Aimed at bouncing back from what Labour terms ‘14 years of failure’ in the world of work under the Conservatives, Labour has published its ‘Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering a New Deal for Working People’ (the New Deal). The New Deal is a new and refreshed version of Labour’s 2021 Green Paper (the Green Paper), and is targeted at boosting wages, making work more secure and supporting working people to thrive. As trailed in earlier announcements, the New Deal re-emphasises Labour’s pledge to deliver ‘the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation’, with legislation to be introduced within 100 days of Labour entering government if it wins the General Election on 4 July. As predicted in recent months, the New Deal commits to full and comprehensive consultation on the implementation of many of Labour’s proposed reforms, which will be a relief to many employers.
The key areas mentioned in Labour’s New Deal will, for the most part, not be unexpected for those following Labour’s workplace proposals and plans. The Green Paper initially proposed a range of wide-reaching reforms, some of which have been expanded on in the New Deal and some of which have been dropped following pressure from stakeholders (most notably, proposals to ban fire and re-hire practices, remove compensation caps for Employment Tribunal claims, enact protections against dual discrimination and extend the equal pay claims regime to cover ethnicity and disability). Click here to see our briefing which considers the New Deal’s proposals in detail, and explains what has changed on Labour’s employment agenda since the Green Paper and subsequent announcements and media coverage.
If you would like to discuss any issues relating to these proposals and how Freshfields may be able to assist, please reach out to your usual Freshfields contact or any of the contacts in the briefing.
