Party manifestos: workplace issues

The political parties have published their manifestos for the forthcoming general election on 12 December.  We have read the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos and have listed below some of the key points affecting the workplace.  

Conservatives 

Brexit

• Start putting the deal already negotiated with the EU through Parliament before Christmas
• Leave the EU in January 2020 

Immigration

• An Australia-style point-based system to control immigration, with the same system applying to EU and non-EU citizens
• NHS visa providing fast track entry for qualified doctors, nurses and allied health professionals with a job offer 
• Fast track entry for the best technology and science graduates and those who win top scientific prizes 
• Student visa allowing students to stay and apply for work after they graduate
• Start-up visa to attract future entrepreneurs

Family-friendly

• Extended leave for neonatal care 
• Make it easier for fathers to take paternity leave
• Fund more high-quality childcare before and after school and during the holidays 
• Encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to offer it

Vulnerable workers

• A single enforcement body to crack down on employers who abuse employment law 
• A right to request a more predictable contract and other reasonable protections.  Interestingly the previous conservative government had confirmed it would introduce a right for workers to switch to a more predictable work pattern, so the manifesto pledge appears to have watered this down   
• Further increases to the National Living Wage 

Tax

• No increases in the rate of income tax, national insurance or VAT
• Raise the national insurance threshold to £9,500 next year 
• Increase the Employment Allowance for small businesses 
• Review and reform Entrepreneur’s Relief and implement the Digital Services Tax  

Skills

• Improve the apprenticeship levy
• A new National Skills Fund worth £3 billion over the next Parliament providing matching funding for individuals and SMEs for high-quality education and training

Corporate governance 

• Strengthen the UK’s corporate governance regime and tackle the problem of excessive executive pay and rewards for failure 

Pensions 

• Keep the triple lock which guarantees the state pension will increase each year by the higher of inflation, average earnings or 2.5%
• Legislate to protect workers’ pension pots from unscrupulous bosses, introduce pensions dashboards so pensions information is all in one place and a new style of pension scheme which is more sustainable for workers and employers – presumably a reference to Collective Defined Contribution pension schemes   

Labour 

Brexit

• Secure a sensible Brexit deal within three months
• Put that deal to a public vote within six months alongside the option to remain

Immigration

• A humane immigration system built on human rights and aimed at meeting skills and labour shortages

Additional protections

• Full employment rights for everyone from day one in a job
• Strengthen protections for whistleblowers  
• Strengthen unfair dismissal rights, with extra protections for pregnant women, those going through the menopause and terminally ill workers
• Increased redundancy protection 
• Introduce four new bank holidays and 10 days’ paid leave for survivors of domestic abuse 
• A maximum workplace temperature 
• End the Working Time Directive opt-out and within 10 years reduce average full-time weekly working hours to 32 with no loss of pay, funded by productivity bonuses

Family-friendly

• Free childcare for the self-employed
• All large employers to have flexible working and menopause policies
• Day one right to request flexible hours  
• Extend statutory maternity pay to 12 months, double paternity leave to four weeks and increase statutory paternity pay
• Extend pregnancy protection by banning the dismissal of pregnant women without prior approval of the inspectorate 
• Introduce statutory bereavement leave
• Review right to respond to family emergencies

Diversity 

• Extend the obligation to report on the gender pay gap to companies with 50 or more employees and introduce mandatory disability and BAME pay-gap reporting 
• Require employers to devise and implement plans to eradicate the gender pay gap and pay inequalities underpinned by race and/or disability, with fines for employers who fail to comply
• Require employers to maintain workplaces free of harassment, including harassment by third parties 
• Enable positive action for recruitment to roles where employers can justify the need for more diversity  
• Transfer responsibility for enforcing equal pay legislation to the state 

