Minister defends watering down Angela Rayner’s flagship Bill amid backlash
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said there was a ‘very real prospect’ that key measures in the Employment Rights Bill would not be in place by April without the change
A minister has claimed the Government had to water down a flagship Bill to prevent a raft of measures like sick pay changes being delayed.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson claimed there was a “very real prospect” the new Employment Rights Bill would not be in place by April without the U-turn. Labour chiefs face a huge backlash after long-promised day one protections against unfair dismissal were stripped out of the Bill, which was championed by Angela Rayner.
The move is set to spark anger on Labour backbenches. Ms Phillipson told Sky News: “The Employment Rights Bill is the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. There has been discussion on the point around unfair dismissal and the time period between businesses, the TUC and Government, and following that discussion there’s been agreement about the way forward, which is welcome.
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“It means that the time limit will come down from two years to six months, and that runs alongside important day-one rights around sick pay and around parental leave. But the risk here was that if we didn’t make progress, those important rights wouldn’t come into force from April next year.”
She went on to insist the Government had not broken a manifesto promise – because Labour’s election document had committed to a consultation. The manifesto said “we will consult fully with businesses, workers, and civil society on how to put our plans into practice before legislation is passed”.
It went on: “This will include banning exploitative zero hours contracts; ending fire and rehire; and introducing basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal.”
Former Employment Minister Justin Madders posted on Twitter/X: “It might be a compromise. It might even be necessary to get the Bill passed asap. But it most definitely is a manifesto breach.”
Asked if it was a broken promise, Ms Phillipson said: “In the manifesto, what we said was that we would work with trade unions, with business, with civil society, in consulting on those protections that we’d be bringing forward.
“So, there are both parts to that, within the manifesto, the important rights and the consultation.” After the protection was removed, workers will now need to have six months of service to claim unfair dismissal against their employer.
This is still a reduction from the current qualifying period of 24 months. An MP close to Ms Rayner told The Times: “If this watering down of the bill goes ahead, we risk undermining vital protections for millions of workers. We have to remember millions of workers are in low paid, insecure jobs and this bill will help them and employers.”
Other key reforms in the landmark Bill – spearheaded by ex-Deputy PM Ms Rayner – including day one one rights to sick pay and paternity leave will still go ahead from April 2026 if the legislation becomes law.
Business leaders and trade unions met for two days this week to thrash out their differences and end the gridlock on the flagship bill. Firms had been arguing that day one rights for unfair dismissal would impact hiring.
The Bill is currently being held up in the House of Lords by Tory and Lib Dem peers as the Labour Government doesn’t have a majority.
