Debate contribution: Employment Rights Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on 8 April 2025.

MLA

Mr Gordon Lyons

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

8 April 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Employment Rights Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4919281

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

The Employment Rights Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 10 October 2024. The Bill aims to improve workplace conditions, extend employee protections, modernise employment laws, enhance existing provisions and introduce new rights. It also allows for the establishment of a single, UK-wide enforcement body, to be known as the Fair Work Agency, which will bring together existing enforcement functions from across a number of regimes. The Bill is substantial, but the legislative consent motion (LCM) includes only the small number of provisions that affect devolved matters. The provisions fall under the remits of the Department for Communities, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, the Department for the Economy and the Department of Finance. Following requests from each of the relevant Ministers, I agreed to include the provisions of the Bill that fell to each of their Departments in the LCM in order to maintain parity with Great Britain on those matters. I will now turn to the provisions of the Bill that fall within the scope of the LCM. Clauses 12 and 13 relate to statutory sick pay (SSP), which is the minimum that an employer must pay an eligible employee if they are unable to work owing to illness or injury. To be eligible, an employee must have average weekly earnings at or above the lower earnings limit, which is currently £6,500 a year. SSP is paid from the fourth day of absence. The standard rate for 2025-26 is £118·75, and it is paid for 28 weeks. Clause 12 will remove the waiting period for SSP. Currently, employees must wait three days before they can receive SSP payments. By enabling SSP to start from the first day of sickness, the Bill ensures that employees are supported from the moment that they are unable to work, which will address gaps in financial support during short-term illnesses and reduce financial hardship for employees. Clause 13 will remove the lower earnings limit so that all employees, regardless of their income, will be eligible for SSP. That change will ensure that low-income workers, who are often most vulnerable to financial hardship during illness, are not left without support when they need it most. To ensure fairness, SSP payments will be set at whichever is lower between the flat weekly rate of £118·75 and 80% of the employee's weekly wages. That means that the majority of people who get SSP will continue to get the flat rate. For those who already earn less than the flat rate, however, the percentage-based option ensures that no one will receive more in SSP than they would have earned through wages. Enforcement and dispute resolution is currently carried out by HMRC on a UK-wide basis. Part 5 of the Bill proposes to transfer SSP enforcement and dispute resolution to the new Fair Work Agency. In Northern Ireland, that change will ensure that local workers will benefit from the same level of enforcement and support as workers in Great Britain. DFC will retain overarching policy responsibility for SSP and maintain an advisory role to support the Fair Work Agency. Clause 145 will amend the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 for the purposes of abolishing the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and transferring its functions to the new Fair Work Agency.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority is a non-departmental public body that is sponsored by the Home Office and operates UK-wide to tackle worker exploitation, tax evasion and health and safety negligence. In Northern Ireland, its operations are funded and managed through DAERA. The authority currently employs two Northern Ireland-based enforcement officers, and it is understood that the functions currently carried out in Northern Ireland by the authority will not change on the ground.

Schedule 11 provides transitional and saving provisions, with paragraph 19 of that schedule providing that any of the amendments to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 made in paragraphs 17 to 23 of schedule 10 do not affect any provision of that Act relating to the operation of the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1977. That is a simple saving provision that ensures that the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 remains operable and so maintains the Agricultural Wages Board for Northern Ireland. Schedule 7, at paragraphs 8 to 12, lists the Northern Ireland legislation that is subject to enforcement by the Fair Work Agency under Part 5 of the Bill. That relates to legislation in respect of statutory sick pay. Schedule 7, at paragraph 35, gives powers enabling the Secretary of State to increase the remit of the Fair Work Agency in the future on a range of labour market and employment legislation by adding to the list of relevant labour market legislation contained in Part 1 of schedule 7, however paragraph 35(3) requires that any such changes that include Northern Ireland devolved legislation will require the consent of the relevant Northern Ireland Department or Departments. Clause 30 of the Bill seeks to amend the Procurement Act 2023 by allowing a UK Minister to produce and publish a code of practice in relation to the protection of workers in outsourcing arrangements by public bodies to ensure that workers are treated no less favourably than workers of the contracting authority. The Procurement Act 2023 is UK-wide; however, as procurement policy is a transferred matter, Northern Ireland has opted out of the Act for key policy matters that do not relate to trade. It is, therefore, proposed that clause 30 will apply where reserved bodies are operating in Northern Ireland; where there is joint procurement between a transferred Northern Ireland body and a UK reserved body where the UK body is in the lead role; or where a transferred Northern Ireland body uses a framework set up by a reserved body or uses a reserved central procurement authority. Clause 30 will not apply to transferred Northern Ireland public bodies except for the previously mentioned circumstances. In summary, agreeing the LCM will bring benefits to Northern Ireland. It will ensure that employees here receive the same enhanced SSP entitlements as their counterparts in Great Britain. That uniformity will help to prevent inequalities in worker protections and will minimise administrative burdens for employers operating across the UK. Incorporating the proposed abolition of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and the establishment of the Fair Work Agency avoids the need for a separate enforcement body in Northern Ireland, which would require significant time and resources to establish. The amendment to the Procurement Act 2023 will provide for the protection of workers in outsourcing arrangements by reserved public bodies operating in Northern Ireland, and the Bill has been amended to ensure that the powers enabling the Secretary of State to increase the remit of the Fair Work Agency by adding to the list of relevant labour market legislation contained in Part 1 of schedule 7 to the Bill will rely on the consent of the relevant Northern Ireland Department where they relate to Northern Ireland devolved legislation. The proposals are not expected to have direct financial implications for the Northern Ireland block grant. At a UK level, consolidating functions under the Fair Work Agency is expected to generate efficiencies, although specific savings have not yet been quantified. While I seek to avoid using the LCM process where possible, in all the circumstances, it seems sensible to secure the benefits of the Bill for employees in Northern Ireland by agreeing to an LCM in respect of the Bill. The other Executive Ministers who are party to this LCM agree that, in these circumstances, an LCM is the best approach. The use of this procedure in this case should not be seen as a precedent or as an indication of how I intend to proceed in the future in this area. I am very aware of the importance of the Assembly's role in considering legislation and, in particular, the value of the Committee's scrutiny role.

1,324 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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