80EF Kinship care leave

(1) The Secretary of State must make regulations entitling an employee to be absent from work on leave under this section if the employee satisfies conditions specified in the regulations as to an eligible kinship care arrangement with a child.

(2) The regulations must include provision for determining—

(a) the extent of an employee’s entitlement to leave under this section in respect of a child;

(b) when leave under this section may be taken.

(3) Provision under subsection (2)(a) must secure that—

(a) where only one employee is entitled to leave under this section in respect of a given child, the employee is entitled to at least 52 weeks’ leave;

(b) where more than one employee is entitled to leave under this section in respect of the same child, those employees are entitled to share at least 52 weeks’ leave between them.

(4) An employee is entitled to leave under this section only if the eligible kinship care arrangement is intended to last—

(a) at least one year, and

(b) until the child being cared for attains the age of 18.

(5) For the purposes of this Chapter, “eligible kinship care arrangement” means—

(a) special guardianship,

(b) a kinship child arrangement,

(c) a private fostering arrangement, or

(d) a private family arrangement

within the meaning given by section [Meaning of ‘kinship care’] of the Employment Rights Act 2024.

(6) The regulations may make provision about how leave under this section is to be taken.

(7) In this section—

(a) “special guardianship”, “kinship child arrangement”, “private fostering arrangement” and “private family arrangement” have the same meanings as in section [Meaning of ‘kinship care’] of the Employment Rights Act 2024.

(b) “week” means any period of seven days.

80EG Rights during and after kinship care leave

(1) Regulations under section 80EF must provide—

(a) that an employee who is absent on leave under that section is entitled, for such purposes and to such extent as the regulations may prescribe, to the benefit of the terms and conditions of employment which would have applied but for the absence,

(b) that an employee who is absent on leave under that section is bound, for such purposes and to such extent as the regulations may prescribe, by obligations arising under those terms and conditions (except in so far as they are inconsistent with subsection (1) of that section), and

(c) that an employee who is absent on leave under that section is entitled to return from leave to a job of a kind prescribed by regulations, subject to section 80EH.

(2) The reference in subsection (1)(c) to absence on leave under section 80EF includes, where appropriate, a reference to a continuous period of absence attributable partly to leave under that section and partly to any one or more of the following—

(a) maternity leave,

(b) paternity leave,

(c) adoption leave,

(d) shared parental leave,

(e) parental leave,

(f) parental bereavement leave.

(3) In subsection (1)(a), “terms and conditions of employment”—

(a) includes matters connected with an employee’s employment whether or not they arise under the contract of employment, but

(b) does not include terms and conditions about remuneration.

(4) Regulations under section 80EF may specify matters which are, or are not, to be treated as remuneration for the purposes of this section.

(5) Regulations under section 80EF may make provision, in relation to the right to return mentioned in subsection (1)(c), about—

(a) seniority, pension rights and similar rights;

(b) terms and conditions of employment on return.

80EH Special cases

(1) Regulations under section 80EF may make provision about—

(a) redundancy during or after a period of leave under that section, or

(b) dismissal (other than by reason of redundancy) during a period of leave under that section.

(2) Provision by virtue of subsection (1) may include—

(a) provision requiring an employer to offer alternative employment;

(b) provision for the consequences of failure to comply with the regulations (which may include provision for a dismissal to be treated as unfair for the purposes of Part 10).

80EI Chapter 5: supplemental

(1) Regulations under section 80EF may—

(a) make provision about notices to be given, evidence to be produced and other procedures to be followed by employees and employers;

(b) make provision requiring employers or employees to keep records;

(c) make provision for the consequences of failure to give notices, to produce evidence, to keep records or to comply with other procedural requirements;

(d) make provision for the consequences of failure to act in accordance with a notice given by virtue of paragraph (a);

(e) make special provision for cases where an employee has a right which corresponds to a right under section80EF and which arises under the person’s contract of employment or otherwise;

(f) make provision modifying the effect of Chapter 2 of Part 14 (calculation of a week’s pay) in relation to an employee who is or has been absent from work on leave under section 80EF;

(g) make provision applying, modifying or excluding an enactment, in such circumstances as may be specified and subject to any conditions which may be specified, in relation to a person entitled to take leave under section 80EF;

(h) make different provision for different cases or circumstances;

(i) make consequential provision.

