Consultations
In addition to the consultations on (1) fire and rehire and (2) recognition code of practice and e-balloting that we reported on last month, an additional five consultations have now opened.
The consultation on Make Work Pay: consultation on improving access to flexible working is open for responses until 30 April 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will, with effect from 2027, introduce a requirement that any refusal of a flexible working request must be "reasonable".
The consultation seeks views about existing practices around the consultation meetings about flexible working requests that have been required since April 2024. It also seeks feedback on a proposed new process that employers will be required to follow. Evidence about current approaches to handling flexible working requests is also sought to help shape guidance and resources.
The Make Work Pay: strengthening the law on tipping consultation is open for responses until 1 April 2026. The consultation considers both the new requirements on tipping and the existing law. From October 2026, employers must consult with workers or their representatives before producing a written tipping policy as well as giving workers access to a written summary of the consultation. Employers must also review the policy at least once every three years.
The consultation seeks views on how the existing law on tipping is working. This includes requesting views on both the statutory Code of Practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips that is already in force and the accompanying non-statutory guidance for distributing tips fairly. The UK Government has undertaken to review and change the Code of Practice where that is helpful and necessary. The consultation also seeks views on how to effectively implement the new requirements coming into force in October.
The Make Work Pay: modernising the Agency Work Regulatory Framework consultation is open for responses until 1 May 2026. It is seeking views on how to modernise and streamline the rules that govern the temporary labour market. Currently, the minimum standards for the conduct of recruitment businesses are set out in the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Agency workers additionally benefit from rights under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. The temporary work sector has evolved considerably since these pieces of legislation were introduced, including by the rapid growth of umbrella companies. Enforcement of the legislation is also set to change, with responsibility for it being taken over by the Fair Work Agency.
The consultation seeks views on how the regulatory framework should be adapted to account for the activities of umbrella companies and what broader changes should be considered to modernise the rules. Depending on the responses to the consultation, a second consultation may be run seeking views on more detailed proposals on streamlining and simplifying the regulatory framework.
In 2024, the Supreme Court held that the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 ("TULR(C)A") failed to protect workers participating in lawful strike action from detriment short of dismissal. It also held that TULR(C)A was incompatible with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to freedom of association and assembly). New legislation often follows the making of declarations of incompatibility and this has been the case here. ERA provides new protection for workers against detriments intended to penalise, prevent or deter them from taking official industrial action. The Make Work Pay: Protection from detriments for taking industrial action consultation seeks views on what the prohibited detriments should be. The consultation is open for responses until 23 April 2026 and the UK government has indicated that they intend to bring forward secondary legislation by October 2026.
The Employment Rights Act will introduce a new organisation wide threshold test for triggering collective redundancy consultation. This will be an additional trigger to the existing 20 or more proposed redundancies at one establishment within 90 days. The new threshold test will involve counting employees across different workplaces. The Make Work Pay: threshold for triggering collective redundancy obligations consultation seeks views on 4 proposals for the new threshold. The first is based on a fixed number, as the current 20 or more at one establishment is. The second is a variable (percentage based) threshold based on a percentage of the employer's total employees across the organisation. The third method would be to have different fixed thresholds dependent on the size of the employer. The final method involves use of both fixed numbers and a percentage to tier the threshold. The consultation also seeks views on threshold levels. The government's preferred approach (subject to the views expressed in the consultation) is to use a single fixed number to set the organisation-wide threshold within the range of 250 to 1,000 proposed redundancies. The consultation is open until 21 May 2026.