Vulnerable workers

• A living wage of £10 per hour for all workers aged 16 and over, using savings to public finances to help small businesses manage the extra cost
• End bogus self-employment and create a single status of ‘worker’ for everyone apart from those genuinely self-employed in business on their own account
• Ban zero-hour contracts and give workers who work regular hours for more than 12 weeks the right to a regular contract reflecting those hours
• Require breaks during shifts to be paid
• Require cancelled shifts to be paid and proper notice for changes in hours
• Ban unpaid internships 
• A new unified Workers’ Protection Agency to enforce workplace rights
• Tailored support and protections for the self-employed, including collective income protection insurance schemes and better access to mortgages and pension schemes

Trade unions 

• Remove unnecessary restrictions on industrial action
• Allow trade unions to use secure electronic and workplace ballots
• Strengthen and enforce trade unions’ right to enter workplaces to organise, meet and represent their members and to recruit
• Ban union-busting, strengthen protection of trade union representatives against unfair dismissal and union members from intimidation, harassment, threats and blacklisting 
• Repeal anti-trade union legislation including the Trade Union Act 2016
• Simplify the law around trade union recognition
• Give union reps adequate time off for union duties 

Collective rights

• Set up a Ministry for Employment Rights to roll out sectoral collective bargaining to agree minimum standards on pay and working hours
• A right to collective consultation on the implementation of new technology in workplaces
• Require large companies to set up Inclusive Ownership Funds with up to 10% of the company owned collectively by the employees.  Dividend payments to be distributed equally among all shareholders and capped at £500 a year  
• One third of boards to be made up of elected worker directors

Pensions 

• A system to compensate women disadvantaged by the increase in the state pension age 
• Leave the state pension age at 66 and maintain the triple-lock
• Introduce pensions dashboards 
• Legislate to allow Collective Defined Contribution pension schemes 

Liberal Democrats

Brexit

• Revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit  

Immigration

• Replace Tier 2 work visas with a more flexible merit-based system 
• New two year visa for students to work after graduation
• Abolish the minimum income requirement for spouse and partner visas
• Move policy-making on work permits and student visas out of the Home Office and into the Departments for Business and Education 
• Establish a new arms-length, non-political agency to take over processing applications

Family-friendly

• Make flexible working available to all from day one and require employers to advertise jobs as such
• Increase statutory paternity leave to up to six weeks
• Require organisations to publish parental leave and pay policies 

Diversity

• Aim for women to make up at least 40% of FTSE 350 board members and increase ethnic minority representation
• Extend pay gap reporting to include BAME and LGBT+ figures
• Reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to remove the requirement for medical reports and formally recognise non-binary gender identities 
• Outlaw caste discrimination   

Vulnerable workers

• Introduce a “dependent contractor” employment status sitting in between “employment” and “self-employment”. Workers in this category would be entitled to the national minimum wage, sick pay and holiday 
• A right to request a fixed-hours contract after 12 months for zero and agency workers
• Extend the rights and benefits available to those in insecure forms of employment, such as offering parental leave
• A new Worker Protection Enforcement Authority to protect those in precarious work
• Shift the burden of proof in employment status cases from the individual to the employer  
• Establish an independent review to consult on how to set a genuine living wage
• Set the minimum wage for workers on zero hours contracts at time of normal demand 20% higher, offsetting periods of uncertain hours  

Tax

• Review the proposals to change the IR35 rules
• Review the tax and national insurance status of employees, dependent contractors and freelancers to ensure fair and comparable treatment

Skills

• A Skills Wallet giving every adult in England £10,000 to spend on education and training with employers expected to contribute
• Widen the apprenticeship levy to become a “Skill and Training Levy”, with 25% of the funds going into a Social Mobility Fund 

Corporate governance

• Give staff in listed companies with more than 250 employees a right to request shares, to be held in trust for the benefit of employees
• Strengthen worker participation in decision-making, including staff representation on remuneration committees 
• Require all UK-listed companies and all private companies with more than 250 employees to have at least one employee representative on the board with the same legal duties and responsibilities as other directors
• Require binding and public shareholder votes on executive pay policies
• Reform fiduciary duty and company purpose rules to ensure all large companies have a formal statement of corporate purpose, which gives consideration to employee welfare, environmental standards, community benefit and ethical practice, alongside benefit to shareholders.  They will also have to report formally on the wider impact of the business on society and the environment