(2) The cases or circumstances mentioned in subsection (1)(h) include—

(a) more than one child being subject to the same eligible kinship care arrangement, and

(b) a child being subject to an eligible kinship care arrangement on two or more separate occasions, and regulations may, in particular, make special provision regarding the applicability and extent of the entitlement to leave in such circumstances.

(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for some or all of a period of kinship care leave to be paid.””

This new clause sets out an entitlement to kinship care leave.

New clause 20—Duty to prevent violence and harassment in the workplace—

“(1) Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is amended as follows.

(2) After subsection (2)(e) insert—

‘(f) the adoption of proactive and preventative measures to protect all persons working in their workplace from violence and harassment, including—

(i) gender-based violence;

(ii) sexual harassment;

(iii) psychological and emotional abuse;

(iv) physical and sexual abuse;

(v) stalking and harassment, including online harassment;

(vi) threats of violence.’

(3) After subsection (3) insert—

‘(3A) It shall be the duty of every employer to prepare, and as often as may be appropriate revise, an assessment to identify potential risks of violence and harassment in the workplace and implement policies and procedures to eliminate these risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

(3B) It shall be the duty of every employer to provide training to all employees on recognising and preventing violence and harassment in the workplace, with a focus on gender-responsive approaches.

(3C) In subsection (3B) a “gender-responsive approach” means taking into account the various needs, interests, and experiences of people of different gender identities, including women and girls, when designing and implementing policies and procedures.

(3D) In this section, “persons working in the workplace” includes—

(a) employees;

(b) full-time, part-time, and temporary workers; and

(c) interns and apprentices.

(3E) In subsection (2)(f) and subsections (3A) and (3B), a reference to the workplace includes remote and hybrid work environments.’”

This new clause will amend the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to place a duty on employers to protect all those working in their workplace from gender-based violence and harassment.

New clause 21—Expanded duties of the Health and Safety Executive—

“In the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, after section 11 (functions of the Executive) insert—

‘11ZA Duties of the Executive: health and safety framework on violence and harassment

(1) It shall be the duty of the Executive to develop, publish and as often as may be appropriate revise a health and safety framework on violence and harassment in the workplace.

(2) This framework shall include specific provisions relating to—

(a) the prevention of gender-based violence and harassment of those in the workplace including the prevention of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse;

(b) the duty of employers to create safe and inclusive workplaces and the preventative measures they must adopt; and

(c) the use of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with the duty of the employer in relation to violence and harassment (see section 2(2)(f)).

(3) The Executive shall work with other relevant bodies, including the Equality and Human Rights Commission and law enforcement agencies, to develop and revise this framework.

11ZB Duties of the Executive: guidance for employers

The Executive shall, in consultation with such other persons as it considers to be relevant, issue guidance for employers about the protection of those facing violence and harassment on the basis of gender in the workplace by—

(a) implementing workplace policies to prevent violence and harassment;

(b) establishing confidential reporting mechanisms to allow victims to report incidents;

(c) conducting risk assessments and ensuring compliance with the health and safety framework (see section 11ZA);

(d) reporting and addressing incidents of violence and harassment; and

(e) supporting victims of violence and harassment, including making accommodations in the workplace to support such victims.’”

This new clause will create a duty on the Health and Safety Executive to develop a health and safety framework on violence and harassment and to issue guidance for employers about the protection of those facing violence and harassment on the basis of gender in the workplace.

New clause 22—Duty of employer to prepare domestic abuse policy—

“(1) It is the duty of every employer to develop, publish and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of its general policy with respect to the support it provides to workers who are victims of domestic abuse.

(2) The Secretary of State must by regulations make provision for determining—

(a) the scope of a domestic abuse policy;

(b) the form and manner in which a domestic abuse policy is to be published;

(c) when and how frequently a domestic abuse policy is to be published or revised;

(d) requirements for senior approval before a domestic abuse policy is published.

