The General Election 2015: The potential impact on employment law

Friday 1 May 2015

With the General Election on 7 May 2015 rapidly approaching and the final manifestos released, we take time to look at how the policies of the main political parties may impact on employment legislation. Though the main parties share some similarities when it comes to their policies (for example, they all propose increasing the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in some form), there are also key differences between them, some of which are discussed below. The various proposals could have varying and wide ranging implications for employment law.

Conservative Party: “Strong Leadership. A clear economic plan. A brighter more secure future”

• In its final manifesto, the Conservative Party pledges to raise the NMW to £6.70 by autumn 2015 and £8.00 by 2020, whilst simultaneously increasing the tax-free Personal Allowances (the point at which tax must be paid on earnings) to £12,500 by 2020. The Conservatives will pass a new Tax Free Minimum Wage Law so that the Personal Allowance automatically rises in line with the NMW. In theory, this would mean that those earning minimum wage would not have to pay any form of income tax.

• In addition to this, the Conservative Party plans to eradicate exclusivity in zero-hour contracts, presumably by bringing section 153 of The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 into effect. This provides that contracts which do not guarantee hours of work but prohibit a worker from working under another organisation’s contract are unenforceable. This is designed to protect workers from the abuse they currently face by some employers.

• One of the most significant proposals in the Conservative manifesto is the possibility of repealing Labour’s Human Rights Act 1998 in favour of a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. The Party say the new Bill will protect basic rights such as the right to a fair trial and the right to life but will prevent human rights law being used for more and more purposes without regard for the rights of the wider society. The aim is to break “the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights” and to make “our own Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK”.

• It will also hold a referendum with the British public on UK’s membership of the European Union by the end of 2017.

• Other proposed Conservative policies include taking further steps to eradicate the abuse of workers by non-payment of the NMW and promoting gender equality within the work place.

https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto

Labour Party Manifesto 2015: “Britain can be better”

• In its final Manifesto, the Labour Party has confirmed that it does intend to abolish the current Employment Tribunal fee system as part of wider reforms. It claims the current fee system creates “a significant barrier to workplace justice”. Though the manifesto reference to “affordability” has prompted some commentators to predict that a Labour government would not abandon completely the existence of a fee regime. The Conservatives’ introduction of tribunal fees of up to £1,200 in July 2013 has been followed by a sharp decline of 72% http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/vince-cable-interview-charging-fees-for-employment-tribunals-was-a-very-bad-move-10213703.html in the number of cases received since the introduction of the fees. Labour would ask ACAS to oversee a reform process led by the Confederation of British Industry and the National Trade Union Centre.

• In a similar manner to the Conservatives, the Labour Party also proposes to increase the NMW to £8.00 per hour by October 2019. Additionally, the Party claims that it will increase the fines that employers may face (that currently stand at anything up to £20,000 per worker plus the full amount of any outstanding wages) if they do not pay their employees the NMW. This aims to deter organisations from exploiting workers.

• The Party also plans to ban ‘exploitative zero hours contracts’. It proposes that those who work ‘regular hours for more than 12 weeks will have a right to a regular contract’.

• The Party will put in place a system that ensures that any company employing over 250 workers must publish their gender pay gap figures in an attempt to highlight and reduce the discrimination that women face in the work place. To go alongside this, the Labour Party will also strengthen the law against maternity discrimination.

• The Party pledges to preserve the Human Rights Act but will look to reforming the European Court of Human Rights.

http://www.labour.org.uk/page/-/BritainCanBeBetter-TheLabourPartyManifesto2015.pdf

The Liberal Democrats Manifesto 2015: “Stronger Economy. Fairer society. Opportunity for everyone”

• The Liberal Democrat Party with the help of the Low Pay Commission also confirms that it will look for ways to raise the NMW without damaging employment opportunities. However, unlike the Conservatives and the Labour Party, it does not give a specific figure or time by which to raise the NMW.

• The Party states that it will begin a review with the intention of finding a suitable value for the Living Wage and would pay this to all central government departments and executive agencies from April 2016. It will also encourage other public sector employers to do the same.

• The Party also claims that it will improve the enforcement of employment rights and will review Employment Tribunal fees to ensure they are not a barrier to workplace justice.

• The Party will promote family friendly working. It will do this by encouraging employers to provide more flexible working and expanding shared parental leave by offering an additional month of paternity leave to fathers on a “use it or lose it” basis.

• The Party will keep the Human Rights Act 1998 and introduce a new Freedoms Act which will embed rights of freedom of speech and protest.

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/libdems/pages/8907/attachments/original/1429028133/Liberal_Democrat_General_Election_Manifesto_2015.pdf?1429028133

Labour and the Conservatives are clearly promising to make the biggest changes in terms of employment law. By contrast, the Liberal Democrats have adopted a more broad brush approach with their promises of ‘reform’, ‘review’ and ‘research’ into the key areas of Employment Tribunal fees and the NMW. As the latest polls are showing that there will be no overall winner on 7^th May, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11374181/latest-poll-tracker.html  whichever party gets the largest share of the votes will have to try to create a coalition of some kind with one or more of the smaller parties. This is where it will get really interesting. Let’s take a look at what some of the smaller parties say about employment rights in their final manifestos.

The Scottish National Party (SNP): “Stronger for Scotland”

• The SNP will vote to increase the minimum wage to £8.70 by 2010.

• It will support measures to extend the Living Wage across the UK.

• It will support “tough action to end exploitative zero hours contracts”.

• It will ensure that women are fairly treated at work with action to secure equal pay and greater support for working parents with increased paternity leave

• It will aim to create 30,000 new modern apprenticeships every year by 2020.

• It will keep the Human Rights Act and is against withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights.

http://www.snp.org/sites/default/files/page/file/04_16d_snp_election_manifesto_290x280x.pdf

The Green Party: “For the common good”

• The Green Party will end exploitative zero hours contracts.

• It will make the “national minimum wage a living wage for all” by increasing the NMW to £10 per hour by 2020.

• It will reduce employment tribunal fees so that tribunals are accessible to all workers.

• The Human Rights Act 1998 will be retained, as will the membership of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe.

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/manifesto/Green_Party_2015_General_Election_Manifesto_Searchable.pdf

The UK Independence Party (UKIP): “Believe in Britain”

• UKIP will not ban zero hours contracts as it recognises they “suit many people”.

• It will increase enforcement of the NMW.

• It will exit the European Union.

• It will repeal the Human Rights Act 1998, remove Britain from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and introduce a Bill of Rights.

• Perhaps most significantly, it will allow British businesses to choose to employ British Citizens first.

http://www.ukip.org/manifesto2015

The largest of the smaller parties will probably be the SNP and it has ruled out any support for a Conservative government. SNP employment policies are similar to Labour, but Labour has ruled out any formal coalition with the SNP. UKIP has said it would do a deal with the Conservatives in return for securing an earlier referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

Despite saying it would not do any deals, the Conservative party has hinted that it could hold an early referendum making a coalition with UKIP more likely. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11566274/Conservative-Ukip-coalition-what-have-the-parties-said.html.

This promises to be a very interesting election for employment law, whoever wins  – so go out and vote!