The Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) scrutinises the Government’s regulatory proposals. Independent from the Government, its stated purpose is to “[help] ensure that ministerial policy decisions are based on accurate evidence”.
The RPC has reviewed all the impact assessments which the Government prepared and relied on to support the proposed Employment Rights Bill (Bill), as showing the need for or purpose of such change. The most notable changes proposed by the Bill are considered in our previous article.
The RPC has found the Government’s impact assessments are generally “not fit for purpose”. Its specific concerns, interestingly but perhaps unsurprisingly given the context of the intended changes to which they relate, concern the following proposals of the Bill:
- Day one unfair dismissal rights.
- Repeal of Trade Union Act 2016.
- Repeal of Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
- Establishing a Fair Pay Agreement.
- Fire and Re-hire.
- Guaranteed hours under Zero Hour Contracts.
- Flexible working.
- Employer liability for third party harassment.
In its summary, the RPC states that among other measures the Government should: “undertake labour market and broader macroeconomic analysis, to understand the overall impact on employment, wages and output, and particularly, the pass-through of employer costs to employee [of the Bill]”.
In essence, this means the RPC considers the Government should look more deeply at the possible impact of the changes proposed by the Bill, which many will see as alarming but perhaps not surprising given the nature of the sweeping changes Labour wishes to introduce.
It is unclear what influence the RPC’s findings may have as the Bill continues its journey through the Houses of Parliament.
Watch this space, as we have been doing since Labour took power!
This blog was written by Ben Lindsay, Solicitor at didlaw.
