UK Inquiry Tracker

Make Work Pay: Employment Rights Bill

Business and Trade Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 31 Oct 2024 Closed: 29 Apr 2026 Parliament page

The newly re-formed Business and Trade Committee is launching its first call for evidence on the Government’s new flagship Employment Rights Bill . The new Government has announced a comprehensive overhaul of employment law in what it is calling the ‘biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.’ The ‘Plan … Read more The newly re-formed Business and Trade Committee is launching its first call for evidence on the Government’s new flagship Employment Rights Bill . The new Government has announced a comprehensive overhaul of employment law in what it is calling the ‘biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.’ The ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ sets out the Government’s agenda to boost wages, reduce insecure work and grow Britain’s economy. The wide-ranging Bill currently passing through Parliament (you can track its progress here ) sets out to: Ban exploitative zero-hours contracts End ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’ Make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal a day one right Strengthen statutory sick pay Make flexible working the default from day one Strengthen protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work Strengthen protections from sexual harassment at work Strengthen legislation around the allocation of tips Strengthen protections around collective redundancy Introduce a new right to bereavement leave Establish a new Single Enforcement Body, called the Fair Work Agency Establish Fair Pay Agreements in the adult social care sector Reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body Upgrade Trade Union legislation The Committee is launching this inquiry, which will take written and oral evidence with a view to informing the later stages of the Bill’s passage through Parliament, to help assess whether it will achieve these aims. Areas to consider include: How the Bill will contribute to the Government’s stated goal of achieving the fastest growth in the G7. Whether the Employment Rights Bill will adequately protect workers, improve security at work and raise living standards in every part of the country. The impact the Bill will have on businesses, in particular investment rates, start-up rates, the supply of labour and the employment rate. How to ensure adequate protection against exporting poor labour standards, including concerns over forced labour in international supply chains. Show less

16 Recommendations

5 Conclusions

1 Report

3 Oral sessions

40 Letters

3 Events

Activity timeline 48 events

22 Apr
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Non-Disclosure Agreements Consultation, 15 April 2026

15 Apr
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Trade Union access consultation and call for evidenc…

11 Mar
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Government response to the unpaid internships call f…

11 Mar
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to further February consultation package for the Employment…

11 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter to the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Employment Rights Act consultation and implementation …

11 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to implementing the Employment Rights Act, 3 February 2026

26 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Employments Rights Bill consultation on Electronic a…

4 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to Employment Rights Bill October Consultation Package, 23 …

16 Sep
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Secretary of State relating to the Employments Rights Bill, 15 September 2025

8 Sep
2025

Correspondence

Letter to the Secretary of State relating to the Employment Rights Bill, 8 September 2025

17 Jul
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Financial Conduct Authority relating to Shein and the Integrity of the UK Listing Regime, 11 July 2025

10 Jul
2025

Correspondence

Letter to the Financial Conduct Authority relating to Shein and the UK listing regime, 10 July 2025

Oral evidence sessions 3 sessions

14 Jan 2025

View on parliament.uk

Alessandro Dudech · Uniqlo Andy Brown · Frasers Group Hugo Martin · Evri Mr Paddy Lillis · Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) Neil Carberry · Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Paul Bedford · Deliveroo

7 Jan 2025

View on parliament.uk

Alistair Macrow · McDonalds, UK and Ireland Andrew Opie · The British Retail Consortium Claire Lorains · Tesco Eleanor Lyons Leonard Klenner · Temu Margaret Beels OBE · Department for Business and Trade Stephen Heary · Temu Yinan Zhu · SHEIN

17 Dec 2024

View on parliament.uk

Amanda Gearing · GMB Union Ben Willmott · Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Beverley Fairbank · Jaguar Land Rover Dominic Johnson · BAE Systems Jennifer Kearney · Amazon UK and Ireland Matthew Percival · Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Murray Paul · Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Nicola Smith · Trades Union Congress (TUC) Stuart Morgan · Amazon Logistics

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
3rd Report - Make Work Pay: Employment Rights Bill	HC 370	3 Mar 2025	21	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 results

5 Recommendation Rejected

3rd Report - Make Work Pay: Employ…

Remove the 'minimum number of hours' reference from the Employment Rights Bill.

Defining what counts as low-hours creates a loophole that can be exploited by companies to avoid their obligations set out in the Bill. We echo Usdaw’s recommendation that the reference to ‘a minimum number of hours, not exceeding a specified … Read more

Government Response

The government rejects the recommendation to remove the hours threshold, stating it is important to prevent unnecessary interference with existing arrangements and ensure the right is targeted. They will consult on the specific hours threshold for regulations.

Department for Business and Trade

View details

8 Recommendation Rejected

3rd Report - Make Work Pay: Employ…

Revisit equality law enforcement regime, clarifying Fair Work Agency and EHRC roles to protect workers.

To ensure long-term enforcement of the new duties on employers introduced in the Employment Rights Bill, the Government should revisit the regime for enforcing equality law and harm against individual protected characteristics, including setting out how the Fair Work Agency … Read more

Government Response

The government states the EHRC will retain its current responsibility for enforcing equality law and the FWA's remit does not include equality legislation, therefore rejecting a broader review of the equality law enforcement regime, though it will consider how information sharing between bodies works in practice.

