Employment law election proposals: Part 4 - The Conservative Party
Part 4: The Conservative Party manifesto.
Following on from the Brexit Party style contract, the Conservative Party manifesto comes with a personal guarantee from Boris Johnson (provided that the Conservatives get a majority – and every lawyer knows to include a good caveat in every guarantee).
With only a few more days to go, the Australian-style points-based immigration system has gotten plenty of media coverage, and the familiar phrase “Get Brexit Done” appears in almost every section (as you might expect). But where employment law is concerned the the Conservative party has said that they will:
(i) Create a new single enforcement body to crack down on any employer abusing employment law;
(ii) Introduce a right to request “a more predictable contract” (so presumably a fixed hours contract for those currently on a zero hours arrangement);
(iii) Introduce changes to protection for women whilst on maternity leave (already announced), including extending protection for six months after the end of maternity leave;
(iv) Increase the National Living Wage to two thirds of average earnings, currently ￡10.50 an hour, for everyone over 21 (already announced);
(v) Raise the National Insurance threshold to ￡9,500, and abolish employers NICs for under 21s and apprentices under 25;
(vi) Increase the Employment Allowance for small businesses;
(vii) Extend entitlement to leave for unpaid carers to a week;
(viii) Legislate for extended neonatal care leave;
(ix) Fund more childcare before and after school, and during school holidays.
There is also a promise not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT in the next Parliament, which will be of interest to many employees.
So the clock is ticking. The election is on Thursday. A new Government by Friday the 13th (a scary thought for many depending on your own political persuasion).
I hope that at least some of you found this series helpful.