Employment laws, bills, and programs are constantly evolving and emerging, particularly in a business-heavy destination like London. If you’re not keeping up with the changes and opportunities, you could be doing your business a disservice.
You’ll either need to scramble around as you adapt your policies, employment contracts, and even handbooks to remain compliant with the law, or you’ll potentially end up missing out on huge boosts to your businesses by not knowing about the latest scheme or program designed to help boost employment amongst at-risk groups.
Regardless of your current employment standards or company culture, you always need to be looking ahead and around you. With this in mind, here’s the latest employment news in London you need to know about.
Contents
The Employment Rights Bill
The Employment Rights Bill has been in the works for years and has recently concluded its third reading in the House of Commons and is now with the House of Lords. This means that while the provisions and changes outlined in the Employment Rights Bill aren’t yet in effect, there’s a very good chance it will soon be ratified into law in 2026 or at the latest, 2027.
This is a great time for businesses to brush up on what it currently includes and start making arrangements for its introduction. If you don’t have time to do this, then it’s imperative that you have either an in-house HR team who are on top of all changes to employment law or have outsourced to a specialist agency instead.
Outsourcing your HR needs, particularly when it comes to transitioning to meet new law requirements, can be the best way to ensure you remain compliant, and to do it all for less. This is because you can hire a specialist agency like HR Dept on an ongoing or project basis. If you only need them to update contracts following the royal assent of the new Employment Rights Bill, then that’s what they’ll do. If you need ongoing support, then they can provide it.
The important aspect here is that you need specialists who understand UK employment law, its changes, and how to adapt your business fast and as seamlessly as possible to minimize interruptions.
What’s Included in the New Employment Rights Bill?
The bill includes several new provisions, including:
- Protection for workers during strikes. Workers will no longer need to provide a minimum service level, and are automatically protected from dismissal due to industrial action.
- New parental leave rights, which will allow new parents to give notice of leave from the first day at a new job. The bill may also remove existing limits on paternity leave.
- Sick pay is expected to change, with statutory sick pay starting from day one, not day four, and the lower earnings limit is also likely to be removed.
- Greater protections against sexual harassment and gender pay gaps.
While these are still provisional and likely to change, they outline a few commonalities that businesses can begin preparing for today.
£40 million Employment Support Program for West London
A new employment support service in London was launched earlier this year to help support local people with disabilities and those with conditions to find jobs where barriers previously prevented them from doing so. This funding directly supports workers, yes, but you can also benefit as an employer, as specialists work to:
- Match talented people with job opportunities, potentially at your business.
- Train workers in specialist skills, which can benefit you directly if you’re struggling to hire enough specialist workers in your field.
- Directly collaborate with businesses like yours to recruit and retain workers with disabilities.
If you’ve been struggling to find workers, particularly because they need to be trained in a specific program or other non-demanding skillset, this could be the perfect talent pipeline for you.
Vacancies Have Dropped Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
Between higher salaries and greater National Insurance contributions, there has been a significant decline in positions available in London. The number of workers on payroll dropped by 78,000 in March, and the UK employment rate has held steady around 4.4%.
What’s notable for you is that vacancies have finally dropped below pre-pandemic levels. After the pandemic, there was a massive surge, but what these lower figures mean for you is that there are going to be more job seekers than available jobs.
Now’s the perfect time to hire, as you have more options and higher demand, meaning you’ll have more options to pick from and the ability to be more selective to find the perfect person for each vacant position.
