Policy paper

Next Steps to Make Work Pay (web accessible version)

Updated 8 November 2024

Ministerial foreword

This government was elected to rebuild our economy so that it once again serves the interests of working people and businesses. We are taking important steps to kickstart economic growth which benefits businesses, workers, and communities across the country.

Upgrading the UK labour market so it is fit for our modern economy is a key part of this, alongside other planks of our modern supply side approach, including planning reform, kickstarting a skills revolution, a modern industrial strategy and a plan to tackle inactivity.

New trends and technologies are putting strains on the UK’s outdated labour market frameworks. These strains have been recognised but not addressed by successive governments, who have failed to stem a rising tide of insecurity that has accompanied low growth, low productivity and low pay. Our upcoming Get Britain Working paper will set out our plans to tackle economic inactivity to get people into work.

The world of work needs an urgent upgrade to keep pace with a modern economy and help drive growth and living standards. Today, the average British family is significantly poorer than their peers in other advanced economies. Insecurity at work is also rife, with too many workers unable to plan their lives around their jobs.

From day 1 of coming into government, we have moved to restore the principle that work should always pay. We are committed to creating jobs that provide security, treat workers fairly, and pay a decent wage. No one working full time should be struggling to pay bills and afford essentials. We have already made sure that, for the first time, the Low Pay Commission takes into account the cost of living.

We have also announced plans to protect the self-employed and small businesses from late payments, including a new Fair Payment Code and clamping down on large companies who are being less than transparent on their payment performance.

Our publication of the Employment Rights Bill is a major milestone towards ensuring our economy works for working people.

This legislation allows us to modernise our employment rights framework and respond to the changing world of work. We will help more people get in to work and on in work; making flexible working the default, establishing a new right to bereavement leave, making paternity and parental leave available from day 1 of starting a new job, and strengthening the protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work.

The bill turns the page on the conflictual approach to industrial relations that hit workers, public services and taxpayers with the worst disruption in decades and is a key part of the government’s plan to bring in a new approach based on cooperation and negotiation. The bill repeals the ineffective and ideological anti-union legislation put in place by the previous administration, including the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023; legislation that failed to prevent a single day of industrial action while in force.

Most businesses are proud to treat their staff well and know it makes good business sense. Our reforms will raise the floor and end the race to the bottom that saw some compete based on low pay, low standards and insecurity.

Some of these reforms will require a change in law – others will not. This document sets out the next steps we intend to make in our mission to effect change and make work pay. We know that we will be judged by our actions, not our words.

We invite businesses, workers and unions to continue to work with us in partnership to ensure that the important improvements in rights and conditions we are making for workers are pragmatic for businesses of all sizes.

Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Introduction

1. The government’s Plan to Make Work Pay is a core part of the mission to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all. It will tackle the low pay, poor working conditions and poor job security that has been holding our economy back.

2. The plan will help more people to stay in work, improve job security and boost living standards. Once implemented, the plan will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation.

3. The plan will support employers and businesses across the country, creating a level playing field and modernising the world of work. Firms who do the right thing by their workers will no longer be undercut by those with low standards. Alongside the government’s forthcoming Industrial Strategy, it will help drive long-term, sustainable, inclusive and secure growth.

4. This new government is committed to working in partnership with businesses, trade unions and other stakeholders to deliver our mission on growth. The process on these reforms will be no different. We have already begun engaging in a tripartite way ahead of the introduction of this bill, and these reforms will continue to be delivered in partnership.

5. Delivery of the Plan to Make Work Pay will be approached in phases. The government has already begun delivering on its commitments; in July the Low Pay Commission’s remit was adjusted to ensure cost of living is factored into decisions on minimum wage rates. Discriminatory age bands will also be removed. The government also announced the intention to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and made clear that following the High Court’s judgment on the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022, employment businesses are prohibited from providing agency workers to cover the duties normally performed by a worker who is taking part in a strike or other industrial action. These are all part of the government commitment to get public services back on track.

In September, the government also announced plans to protect the self-employed from late payments, including a new Fair Payment Code and regulations to capture late payment information within large companies’ annual reports. And on 10 October 2024, the government introduced the flagship Employment Rights Bill.

6. As is commonplace in employment legislation, secondary legislation will be required to implement many of the reforms and we will continue to work closely with all stakeholders to ensure the reforms work as intended.

7. This document sets out the next steps in the plan including:

• Section 1: The government’s vision and objectives for Make Work Pay
• Section 2: Employment Rights Bill
• Section 3: Wider reforms: government plans to deliver measures sitting outside of the Employment Rights Bill

Section 1: Make Work Pay – vision and objectives

Why is it important to modernise the UK labour market and strengthen employment protections?

