Today, Liz Truss, former Foreign Secretary, will become Prime Minister, taking over from the former Party Leader, Boris Johnson.

Truss has announced that the numerous changes to HR and employment law will be made.

She has proposed introducing a new law on minimum staffing levels during strikes within the first 30 days of becoming the Prime Minister – the threshold will be set individually for each industry, including for transport, education, healthcare, postal workers, and energy.

Also promised is removing the right to paid leave to carry out trade union activities, and removing standalone diversity and inclusion roles in the NHS.

In addition, she has announced that she will reverse the National Insurance hike that was put in place to fund the NHS, therefore removing the requirement on employers/payroll teams to list this separately on payslips. Employers will need to adjust their payroll and payslips to reflect this.

She has also announced that she will reduce holiday leave for Civil Service staff from 27 days to 25 days.

Alan Price, CEO at BrightHR, comments: “As with any changes to employment rights and law, this will mean new policies, changes to existing policies and training on new processes. It’s important for employers to take note of these changes and seek advice to ensure they are up to date on all the latest guidance.

“Employers will welcome some direction from Government now a new PM is in place. How long these changes take to come into force and what help businesses will get in terms of cost-of-living and energy bills, remains to be seen.”

 

What other areas is Truss being called to focus on?

According to the trade association for the professional recruitment market, there are three crucial policy areas that Truss needs to focus on to support the UK’s economy to balance the impact of the pandemic, Brexit and the roll out of Off-Payroll:

Firstly, they are calling on her to introduce the Employment Bill. Alongside Truss’ plans to review off-payroll legislation, the introduction of the Employment Bill is urgently needed to help bring regulation of the recruitment market and umbrella companies in line with 21st century needs. This includes greater support for self-employed and independent contractors as well as clear definitions of the flexible workforce to prevent disguised remuneration.

Secondly, to create a truly Global Britain. As the Government negotiates global trade deals, APSCo has recommended that these discussions focus on skills, the workforce and the mutual recognition of services and professional qualifications as well as tariffs and goods. The simplification of the process by which self-employed contractors obtain visas is also needed in a skill short economy.

Thirdly, to tackle skills shortages. APSCO’s research shows vacancy levels across all sectors are currently exceeding 2019 levels, suggesting jobs are remaining unfilled. Flexible and pragmatic training courses that are accessible to people across the entire workforce and a reform of the Apprenticeship Levy are a few of the steps APSCo has identified as necessary. The trade association has also called for the development of a national strategy, recognising urban hubs and regions with existing strengths in particular skills and industries.

 

IR35

Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at APSCo comments on how Truss should focus on IR35: “The country has experienced change on a huge scale in the last few years as a combination of Brexit, IR35 and the pandemic changed the world of work as we knew it, with the impact of continued global economic uncertainty and rising inflation adding to this difficult climate. The Tory leadership challenge only exacerbated these issues and we hope that today’s announcement will provide some much-needed stability.

“With the new Prime Minister now in place, we believe it is crucial that the employment and skills agenda is moved back up the list of priorities. The UK economy is facing a wealth of struggles from the cost-of-living crisis to concerning skills shortages and staff strikes across a range of sectors. A huge number of these challenges can be alleviated to some extent by a stronger and more dynamic labour market – an ideal that APSCo and its members are well-placed to help achieve.

“We welcomed the reports that Ms Truss intends to review IR35 legislation – a move which we feel is needed in light of challenges to the temporary recruitment market – but this needs to be supplemented with more definitive actions to create a future-fit dynamic labour market. 

“At APSCo Global we want to work with policymakers to ensure we have a truly sustainable, global and flexible workforce fit for the future. We are calling on the Government to introduce an Employment Bill which will better reflect modern day working post-pandemic than current legislation, more suitable high-skilled visas that can allow the UK labour market to remain agile and alive to specific sector labour shortages. Flexible and pragmatic training initiatives designed to maximise businesses’ access to talent across the workforce is also essential. In acting on these policy items, the UK will continue to be a world leader in new and existing markets.”

 

 

 

 

 

Amelia Brand
Amelia Brand

Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.