(3) The regulations may make provision for a failure to comply with subsection (1)—

(a) to be an offence punishable on summary conviction—

(i) in England and Wales by a fine;

(ii) in Scotland or Northern Ireland by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale;

(b) to be enforced, otherwise than as an offence, by such means as may be prescribed.

(4) The regulations may not require an employer to revise the policy more frequently than at intervals of 24 months.

(5) For the purposes of this section, ‘domestic abuse’ is defined in accordance with sections 1 and 2 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

(6) This section does not apply to an employer who has fewer than 5 employees.

(7) Regulations under this section must be made no later than twelve months after the passage of this Act.”

This new clause would create a duty on employers with 5 or more employees to have a policy outlining the support they provide to workers who are victims of domestic abuse.

New clause 23—Prescribed rate of statutory maternity pay—

“In regulation 6 of the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986, delete ‘is a weekly rate of £184.03’ and insert ‘is a rate of £12.60 per hour in the UK and £13.85 per hour in London’.”

This new clause would increase the current rate of statutory maternity pay, bringing it in line with the “real Living Wage”.

New clause 25—Working Time Council—

“(1) The Secretary of State must, within six months of the passage of this Act, establish a Working Time Council (‘the Council’) to provide advice and make recommendations to the Secretary of State on the matters specified in subsection (4).

(2) The members of the Council—

(a) are to be appointed by the Secretary of State, and

(b) must include representatives of—

(i) trade unions;

(ii) businesses;

(iii) government departments; and

(iv) experts on matters relating to employment.

(3) Each member of the Council must hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms and conditions of the member’s appointment.

(4) The Council must provide advice and make recommendations on how a transition could be made from a five-day working week to a four-day working week with no impact on pay, including—

(a) how such a transition would affect employers and employees, and

(b) how businesses, public bodies and other organisations should approach such a transition.

(5) The Secretary of State may pay such remuneration or allowances to members of the Council as the Secretary of State may determine.”

This new clause would require the Secretary of State to establish a Working Time Council to provide advice and recommendations on the transition from a five-day working week to a four-day working week.

New clause 27—Flexible working duties: reports on compliance—

“(1) The Secretary of State must, once every six months, report on compliance with the duties under section 80G of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (employer’s duties in relation to application for change to working hours, etc).

(2) The first report must be published and laid before Parliament within six months of this Act being passed.

(3) Each further report must be published and laid before Parliament within six months of the last such report being published.”

This new clause would require the Government to report on employers’ compliance with the flexible working duties set out in this Bill.

New clause 30—Special constables: right to time off for public duties—

“(1) The Employment Rights Act 1996 is amended is follows.

(2) In section 50 (Right to time off for public duties), after subsection (1) insert—

‘(1A) An employer shall permit an employee who is a special constable, appointed in accordance with section 27 of the Police Act 1996, section 9 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 or section 25 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, to take time off during the employee’s working hours for the purpose of performing their duties.

(1B) In section (1A), “duties” means any activity under the direction of a chief officer of police.’”

This new clause gives employees who are special constables the right to time off to carry out their police duties.

New clause 61—Status of Workers—

“(1) The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 is amended as follows.

(2) Omit section 145F(3).

(3) Omit section 151(1B).

(4) Omit sections 295 (meaning of employee and related expressions) and 296 (meaning of worker and related expressions) and insert—

‘295 Meaning of worker and related expressions

(1) In this Act—

(a) “worker” and “employee” both mean an individual who—

(i) seeks to be engaged by another to provide labour,

(ii) is engaged by another to provide labour, or

(iii) where the employment has ceased, was engaged by another to provide labour, and is not, in the provision of that labour, operating a business on the employee or worker’s own account;

(b) an “employer” in relation to a worker or employee is─

(i) every person or entity who engages or engaged the worker or employee, and

(ii) every person or entity who substantially determines terms on which the worker or employee is engaged at any material time;

(c) “employed” and “employment mean engaged as an “employee” or as a “worker” under subsection (1)(a);

(d) “contract of employment” means a contract or employment relationship, however described, whereby an individual undertakes to do or perform any labour, work or services for another party to the contract or employment relationship whose status is not by virtue of the contract or employment relationship that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual, and any reference to the contract or employment relationship of an employee or a worker shall be construed accordingly;

