Employment Rights Bill

Debate between Lord Londesborough and Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

Report stage
Monday 14th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Londesborough (CB)]

My Lords, I support all the amendments in this first group, but I shall speak briefly to Amendment 9 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, which, as she explained, is an amendment to the Government’s Amendment 8, and Amendment 22. I want to interrogate the wording of the Government’s Amendment 8. We have a 309-page Bill. There is a lot of concern outside, at the coal face, from businesses about definitions and what the Bill means. This is a good example:

“In exercising the power under subsection (6) the Secretary of State must, in particular, have regard to … the desirability of preventing this Chapter from having a significant adverse effect on employers who are dealing with exceptional circumstances”.


Can the Minister explain how these exceptional circumstances are defined, and how significant does the adverse effect need to be for it to be regarded by the Secretary of State?

I ask that mindful of the latest survey from the Federation of Small Businesses, just a couple of days ago, which surely signals significant adverse effects for the majority of small and micro-businesses. For the first time in its history, the FSB reports that more UK small firms expect to shrink, sell up or shut down over the next 12 months than anticipate growth. The FSB’s Q2 small business index shows that 27% of small businesses expect to contract, close or be sold, outstripping the 25% which are planning for growth, and it marks the first time that the balance has tipped towards pessimism since the index began. As the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, points out in her amendment, there is no need to layer “exceptional circumstances” on to already significant adverse effects on employers. It would be far neater, of course, to exempt small and micro-businesses from Clause 1, as I and many others argued throughout Committee.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business and Trade and Department for Science, Information and Technology (Baroness Jones of Whitchurch) (Lab)]

My Lords, I first thank your Lordships’ House for the extensive engagement, debate and scrutiny that this Bill received throughout Committee. Indeed, we have held over 50 engagements with noble Lords from across your Lordships’ House since the Bill left the other place. As we progress Report, I need to remind noble Lords that the Government were elected on a manifesto commitment to make work pay. This Bill marks the first phase in delivering that commitment. Once implemented, it will raise the minimum floor of employment rights, provide a level playing field for businesses which are already engaged in good practice and raise living standards across the country. Alongside the new industrial strategy, the Bill will support our mission to increase productivity and create the right conditions for long-term, sustainable, inclusive and secure economic growth.

Turning to the amendments, I have listened carefully to the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Goddard, on Amendment 1. I remind noble Lords that as of March 2025, there are around 1 million people on zero-hours contracts in the UK. About 33% of them have been with their current employer for less than 12 months and 51% for less than two years. These are the most vulnerable individuals in the workforce. The Government are therefore committed to ending exploitative zero-hours contracts, which the noble Lord, Lord Goddard, quite rightly describes as “precarious employment”.

Employment Rights Bill: Productivity

Debate between Lord Londesborough and Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

Monday 31st March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right: we will have many happy hours debating this Bill in Committee and on Report in due course. On the issue of freelancers, he will know that this is only one piece of legislation. The make work pay programme includes a much more substantial piece of legislation. Where issues cannot be resolved fully in this legislation, they will come up in the wider Bills going forward.

[Lord Londesborough (CB)]

My Lords, this claim that the Bill supports productivity falls under the economic analysis section, which some have, perhaps rather unkindly, referred to as the economic fantasy section. The argument is similar to the one used for NICs Bill: increase the cost of employment; take out jobs at the lower-paid end; invest more in tech and innovation; and increase the average productivity of those left in employment. Does the Minister not agree that the danger with a flat economy, such as we have at the moment, is that we end up simply increasing unemployment, depressing real wages and lowering overall growth?

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, we have to be clear about the fiscal inheritance which we inherited from the previous Government.