Making Work Pay: At a glance

What is the government's plan to 'Make Work Pay'? What measures have been taken? What measures are proposed?

At a glance

The Government's 'Plan to Make Work Pay' aims to restore the principle that 'work should always pay'.

The plan is to introduce various changes with some via primary legislation including a new employment rights bill.

It includes:

• A commitment to raise the National Minimum Wage.
• A new Employment Rights Bill.
• A new industrial relations policy including certain Trade Union reforms. 
• Establishing a single status of worker.
• Creating a new Fair Payment Code in contracts between large businesses and small businesses.

An update to the NMW and National Living Wage was announced in October 2024 to take effect from 1 April 2025.

The Employment Rights Bill was published in October, it includes key policy measures to modernise the employment rights framework including: 

• ‘Day One rights’ of employment, including entitlement to paternity leave, unpaid parental leave and protection from unfair dismissal in a proportionate way during probation periods.
• Establishing bereavement leave and making flexible working the default.
• Addressing one-sided flexibility by banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, abolishing the ability to fire and rehire and strengthening provisions on collective redundancy.
• Establishing the Fair Work Agency.
• Bringing forward measures to modernise Trade Union laws.
• Improving pay and conditions through a Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care, re-establishing the School Support Staff Negotiating Body and re-instating the two-tier code for procurement.
• Increasing protection from sexual harassment, introducing gender and menopause action plans and strengthening rights for pregnant workers.
• Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay.

In October 2024 consultations were published covering: 

• Creating a modern framework for industrial relations
• The application of zero-hours contract measures to agency workers
• Strengthening statutory sick pay
• Collective redundancy and fire and rehire

These close in early December 2024. 

It is anticipated, that employment reforms will take effect from 2026.

Of interest from a tax perspective is the government's intention to consult on moving towards a single status of worker. It will explore the implementation

Wider reforms

Other intended reforms outside of the Employment Rights Bill include: 

• Tightening the ban on unpaid internships.
• A 'Right to Switch Off' will be established via a statutory Code of Practice.
• Removing the age bands to ensure every adult worker benefits from a genuine living wage.
• Supporting workers with a terminal illness through the Dying to Work Charter.
• Modernising health and safety guidance.
• Enacting the socio-economic duty.
• Ensuring the Public Sector Equality Duty provisions cover all parties exercising public functions.
• Developing menopause guidance for employers and guidance on health and wellbeing.

The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill addresses other issues, such as:

• Extending pay gap reporting to ethnicity and disability for employers with more than 250 staff and measures on equal pay.
• Extending equal pay rights to protect workers suffering discrimination based on race or disability.
• Ensuring that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay.
• Implementing a regulatory and enforcement unit for equal pay with involvement from trade unions.

This legislation will be consulted on in due course. 

Other future longer-term consultations and reforms include: 

• Parental leave review.
• Carer’s leave review.
• Surveillance technologies and negotiations with trade unions and staff representatives.
• Single ‘worker’ status (a simpler framework that differentiates between workers and the genuinely self-employed).
• Strengthening protections for the self-employed through a right to written contract; extending blacklisting protections and extending health and safety protections.
• Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) (call for evidence).
• Reviewing health and safety guidance and regulations.
• Raising collective grievances.
• Ensuring social value is mandatory in contract design, using public procurement to raise standards on employment rights; and ensuring that public bodies must carry out a quick and proportionate public interest test.
• Extending the Freedom of Information Act to private companies that hold public contracts and extending the Freedom of Information Act to publicly funded employers.

Useful guides on this topic

Collective redundancy and fire and rehire consultation  
As part of the Government’s plan to 'Make Work Pay', a consultation 'Making Work Pay: collective redundancy and fire and rehire' has been released. This seeks views on strengthening remedies against abuse of rules on collective redundancy and fire and rehire.

Consultation: Application of new zero-hours contract measures to agency workers
As part of the Government’s plan to 'Make Work Pay', a consultation on ‘the application of zero-hours contract measures to agency workers' has been released. This consultation seeks feedback on how the new measures should be applied to agency workers.

Consultation on strengthening statutory sick pay  
As part of the Government’s plan to 'Make Work Pay', a consultation on ‘strengthening statutory sick pay' has been released. This consultation outlines key changes to be made to the current criteria for statutory sick pay and seeks views on the implementation of these new measures.

Consultation: Creating a modern framework for industrial relations
As part of its ‘ Making Work Pay’ commitment, the Government has opened a consultation on creating a modern framework for industrial relations.

External link

Policy paper: Next Steps to Make Work Pay (web accessible version)

Collection: Make Work Pay Collection: Make Work Pay