Conditions of Employment

(asked on 21st March 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of companies closing and subsequently setting up a new similar company, with the result of (a) job losses, (b) workplace bullying and (c) changes to working conditions on employees’ rights.


Answered by
Justin Madders Portrait
Justin Madders
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This question was answered on 31st March 2025

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 introduced new measures to help combat ‘phoenixing’ - when a director dissolves a company to avoid debts or other responsibilities, to then set up another similar company. The accompanying impact assessment provides the government’s assessment of the evidence relating to this practice. Alongside this, the Employment Rights Bill is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers rights and protections in a generation, including strengthening collective redundancy rights and ending unscrupulous practices of fire and rehire.

Reticulating Splines