Ministers to meet CEOs to quell fears over UK employment rights overhaul

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Ministers will reassure some of Britain’s most senior chief executives that they will be listened to “every step of the way” as the government seeks to quell growing concerns about its overhaul of employment laws.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds will on Tuesday hold a business breakfast with leading chief executives including Nish Kankiwala of John Lewis, Simon Roberts of Sainsbury’s, Allison Kirkby of BT Group and Dominic Paul of Whitbread. 

In an attempt to head off criticism from business leaders, ministers will insist they want to work in close partnership with the corporate world, promising further consultation on some of the more contentious proposals in the coming months. 

Rayner will say the government is “pro-worker and pro-business” and promise to “work with all partners” to further shape the package of proposals. 

The measures, which include a right for employees to “switch off” and a ban on zero-hours contracts, are intended to shift power from businesses to their staff.

Some Labour MPs are nervous about the trickle of criticism of the employment reforms — dubbed Make Work Pay — from business leaders in recent months. 

Anna Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said on Monday that ministers should delay the workers’ rights package and “take time to get the policy design right for the long term”.

More broadly, Leach said bosses had become more cautious about the prospects for investment, with a recent recovery in business confidence “snuffed out over the summer”. 

The IoD’s monthly “economic confidence index”, which had risen from minus 14 in June, rose to plus seven after Labour won the July election — but has since fallen back to minus 12. 

Make Work Pay was first drawn up three years ago by Labour when it was in opposition and includes an extensive list of reforms to enhance workers’ rights, which employers fear is at their expense. 

Some of those proposals, which include a ban on zero hour contracts, a “right to switch off”, and giving workers full employment protections on “day one” of a new job, have since been watered down to appease business groups. 

But some executives are still concerned about the overall impact of so many reforms being introduced simultaneously.

Other elements of the package include more generous sick pay, the start of collective bargaining in social care and the reversal of all anti-strike legislation brought in by the former Tory government in the last decade. 

The centrepiece of Make Work Pay is an employment rights bill that will be put before parliament in October.

An unspecified number of the policies will then require secondary legislation and further consultation with business.

Reynolds will tell the business breakfast on Tuesday: “Our plan to make work pay will always be unashamedly pro-worker and pro-business and I’m determined to work in partnership with businesses and trade unions and ensure their voices are heard every step of the way.”