Employment Rights Bill

Aphra Brandreth Excerpts

Consideration of Lords message
Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Kate Dearden]

That is why our motion today disagrees with the Lords amendments and insists on our amendments from the previous round of ping-pong, which deliver on the agreement made by trade unions and business representative organisations.

[Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)]

I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

I wonder whether the Minister is comfortable with the fact that introducing an uncapped unfair dismissal compensation award will make the UK an international outlier, when many of our international competitors have clear limits. If she is comfortable with that, what assessment has she made of the impact on UK jobs and inward investment to the UK, particularly in business sectors that are internationally mobile?

[Kate Dearden]

Our proposal would remove the cap of 52 weeks’ gross pay or £118,223. It is important to reflect that, in practice, few awards get anywhere close to the cap. The median average award for unfair dismissal in 2023-24 was £6,746. Employment tribunals will continue to calculate compensatory awards to reflect the losses that employees suffer as a result of being unfairly dismissed.