How Labour’s New Employment Reforms Are A Game-Changer For Working Mums

If you regularly find yourself biting your nails to the cuticle in fear your employers will turn back the clock on your hybrid working set-up, or have long dreamed of the day you’d be able to pick up your children from nursery in the afternoon, guilt-free, then listen up.

During the King’s State Opening of Parliament speech (delivered by the Monarch but written by government ministers) on July 17, in addition to listing funding for schools as high on Labour’s list of priorities, King Charles revealed how UK working parents and employees will soon see dramatic improvements to their lives.

According to the speech, the new government’s Employment Rights Bill reform will ban companies imposing zero-hour contracts, outlaw fire and re-hire tactics and strengthen workers’ rights by providing parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal to all workers.

FIND OUT MORE ON ELLE COLLECTIVE

The bill will be led by the new Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and will come into force within the first 100 days of the new parliament. The changes to the legislation have been described by Labour as the ‘biggest upgrade to workers’ rights for a generation’.

Here are the five main changes you need to know:

• The new legislation will require employers to make flexible working the default from day one for all workers. Employers will be required to accommodate this ‘as far as is reasonable’.

• It will ensure everyone can access parental leave and pay from day one.

• Labour will extend the time limit to raise a tribunal claim from three months to six months.

• It will soon be unlawful to dismiss a woman within six months of her return to work after having a baby, except in specific circumstances.

• Labour pledges to enforce a ‘genuine’ living wage in line with the cost of living and strengthen statutory sick pay by removing the lower earnings limit and waiting period.

As many people will know, one of the biggest benefits of flexible working hours is how they enable women, who are most affected by stringent 9-5 working structures, to navigate childcare and caregiving responsibilities. Studies show that women are predominantly the main caregivers in UK households and often struggle to balance career dreams and caregiving duties.

Flexible working can involve employees shifting their hours to help accommodate childcare drop off and pick ups and tend to other childcare needs, as well as working longer shifts over fewer days of the week.

However, the reforms will not automatically give employees the right to work from home and there will be exceptions for jobs and sectors that are time-critical or demand shifts.

Existing rights for employees to request family-friendly hours will also be changed so that it puts less onus on the worker, rather becomes a presumption for all to have the benefit.

The charitable organisation Pregnant Then Screwed responded to the news with glee and took to its Instagram page to share the update with its 271,000 followers. For a decade, the charity has been fighting to protect, support and promote the rights of pregnant women and mothers, aiming to ‘end the motherhood penalty’.

‘Thanks for all your hard work!’ one user commented on the organisation’s Instagram post. ‘Well done brilliant women. All that time, all those dreary weeks and months of pushing and pushing, yet you never gave up and kept campaigning on behalf of so many women who really needed you. Thank you so much,’ added another.

‘You started this and you’ve done it! You’ve made such a massive difference to so many people,’ another added.

Updates on the two-child benefit cap, which prevents parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child (with a few exceptions), are yet to be announced. The cap, which came into effect in April 2017 under the Conservative government, has long caused controversy with anti-poverty campaigners.

Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme last year that the policy would not change under a Labour government, which soon resulted in backlash from members of his party. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Radio 4’s Today programme that the cap is ‘condemning children to poverty.’

ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.

Katie O’Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.