Valerie chairs Employee Rights Bill Committee

I chaired another session of the Employment Rights Bill Committee on Tuesday 14 January 2025. The House of Commons appoints committees to consider proposed legislation in detail, line by line.

The Employment Right Bill seeks to: ensure that jobs provide a baseline of security for workers, prioritise fairness, equality and wellbeing of workers, ensure workers get fair pay for a fair day’s work, modernise trade union legislation giving trade unions greater freedom to organise, represent and negotiate on behalf of their workers, improve enforcement of employment rights and establish the Fair Work Agency to bring together existing state enforcement functions including the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and Statutory Sick Pay. The Fair Work Agency will also incorporate a wider range of employment rights, such as holiday pay.

This session considered, among other things, increasing time limits for making claims in employment tribunals, seafarers’ wages and working conditions and rates of statutory maternity pay. 

On 16 January 2025, the committee had its final session considering the Bill, and will now report its conclusions and any amendments made to the House where it will be debated further on the next stages of the Bill.