‘Early Christmas present’ for workers across the UK
The UK’s Employment Rights Bill has cleared the House of Lords and is set to receive royal assent, with the news being hailed as an ‘early Christmas present’ for workers across the country.
After heavy resistance from Conservative peers and a climbdown from Labour on its pledge to deliver day-one protection against unfair dismissal, the Bill will now shortly be passed into law after the last peers blocking the bill’s progress finally stepped aside on Tuesday 16 December.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has hailed the imminent passage of this Bill as an historic day for workers in the UK, noting that they will begin to benefit from its protections in April 2026.
The TUC celebrated the Bill’s ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts and its day-one entitlement to sick pay, as well as strengthened protections against harrassment and repeals of anti-union laws introduced by the Conservatives.
It said that the UK has long been an outlier compared to the rest of Europe and, as a result, many workers in the country have felt comparatively insecure in their employment.
An improvement in the conditions of workers is also good for the economy, the TUC added, arguing that more security and money in the pockets of workers leads to more spending on high streets across the UK.
According to the organisation’s research, the wider benefits of the Bill are £10.4 billion, significantly more than its estimated costs of between £0.9 billion and £5 billion.
“This is an historic day and early Christmas present for working people across the country, and the trade unions who represent them,” said TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak.
“Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, sick pay for all, expanding parental and bereavement leave, strengthening protections for pregnant women, whistleblowers and victims of sexual harassment, repealing Tory anti-union laws, ensuring union access to workplaces, establishing a social care fair pay agreement – these are just some of the watershed measures this Bill will now deliver.”
“Unions and workers have long campaigned for these vital rights. Together, we have broken a decades long economic status quo defined by insecurity, weak rights and poor pay,” he said.
