Laws on the “right to switch off” may not come into force until 2026

A number of new workers’ rights promised by the new Labour government may not be implemented until 2026, according to business and political circles. I.

During the general election, Labour promised to introduce a series of new laws to strengthen worker protections, from the right to “switch off” from work to a ban on zero-hours contracts and a right to flexible working.

However, I It was announced that much of the new legislation may not be implemented in practice for more than a year.

While the government insists that it will introduce a workers’ rights bill within its first 100 days in office, the first draft of the bill presented to Parliament will not contain the full range of measures to protect workers’ rights promised during the election campaign.

Instead, the government will adopt secondary legislation and use non-legislative methods over the next year to introduce further rights for workers, although few of these rights are expected to be fully implemented by 2026.

The delay is not unusual given the length of time needed to implement important new laws, and follows a vigorous lobbying campaign by business groups, which urged the government not only to water down some of its original plans, but also to delay them to ensure businesses can fully prepare for the changes.

A high-ranking business insider said I: “There are very few details on the individual measures and we expect the draft bill to be quite thin and more detailed measures to be presented in secondary legislation.

“Employers will not rush the new laws and it is unlikely that they will come into force within a year. Then it will probably take some time for them to come into force.

“We also expect that many of the original proposals for the bill and subsequent legislation will be watered down to meet the demands of business.”

It is understood that the Government wants to pass the Workers’ Rights Bill by next summer, but that ancillary elements to be introduced later this year could take longer.

A senior government official also said that the passage of the bill and subsequent legislation depends on the time it takes to deal with it in the House of Lords.

Another government official also acknowledged that while it was likely that the bill would be passed in the summer of next year, it was “not unusual for there to be an implementation period”, which could mean that much of the legislation would not come into force until several months after it was enacted.

This means that workers may have to wait more than a year for the right not to be contacted by their superiors outside working hours, for full employee rights from their first day of work and for the right to work from home for at least part of the week.

As Labour takes power with its policies, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds faces significant pressure from various sectors to water down the new laws and delay their implementation.

While Mr Reynolds and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves appear to have sided with business in amending the bill, they are believed to have clashed with Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, who has campaigned for stronger workers’ rights.

The hospitality industry is particularly concerned about the ban on zero-hour contracts, which are said to benefit temporary workers and business owners.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “The hospitality industry is known for offering flexible employment opportunities for a wide range of people, so the sector employs many students, young people and single parents who need more flexible working hours.

“It is therefore imperative that we continue to offer a wide range of contracts that meet the needs of our diverse workforce.”

Due to lobbying from business, the Labour Party changed its wording on zero-hours contracts before the general election, after years of claiming it would ban them entirely.

In May, the party backtracked and instead banned “exploitative zero-hours contracts”. The revised proposal now allowed workers to choose a zero-hours option.

In addition, the government is expected to exempt companies with fewer than 10 employees from most of the new labor laws. Other smaller companies may be given more time to implement them beyond 2026.

Matthew Percival, head of the future of work at the business lobby group CBI, said: “The government deserves credit for its willingness to work with business and unions.”

“Only this willingness to cooperate can ensure that the upcoming legislation successfully balances fairness and flexibility and avoids the unintended consequences that companies have warned about.”

A government spokesman said: “We are working closely with business and civil society to find a balance between improving workers’ rights and promoting jobs and opportunities for people across the country.”

How workers’ rights are debated in Parliament

Although the new Labour government will introduce its workers’ rights bill to Parliament in the coming weeks, this is only the beginning of what could be an extremely lengthy process.

Government sources say the bill is expected to come into force in the summer of next year. However, many hurdles still need to be overcome before it is passed in the form of an act of parliament. And it will probably take even longer for the new laws it contains to be implemented.

While Labour’s large majority in the House of Commons means the bill is likely to pass easily in the Commons, there is no guarantee it will be received as warmly in the House of Lords, as the government has almost 100 fewer MPs than the Conservative Party. The Tories are likely to oppose many elements of the bill, as they may view it as anti-business.

Disagreements between the House of Commons and the House of Lords can lead to what is known as parliamentary “ping-pong”, where the bill is rejected, amendments are added, and peers send it back to MPs again and again.

A recent example of such a standoff between the two houses was when the House of Lords held up the former Conservative government’s Rwanda Bill, which was delayed by members of the Commons for months before finally becoming law in April.

As well as possible delays by the House of Lords, every bill has a committee stage where either MPs from a cross-section of political parties or the whole House debate the bill. At this stage, MPs have another opportunity to add amendments.

Once this hurdle is cleared, the bill moves to the report stage, where both Houses debate any amendments. If no amendments are tabled, this is a purely formal stage before the bill moves to its third reading in the House of Commons.

This is another general discussion, but no amendments are possible. In the House of Lords, the third reading will take place on a later day and amendments can be tabled to ‘clean up’.

Once this is completed, both chambers must agree on the text of the bill before it can come into force, at which point “ping pong” can cause significant delays in legislation.

Only when this phase is completed can the bill be submitted to the King for Royal Assent and become law.

Even after the bill has been passed as an Act of Parliament, there may still be further delays in the implementation of the new laws it contains.

Secondary legislation serves to provide further details of laws – or primary legislation. These details contain practical measures that enable the law to be enforced and applied in everyday life.

Secondary legislation can be used to determine the date on which the provisions of a law come into force as law or to amend existing laws.

Due to the time lag between the adoption of a draft law and its transposition into secondary legislation, there is no guarantee that workers’ rights will be strengthened before 2026.