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The Government has now published the draft Deregulation Bill 2013 which is intended to remove some of the legislative burdens that are seen to cost UK businesses unnecessary time and money. Changes from an employment law perspective include:
– The removal of employment tribunals’ power to make wider recommendations in discrimination cases. Currently, in addition to awarding compensation, a tribunal is able to recommend steps the employer should take to reduce the effect of any discrimination not just in relation to the individual who brought the claim but also the wider workforce. The Government’s finding are that wider recommendations are rarely used and therefore proposes to remove this power.
– The exemption of self employed people from health and safety laws where they carry out low risk work. This should be further defined, but it is generally understood to mean that self employed people whose work poses little risk of harm to others, for example office-type work, will be exempt. It is believed this change will take up to 800,000 self employed people out of health and safety regulation and save up to £300,000 a year .
– Amendments to the current provisions on apprenticeships, clarifying apprentices’ employment rights, to take into account the needs of employers and the economy as a whole and create a more flexible and appropriate system.
The draft Bill, which can be viewed here, will now pass through pre-legislative scrutiny which aims to assess the effectiveness of a piece of law.
There are currently no proposed dates for when these changes will come into force but we will provide you with an update via our blog when further information is available. If you have any queries in the meantime however please contact a member of the employment team or call us on 01737 854 500 or email [email protected].