party manifesto promise that “Labour will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.”

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says Chancellor Rachel Reeves must raise taxes by as much as £25bn to ensure Britain does not return to austerity. The left-wing think tank said her pledge to protect government spending means she is on course for a tax-raising Budget that could surpass those launched by Gordon Brown in 1997 or George Osborne in 2010. Soaring immigration was likely to pile further pressure on public services, the IFS added: the population is now one million higher than predicted at the time of the last Whitehall spending review in 2021; and the cost of public sector pay deals is also on course to be more than £20bn, or 9% higher this year than predicted in October 2021 as a result of Reeves’ inflation-busting pay settlements with the sector.

Former Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch will take on former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick in the Conservative Party leadership contest it was revealed yesterday, as the supposed front-runner, former Home Secretary James Cleverly, came third in the ballot of MPs. The Conservative Party membership will no decided between the two.

Lenders holding £12bn of Thames Water's debt have held face-to-face talks with Ofwat this week to pitch a rescue deal that they believe would avert the nationalisation of Britain's biggest water utility, Sky News reports. The combined group, which is advised by investment bank Jefferies, accounts roughly two-thirds of Thames’ total debts and comprises 100 separate lenders, Sky says.

More than 1,500 retailers trading within the City of London could see their Business Rates slashed because The Valuation Tribunal for England has ruled bills for a Cheapside store were set too high after a 2023 revaluation. The independent panel ruled the rateable value of a shop in the City of London should be reduced from £287,500 to £179,000, a 38%.  According to commercial real estate intelligence firm Altus Group, there are 1,540 other similar shops in the City which could be impacted by the ruling, which could mean total savings of £33m for retailers in the City.

GSK has struck an agreement to make a payment of up to $2.2bn (£1.7bn) to resolve litigation brought in the US over its heartburn treatment Zantac. The British drugmaker said it had struck agreements with 10 law firms who represent about 93%, roughly 80,000, of the US state court product liability cases pending against it. GSK will make the payments despite saying there is no evidence to support that the claimants’ cancers are linked to Zantac, and not admitting any liability. The law firms are unanimously recommending their clients accept the settlement. In a statement, GSK said: “While the scientific consensus remains that there is no consistent or reliable evidence that ranitidine increases the risk of any cancer, GSK strongly believes that these settlements are in the best long-term interests of the company and its shareholders as they remove significant financial uncertainty, risk and distraction associated with protracted litigation.”

Rio Tinto has confirmed an agreement to buy U.S. based Arcadium Lithium for $6.7bn. The FTSE 100-listed miner said the deal will make it the world's third largest miner of lithium, the metal used in electric vehicle batteries.

Marston's has seen its full-year like-for-like sales outperform the market. In an update for the 52 weeks to 28th September, the pub and brewery group said total retail sales rose 5.8% on the year prior year, driving expectations for pre-tax profit of £40.5m. Marston's also said that it had cut net debt, partly by selling its 40% share in the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company. Marston’s now expects net debt for the year to be around £885m, down around £300m on 2023.

Waitrose is expanding an existing partnership with Just Eat in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester to a further 229 UK locations. The partnership gives Just Eat customers the ability to get Waitrose groceries within 30 minutes or less.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has ‘called in’ a planning decision made by Buckinghamshire Council. Buckinghamshire Councillors refused permission for the construction of a new Marlow Film Studios development, following objections from local people who said it would harm the green belt and cause “spatial and visual harm” to the area, a former quarry next to the A404. However, Rayner’s action opens up the possibility that the £750m project could go ahead after all, as she could override the Council.

Billionaire media mogul Richard Desmond intends to divide his time between London and Dubai after “losing confidence” in British politics, The Financial Times says. The former Daily Express owner has secured a so-called golden visa from the United Arab Emirates, where he bought a property over the summer.  One person close to Desmond told the newspaper: “He likes being in the UK and will spend a lot of his time here but is an entrepreneur at heart – and he sees the opportunities now over in Dubai.” Research published earlier this week by the Adam Smith Institute Britain will suffer the biggest exodus of millionaires in the world over the next five years. 

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