General Election 2024: last minute employment law changes

The calling of a surprise ‘snap’ General Election on 4 July 2024 meant that Parliament had very little time to approve some last-minute pieces of new legislation, prior to the dissolution of Parliament on 30 May 2024.  

During the two-day ‘wash up’ period before Parliament was prorogued on 24 May, the following statutory employment provisions were approved: 

• The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill was granted Royal Assent on 24 May. This introduces a new right for bereaved partners and/or fathers to take statutory paternity leave in the event a child’s mother dies in the first year after birth or adoption, even if they do not have the minimum 26 weeks’ continuous service to qualify for the leave. Implementing regulations will be required to bring this new right into force, and separate regulations may also be used to increase the period of statutory paternity leave to 52 weeks for bereaved partners/fathers. There is no confirmed date for implementation of this new right, and it will not be progressed further until after the election. 
• The new statutory Code of Practice on tips, introduced under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, has also been approved. This also requires separate regulations to bring it into force. It was previously expected to take effect from 1 October 2024, but this will depend on the outcome of the election. 
• The new statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement has also been approved, and implementing regulations have been passed to bring it into force on 18 July 2024. See our previous article on the draft Code. 

Other statutory changes that had already been approved and with a confirmed implementation date will take effect as planned, unless any new government takes steps once in power to repeal the relevant provision. This will include the new duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent the sexual harassment of its employees, which is due to come into force on 26 October 2024. 

Under rules relating to the election period, no new consultations can be launched other than in exceptional circumstances. Any ongoing consultations can continue to run but cannot be further publicised (and may be extended as a result). Government departments may continue to receive and analyse consultation responses with a view to putting proposals to the incoming government, but no policy decisions can be made during the election period. 

The Government’s recent consultation on the re-introduction of fees in the employment tribunals is very unlikely to be pursued any further in the event of a new Labour government. In addition, the ongoing consultation on proposed clarifications of TUPE protections may not be actioned, and it is unlikely that a new Labour government would prioritise the proposed changes to the issuing of fit notes.  

For details of the proposed changes to employment protections that a Labour government will seek to introduce, see our separate news article here.