8. The UK’s labour market is not delivering for workers or business and is contributing to the UK’s economic underperformance.

9. Too many workers are trapped in insecure, low paid work, with weak protections that are poorly enforced. Businesses struggle to find the staff they need to grow, while too many are trapped in a race to the bottom on standards.

10. The UK has seen a productivity slowdown that is more pronounced than other advanced economies over the past few years: an increasingly insecure and fragmented labour market can undermine conditions for growth and investment.

11. By modernising the UK labour market and reforming the UK’s employment rights, the government will tackle rising insecurity and stagnant living standards. The Plan to Make Work Pay will help more people stay in work, make work more family-friendly and improve living standards, putting more money in working people’s pockets.

Delivering on the government’s mission of economic growth

12. Economic growth is a top priority for this government, and our plans to reform the labour market form part of our plan for long-term national renewal and growth. This comes alongside our commitment to economic stability, getting Britain building again, kickstarting a skills revolution and bringing forward a modern industrial strategy.

13. Through the Plan to Make Work Pay we will modernise the UK labour market and address challenges thrown up by new trends and technologies. This puts us back in step with our competitors in other advanced economies, who are acting to adapt to the changing world of work^{[footnote 1]}

14. By making work more flexible, more secure and more family-friendly, the Plan to Make Work Pay supports more people to stay in work. Many businesses are already ahead of the curve and showing that family-friendly conditions can be good for productivity, retention and their bottom line.

15. The Plan to Make Work Pay will also put more money into the pockets of the UK’s lowest paid workers through changes to Minimum Wage and extending equal pay rights to protect workers suffering discrimination on the basis of race or disability.

Section 2: Employment Rights Bill

16. The Employment Rights Bill is the first phase of delivering the Plan to Make Work Pay, supporting employers, workers, and unions to get Britain moving forward and fulfilling a commitment to introduce legislation within 100 days.

17. The bill will bring forward policy measures including:

• ‘day 1 rights’ of employment, including entitlement to paternity leave, and unpaid parental leave as well as protection from unfair dismissal while allowing employers to operate probation periods. Establishing bereavement leave, and making flexible working the default
• addressing one-sided flexibility by banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, abolishing the scourge of 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 2-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

18. We will also publish a limited number of targeted consultations after introduction, seeking views on several areas to inform the government’s next steps. We will consult on what the percentage replacement rate for those earning below the current flat rate of Statutory Sick Pay should be, and will bring this change forward through a government amendment to the bill during its passage.

We will also consult to ensure the bill’s provisions on zero hours contracts are effectively and appropriately applied to agency workers, as well as on reforms to modernise and update trade union laws so they are fit for the modern economy, with the potential to inform further amendments during the bill’s passage.

19. As is typical with employment legislation, further detail on many of the policies in the bill will be provided through regulations, and in some cases codes of practice, after Royal Assent. This government understands that adjusting to these new reforms will take time and is committed to ensuring that all stakeholders receive appropriate time to prepare for these changes ahead of their commencement.

We expect to begin consulting on these reforms in 2025, seeking significant input from all stakeholders, and anticipate this meaning that the majority of reforms will take effect no earlier than 2026. Reforms of unfair dismissal will take effect no sooner than autumn 2026.

20. As part of our consultation, government will seek views from stakeholders to ensure where more time is needed, this is taken into consideration. Government also welcomes innovative ideas on how to ensure we support all businesses in getting the right advice on any upcoming changes. This government will also ensure that, where appropriate, guidance is published to ensure all stakeholders have the information required to make necessary adjustments.

21. Employment rights and industrial relations are reserved in relation to Scotland and Wales and transferred to Northern Ireland. This landmark bill will strengthen rights for people across the country, and the UK government will continue to work closely with the devolved governments on the delivery and implementation of the Plan to Make Work Pay.

Family friendly rights

22. The Plan to Make Work Pay will make sure there is more flexibility and security for working families. Workers must be supported to work while balancing the essential responsibilities of their wider life – whether that is raising children, improving their own wellbeing or looking after a loved one with a long-term health condition.

23. The government is making a number of immediate changes – including making flexible working the default, establishing a new right to bereavement leave, making paternity and parental leave a day 1 right, and strengthening protections for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work.

24. Our changes to flexible working legislation will ensure more requests are agreed. It is important to take account of a range of views, and we will develop the detail of the approach in consultation and partnership with business, trade union and third sector bodies.