(e) The ascertainment of the existence of a contract of employment or employment relationship shall be guided primarily by the facts relating to the performance of work, irrespective of how the contract or employment relationship is designated in any contractual or other arrangement by one or more of the parties involved;

(f) In ascertaining the existence of a contract of employment or employment relationship, all relevant facts may be taken into consideration but the following facts, if found, may be considered indicative of the existence of a contract of employment and the presence of any such fact shall raise the rebuttable presumption that the arrangement is a contract of employment—

(i) the use, by a person other than the putative worker, of automated monitoring systems or automated decision-making systems in the organisation of work;

(ii) the work is carried out according to the instructions and under the control of another entity;

(iii) the work involves the integration of the worker in the organisation of another entity;

(iv) the work is performed solely or mainly for the benefit of another entity;

(v) the work is to be done, or is in fact done, predominantly by the worker personally;

(vi) the work involves the provision of tools, materials and equipment by an entity other than the worker;

(vii) the worker is to a significant extent subordinated to and economically dependent on the entity for which the work is done;

(viii) the determination of the worker’s rate of remuneration and other significant terms and conditions is wholly or mainly that of an entity other than the worker and, in any event, significantly outweighs the power of the worker to determine his or her rate of remuneration and other significant terms and conditions;

(ix) the worker’s remuneration and other terms and conditions are not determined by collective bargaining;

(x) the financial risks of the entity for which the work is done are not to any significant extent those of the worker beyond his or her interest in securing further remunerated work;

(xi) the worker has no significant capital investment in the entity for which the work is done beyond the provision of tools and equipment necessary for the worker to perform the work;

(xii) the remuneration for the work done constitutes the worker's sole or one of their principal sources of income;

(xiii) part of the remuneration is in kind, such as food, lodging or transport.

(2) It is for a person who is claimed to be the employer and contests that claim to demonstrate in any legal proceedings that—

(a) they are not the employer, or

(b) the person providing the work is not an employee or a worker.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply to all employment of a government department, except for members of the armed forces.

(4) A person undertaking the work of a foster carer shall be treated as a ‘worker’ for the purposes of this Act.

(5) An entitlement on the part of a person to substitute the labour of another for his or her own labour shall be ignored in determining whether he or she is a worker or employee.

(6) Where a worker or employee provides labour through a personal service company the employer is the third party for whom the labour is performed.

(7) A “personal service company” means a company—

(a) in which the worker or employee is a director, or a substantial shareholding is held by the worker or employee, by themself or by or with a member of the family of the worker or employee, or by or with a third party for whom the labour is or was performed, or a nominee or nominees of such a third party; and

(b) which has contracted with the worker or employee to provide their labour to a third party or parties nominated by the company; and

(c) in relation to which the terms and conditions on which the worker or employee is or was engaged to perform the labour are or were substantially determined by any third party for whom the labour is or was to be performed, by itself or jointly with another person or entity; and

(d) in which the status of any third party for whom the labour is or was to be performed is not in practice that of a client or customer of the profession or business undertaking carried on by the worker or employee.

(8) An employer that employs, or proposes to engage, an individual to carry out work must not represent to the individual that the contract under which the individual is, or would be, engaged by the employer is a contract for services under which the individual performs, or would perform, work as an independent contractor if that is not the case.

(9) Subsection (8) does not apply if the employer demonstrates that, when the representation was made, the employer reasonably believed that the contract was a contract for services.

(10) In determining, for the purpose of subsection (9), whether the employer's belief was reasonable, regard must be had to all relevant circumstances including the size and nature of the employer's enterprise.

(11) The Secretary of State may by regulations designate as “workers” other persons engaged in work, and designate as “employers” other entities engaged in the provision of work, after consultation with organisations which appear to the Secretary of State to represent such persons and entities and any such regulations must be made by statutory instrument,

(12) A statutory instrument containing regulations under sub-paragraph (11) may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.(12) This section has effect subject to sections 68(4), 116B(10) and 235.'”

New clause 62—Procedure for handling dismissal and re-engagement—

“(1) The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 is amended as follows.

(2) After Chapter I (collective bargaining), insert—