Labour Party Manifesto

Labour Party Manifesto on Employment Law

The Labour Party Manifesto on Employment Law has now been published for the 2024 General Election. Here are the key proposals that affect employment.

• Remove the age bands for the National Minimum Wage and alter the criteria for determining the annual increases;
• Remove the lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay;
• Extend maternity, adoption and paternity leave, and review shared parental leave;
• Make flexible working a default right;
• Extend bereavement leave (currently only available following the death of a child);
• Expand unfair dismissal rights so protection applies from day one;
• Ban the use of exploitative zero hours contracts (so not an outright ban);
• Introduce a right for employees to have a contract which reflects the hours they actually work;
• Introduce the requirement for the Section 1 Statement to inform new starters of the right to join a trade union;
• End ‘fire and rehire’ practices;
• Reverse the changes made to ballots for industrial action and abolish the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act;
• Introduce a right to disconnect or switch off from work outside contracted working hours;
• Extend the time period for bringing a claim to an employment tribunal from 3 months to 6 months; and
• Consult on combining ’employee’ and ‘worker’ employment statuses to create a single status.

Shortly after winning the election the Labour Party introduced the Employment Rights Bill to Parliament. The Bill becam an Act of Parliament in December 2025 and began its phased roll out in early 2026.

Visit The Employment Rights Act Dashboard

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