25. The government is also considering what more it can do. The current parental leave system does not support working parents. That is why this government has committed to review this system and will listen to workers and employers on how to deliver change. The government will also review the implementation of carer’s leave and consider whether there is a need to change the current approach to ensure that we are making the necessary difference to carers and their dependents.

Fair pay

26. Workers must be supported to feel secure and stable in their jobs. The Plan to Make Work Pay starts with restoring the principle of honest pay for an honest day’s work. The government has already changed the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission so that, for the very first time, it will take account of the cost of living.

This government is also removing discriminatory age bands, so that every adult in the working world – irrespective of age – will be entitled to the same minimum wage. The government will also strengthen Statutory Sick Pay, removing the lower earnings limit to make the safety net available to those on the lowest incomes, and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in.

27. The Employment Rights Bill will enable the government to bring forward a framework for a Fair Pay Agreement process in the adult social care sector. A Fair Pay Agreement will empower workers, trade unions and employers to negotiate fair pay, terms and conditions, and training standards. Care workers deserve to be recognised and fairly rewarded for the important work they do and so those working in social care will be at the heart of government’s social care reforms. We will launch a consultation soon to consider exactly how the Fair Pay Agreement should work.

Ending ‘one-sided flexibility’

28. The plan will also end one-sided flexibility, ensuring that jobs provide a baseline of security and predictability so workers can better plan their lives and finances. This includes banning exploitative zero hours contracts, ending fire and rehire by closing the loopholes which allow firms to engage in these unscrupulous practices, and making unfair dismissal protection a right from day 1 for all employees, while legislating to introduce fair and proportionate processes for dismissal in initial periods of employment.

The government also intends to consult on moving towards a single status of worker. As part of this consultation, we will explore how to implement the targeted and specific manifesto commitments to enhance protections for self-employed workers.

29. To end exploitative zero hours contracts, the government will give workers on zero hours contracts and workers with a ‘low’ number of guaranteed hours, who regularly work more than these hours, the ability to move to guaranteed hours contracts which reflect the hours they regularly work over a 12-week reference period. If more hours become regular over time, subsequent reference review periods will provide workers with the opportunity to reflect this in their contracts.

We will consult on how these subsequent review periods should work with employers and trade unions, ensuring they are reasonable and proportionate for both workers and employers. Alongside this, the government will ensure workers get reasonable notice of any change in shifts or working time, with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed at short notice. This will give them a greater ability to plan their lives, without banning flexible arrangements that some workers benefit from.

30. These measures will also be adapted and applied to agency workers. The government will consult shortly on the best way to achieve this.

31. The aim of these measures is to ensure that all jobs provide a baseline level of security and predictability. The inclusion of ‘low hours’ workers will ensure that employers cannot avoid the measures by moving zero hours workers onto a slightly higher number of guaranteed hours, at the same time as avoiding unintended consequences for workers on full-time contracts.

We will consult on what constitutes ‘low hours’ for each measure, which will be set in regulations. The government will also ensure that workers on full-time contracts who occasionally pick up overtime hours are not affected. Where work is genuinely temporary, there will be no expectation on employers to offer permanent contracts. We have also considered other ways that employers might try to avoid the measures and have addressed them in the bill.

32. The government appreciates that zero hours contracts can work well for some individuals, such as students and those with caring responsibilities. That is why those who are offered guaranteed hours will be able to remain on zero hours contracts if they wish.

33. The government will also end ‘fire and rehire’ and ‘fire and replace’ by closing the loopholes which allow firms to engage in these unscrupulous practices. The Employment Rights Bill reforms the law to provide effective remedies to stop these practices, while also maintaining that businesses can restructure to remain viable, preserve their workforce and the company when there is genuinely no alternative.

As key remedies to end this practice, we are committed to consult on lifting the cap of the protective award if an employer is found to not have properly followed the collective redundancy process as well as what role interim relief could play in protecting workers in these situations.

34. As part of this government’s pledge to ensure that we never see a scandal like that of P&O Ferries ever again, measures to introduce powers to allow the UK to strengthen workers’ rights at sea and implement international conventions relating to seafarer employment will be added to the bill via amendment during bill passage. Measures to extend the time limit for bringing claims to Employment Tribunals will also be added via amendment.

35. The bill will remove the 2-year qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal, delivering on the manifesto commitment to ensure that all workers have a right to these protections from day 1 on the job. The current system is arbitrary and leaves workers waiting years for basic rights. It is right that we repeal the 2-year qualifying period and set out a clear plan of action.

36. The government has consistently recognised the importance of ensuring that the job is a good fit for both the worker and the employer. Fair dismissal will not be prevented, and the bill allows employers to operate probationary periods by providing an initial period during which there will be a lighter-touch process for employers to follow to dismiss an employee who is not right for the job.

