To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to bring forward legislative proposals to end the practice of fire and rehire.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to end the practice of fire and rehire.

This Government has been clear that we expect employers to treat their employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership. Using threats about firing and rehiring as a negotiation tactic is unacceptable. We expect employers and employees to negotiate new terms and conditions and there are laws around how this must be done, and legal protections in place when firms are considering redundancies.

As we had limited evidence of how firing and rehiring tactics are used, we asked Acas to conduct an evidence-gathering exercise. We welcome Acas’ report on this work which was published on 8 June.

It finds general agreement that fire and rehire should only be used in limited circumstances – such as to prevent job losses when other options have been exhausted. At times, negotiations will sometimes fail and employers may need to make difficult decisions, in order to avoid redundancies and to ensure their business can survive and succeed. We have therefore asked Acas to produce clearer and more comprehensive guidance to help employers explore all the options before considering ‘fire and rehire’.