Department for Business and Trade

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19 Recommendation Rejected

3rd Report - Make Work Pay: Employ…

Set out Fair Work Agency funding target to meet ILO inspector benchmark

The Committee welcomes the Government’s focus on labour market enforcement to tackle non-compliance. However, if the Fair Work Agency (FWA) is to be given new powers it will also need more resource. Efficiencies made from combining current budgets will not … Read more

Government Response

The government states that while inspector numbers are important, the focus is on effective enforcement and efficient resource use, and it does not commit to the ILO benchmark or to setting out a specific funding target, strategy, or timeline for the Fair Work Agency, promising only to consider resources when producing future reports.

Department for Business and Trade

View details

Government Response AI assessment · 21 of 16 classified

Accepted 7

Accepted in Part 3

Acknowledged 4

Deferred 4

Rejected 3

Total 16 recs + 5 conclusions

Correspondence 40 letters

22 Apr 2026 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Non-Disclosure Agreements Consultation, 15 April 2026

Parliament page

15 Apr 2026 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Trade Union access consultation and call for evidence on TUPE, 8 April 2026

Parliament page

11 Mar 2026 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Government response to the unpaid internships call for evidence, 27 February 2026

Parliament page

11 Mar 2026 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to further February consultation package for the Employment Rights Act, 26 February 2026

Parliament page

11 Feb 2026 From committee Letter to the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Employment Rights Act consultation and implementation timeline, 22 January 2026

Parliament page

11 Feb 2026 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to implementing the Employment Rights Act, 3 February 2026

Parliament page

26 Nov 2025 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to the Employments Rights Bill consultation on Electronic and Workplace Balloting, 19 November 2025

Parliament page

4 Nov 2025 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection relating to Employment Rights Bill October Consultation Package, 23 October 2025

Parliament page

16 Sep 2025 To committee Letter from the Secretary of State relating to the Employments Rights Bill, 15 September 2025

Parliament page

8 Sep 2025 From committee Letter to the Secretary of State relating to the Employment Rights Bill, 8 September 2025

Parliament page

17 Jul 2025 To committee Letter from the Financial Conduct Authority relating to Shein and the Integrity of the UK Listing Regime, 11 July 2025

Parliament page

10 Jul 2025 From committee Letter to the Financial Conduct Authority relating to Shein and the UK listing regime, 10 July 2025

Parliament page

3 Jun 2025 To committee Letter from the Secretary of State relating to the Modern Slavery Act, 19 May 2025

Parliament page

29 Apr 2025 From committee Letter to the Secretary of State relating to the consistent application of forced labour bans across Government, 25 April 2025

Parliament page

22 Apr 2025 To committee Letter from the GMB Union relating to the ongoing dispute with Bidfood, 14 April 2025

Parliament page

27 Mar 2025 To committee Letter from Amazon relating to evidence given to the Committee, 27 January 2025

Parliament page

18 Mar 2025 To committee Letter from Evri relating to issues raised by the Committee, 5 March 2025

Parliament page

18 Mar 2025 To committee Letter from Domestic Angels Franchising Limited relating to the Committee’s third report in to the Employment Rights Bill, 7 March 2025

Parliament page

4 Mar 2025 From committee Letter to Hugo Martin of Evri relating to allegations made to the Committee by Evri couriers, 27 February 2025

Parliament page

25 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from SHEIN relating to additional information requested by the Committee, 7 February 2025

Parliament page

25 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from Tesco relating to the onboarding process of a garment factory located in Mae Sot, Thailand, 11 February 2025

Parliament page

25 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive of FCA relating to questions asked of the listing process, 17 February 2025

Parliament page

11 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from Deliveroo relating to their appearance before the Committee, 30 January 2025

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4 Feb 2025 From committee Letter to UNIQLO relating to their appearance at the oral evidence session on 14 January, 21 January 2025

Parliament page

4 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets relating to the Employment Rights Bill, 29 January 2025

Parliament page

4 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from UNIQLO relating to outstanding questions after the oral evidence session on 14 Janaury, 23 January 2025

Parliament page

27 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to Shein regarding materials, products and working conditions in their supply chain, 27 January 2025

Parliament page

27 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to the Financial Conduct Authority relating to further questions around the listing process, 27 January 2025

Parliament page

24 Jan 2025 To committee Letter from the Financial Conduct Authority relating to their role in listings and legal checks, 17 January 2025

Parliament page

24 Jan 2025 To committee Letter from the CEO of the London Stock Exchange relating to listing companies, 17 January 2025

Parliament page

24 Jan 2025 To committee Letter from Shein in response to the Committee’s follow up questions, 20 January 2025

Parliament page

21 Jan 2025 To committee Letter from Health and Safety Executive relating to Amazon's requirements under RIDDOR, 10 January 2025

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21 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets relating to ERB, 17 January 2025

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13 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to Shein regarding their appearance before the Committee in the evidence session on 7 January, 10 January 2025

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13 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to McDonald's regarding their appearance before the Committee in the evidence session on 7 January, 10 January 2025

Parliament page

10 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to the Financial Conduct Authority regarding Shein's evidence to the Committee on 7 January, 9 January 2025

Parliament page

10 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to the London Stock Exchange regarding Shein's evidence to the Committee on 7 January, 9 January 2025

Parliament page

10 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to Amazon regarding their appearance before the Committee at the evidence session on 17 December, 20 December 2024

Parliament page

7 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to the Health and Safety Executive relating to data issues surrounding Amazon UK, 20 December 2024

Parliament page

7 Jan 2025 To committee Letter from Leigh Day to the Business and Trade Committee, 3 January 2025

Parliament page