We will consult on the length of that initial statutory probation period; the government’s preference is 9 months. We will also engage further during the passage of the bill on how we can ensure the probation period has meaningful safeguards to provide stability and security for business and workers.

37. The statutory probation period will set out a new balance for the early months of a job – providing new legally binding rights for employees from day 1, while also delivering a lighter-touch and less onerous approach for businesses to follow to dismiss someone who is not right for the job. As a starting point, the government is inclined to suggest it should consist of holding a meeting with the employee to explain the concerns about their performance (at which the employee could choose to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a colleague).

The government will consult extensively, including on how it interacts with Acas’s Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Existing day 1 rights that provide protection for employees from unfair dismissal will not be affected by the statutory probation period.

38. The government recognises concerns from business about a potential rise in legal liability and the impact on hiring decisions. Significant additional claims would also create unwelcome additional work for the tribunal system and for Acas. The government will identify ways to signpost and support employees to ensure they have proper recourse if they are unfairly dismissed but also make clear where bringing claims might be unsuccessful.

The government also intends to consult on what a compensation regime for successful claims during the probation period will be, with consideration given to tribunals not being able to award the full compensatory damages currently available.

39. The government has committed to a full consultation on the detail of the proposals. Before the measures come into force there will be a substantial period – once the detailed rules in secondary regulations are confirmed – to allow employers to prepare and adapt. To provide sufficient time for this, we are making clear now that the reforms to unfair dismissal will not come into effect any sooner than autumn 2026, and until then the current qualifying period will continue to apply.

Equality at work

40. The government is clear that in our modern society and economy, inequality of treatment and opportunity at work is unacceptable. The Plan to Make Work Pay will make the right to equal pay effective by putting in place measures to ensure that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay, and we will implement a regulatory and enforcement unit for equal pay. We will introduce gender pay gap action plans, and also require larger companies to publish information on their ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to thrive as part of the workforce. We have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems as well as support for employers including increasing access to occupational health.

As part of the get Britain working plan, more disabled people and those with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

41. Large employers will also be required to produce action plans on how to address their gender pay gaps and on how they will support employees through the menopause. This will be backed up by a Regulatory Enforcement Unit for equal pay. The government will also strengthen protections for pregnant workers, making it unlawful to dismiss them within 6 months of their return to work except for in specific circumstances. This government knows that prioritising fairness, equality and wellbeing of workers are the hallmarks of a modern economy.

Enforcing rights at work

42. It is imperative that workers and businesses are protected from the minority who knowingly break the rules – particularly as the hardest hit are often in the lowest-paying jobs^{[footnote 2] [footnote 3]}. This government will establish the Fair Work Agency which will bring together existing enforcement functions, including:

• minimum wage and statutory sick pay enforcement
• the employment tribunal penalty scheme
• labour exploitation and modern slavery

as well as introducing the enforcement of holiday pay policy.

By doing so, this government will create a strong, recognisable single brand so individuals know where to go for help and lead to a more effective use of resources. The body will take a balanced approach to upholding workers’ rights, with better support for the majority of employers who want to comply with the law, and tough action against the minority who deliberately flout it.

43. The government believes that all workers should be able to enjoy fair rights and benefits, no matter who they work for. A majority of employers polled agreed that strengthened employments rights would improve workforce retention^{[footnote 4]}. Strengthening the employment rights framework will provide clarity for employers, tackling the undercutting that good employers currently face when trying to do the right thing.

Voice at work

44. As part of our commitment to strengthen workers’ rights, we are ensuring that people are more empowered in the workplace. Trade unions play an important role in protecting and representing workers across the economy, ensuring people are empowered at work and driving standards across the economy. We are committed to learn from countries around the world that are looking to boost worker voice in response to economic challenges. This government also recognises the vital role that unions have in delivering a strong economy and rising living standards.

45. Unions are key to helping working people bargain and negotiate with their employers to settle disputes. The government is committed to updating trade union legislation to remove unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.

46. Alongside the bill, the government will consult to modernise the legislative framework that underpins our trade unions. We will repeal legislation that has led to an overly conflictual approach to industrial relations and contributed to the worst disruption in decades. However, in places this will leave us with a legal framework that is over 3 decades old, so we will seek views on several measures to update and reform this framework to hardwire negotiation, engagement and dispute resolution.

In particular, we will seek views on measures to remove the 10-year ballot requirement on political funds and simplify the amount of information unions are required to provide in industrial action notices, with a view to bringing forward government amendments to the Bill. We will also seek views on how to strengthen provisions to prevent unfair practices during the trade union recognition process.

