Responding to the passing of the Employment Rights Bill in House of Lords, which will head for Royal Assent and become law later this week, Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University said:

“Ending the Parliamentary impasse on the Employment Rights Bill is a critical moment for UK workers. The Bill has the potential to lift 1.2 million people out of severe insecurity at work, and improve job security for nearly four million workers.

“The Bill will align a number of key UK employment laws with the kind of standards that we see internationally. Work Foundation analysis has shown that women, disabled people, ethnic minorities and young people all stand to gain most from changes to unfair dismissal, zero-hour contracts and day one rights.

“But in many ways, the hard work starts now as important decisions on new codes of practice and secondary legislation remain. It’s vital that as Government works with employers and unions to shape these, the reforms deliver on the spirit of the Bill as originally intended. Only then will as many workers as possible benefit from two-sided flexibility, extra protections and security at work in the coming years.”