There are rumours that the Bill could be watered down in response to business concerns, but it remains to be seen what, if any, concessions will be made, so it’s safer to get ahead.  Although the detail will be thrashed out in a series of consultations, there are areas where enough is known to start planning.

With the prospect of stronger collective and trade union rights, it is worth planning your strategy to manage union recognition requests and workplace access and other rights. If you are unionised, prepare for the lifting of trade union restrictions and for a heightened risk of industrial action soon after the Bill is approved this year. If collective redundancies are on the cards, consider your timing and process in view of stricter consultation obligations and potentially higher protective awards under the Bill, as well as new powers that are available to Tribunals to uplift protective awards.

Family-friendly policies should be reviewed in readiness for new statutory rights to neonatal leave and pay (now confirmed for April), as well as planned enhancements to parental leave, paternity leave and bereavement leave under the Bill. Other areas of focus could include gender equality plans, flexible working policies, and probationary provisions and processes. Measures to prevent workplace sexual harassment should be reviewed and bolstered in anticipation of the higher statutory bar and extension to third party harassment.

In short, there will be plenty to keep HR, legal and compliance teams on their toes, on top of an already challenging workload.

To assist you, we have put together our usual timeline of key dates for the next six months.