Govt announces new employment law reform areas

Posted 12/05/2011

The government has this week identified several new areas in which it will seek to make reforms to employment law in order to cut bureaucracy and red tape.

It has confirmed it will examine the rules regarding people who claim compensation for discrimination, with a view to encouraging cases to settle before they reach court.

The proposed reforms may also make changes to laws such as those requiring a 90-day consultation period to take place before implementing collective redundancy arrangements, in order to make it simpler for businesses to restructure.

Employment relations minister Edward Davey said: “The areas we are reviewing are priorities for employers. We want to make it easier for businesses to take on staff and grow.”

He added that the government aims to make the legislation easier to understand and improve the efficiency of the economy, but not at the expense of compromising fairness for individual workers.

However, the proposals were questioned by the Trades Union Congress, with its general secretary Brendan Barber warning that making it easier to lay people off could worsen the problem of unemployment.