47. The government has already committed to repealing ineffective anti-union legislation, including the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and has already confirmed that government has upheld the High Court’s decision meaning employers are prohibited from providing agency workers to cover the duties normally performed by a worker who is taking part in a strike or other industrial action.

This government also intends to further strengthen the collective voice of workers through trade unions by simplifying the union recognition process, bringing in a new right of access – with a transparent framework and clear rules designed in consultation with unions and business – for union officials to meet, represent, recruit and organise members. This will not impact on trade union’s existing collective agreements on access with employers. We are committed to working with stakeholders to make sure this new right of access is effectively enforced.

Section 3: Wider reforms – government plans to deliver measures sitting outside of the Employment Rights Bill

48. This government is committed to delivering all our manifesto commitments with a Plan to Make Work Pay. While the Employment Rights Bill will play a vital role in delivering many of these, others will be delivered through alternative routes. Again, the government will continue to work with trade unions and business, consulting fully on how to best implement plans:

Delivery of Make Work Pay commitments via existing powers and non-legislative routes (autumn 2024 onwards)

For many Make Work Pay commitments, powers already exist to deliver our reforms and therefore do not need to be included in the Employment Rights Bill. This includes our commitment to tightening the ban on unpaid internships where we will launch a Call for Evidence by the end of the year.

Another example is our commitment to allow the use of modern and secure electronic balloting for trade union statutory ballots. We will launch a working group with stakeholders by the end of this year, including cyber security experts and trade unions, with full rollout implemented following Royal Assent of the Employment Rights Bill. Using the new Fair Payment Code, we will strengthen protections for the self-employed by tackling late payments. We will progress commitments on paid travel time.

The government will also be able to deliver some reforms through other means, such as taking forward the Right to Switch Off through a statutory Code of Practice. Delivery of these type of commitments will take place alongside the Employment Rights Bill’s passage and beyond Royal Assent.

Other non-legislative delivery includes:

• 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 socioeconomic 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

Equality (Race and Disability) Bill (autumn 2024 onwards)

Some measures will be also delivered through the government’s Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, 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 on the basis of 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

The government will begin consulting on this legislation in due course, with a draft bill to be published during this parliamentary session for pre-legislative scrutiny. Further consultation will also take place prior to the making of secondary legislation implementing these reforms.

Longer-term delivery of reforms (autumn 2024 and onwards)

49. The government acknowledges that some reforms will take longer to undertake and implement.

1) Parental leave review

The current parental leave system does not support working parents. Alongside provisions in the Employment Rights Bill to ensure parental leave is right from day 1 of employment, we will conduct a full review of the parental leave system.

2) Carer’s leave review

We will review the implementation of carer’s leave and examine all the benefits of introducing paid carer’s leave, while being mindful of the impact of any changes on employers, particularly small employers

3) Surveillance technologies and negotiations with trade unions and staff representatives

We will consult on how to implement these measures in a consultation launched on workplace surveillance technologies.

4) Single ‘worker’ status

We will consult on a simpler framework that differentiates between workers and the genuinely self-employed, ensuring that all workers know their rights and have the comfort of protection at work.

5) Strengthen protections for the self-employed through a right to written contract; extending blacklisting protections and extending health and safety protections

We will consult on how to implement these measures in the single ‘worker’ status consultation.

6) Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE)

We will launch a call for evidence to holistically examine a wide variety of issues relating to TUPE regulations and process, including how they are implemented in practice.

7) Review health and safety guidance and regulations

With a view to modernising legislation and guidance, looking at neurodiversity awareness in the workplace, how to modernise health and safety guidance with reference to extreme temperatures, whether existing regulations and guidance is adequate to support and protect those experiencing the symptoms of long COVID, and we will ensure health and safety reflects the diversity of the workforce. We will bring forward this review in due course.

8) Raising collective grievances

We will consult with Acas on enabling employees to collectively raise grievances about conduct in their place of work.

9) Ensure social value is mandatory in contract design; use public procurement to raise standards on employment rights; ensure that public bodies must carry out a quick and proportionate public interest test

The government will take these forward alongside wider plans to reform the procurement system, starting with a new National Procurement Policy Statement ahead of the commencement of the 2023 Procurement Act in February 2025.

10) Extend the Freedom of Information Act to private companies that hold public contracts; and extend the Freedom of Information Act to publicly funded employers

The government will take these forward in due course.

1. Resolution Foundation (2024), ‘Low Pay Britain 2024’. ↩

2. ONS data suggests around 20% of workers paid at or around the wage floor were underpaid the minimum wage [ONS, Jobs paid below the minimum wage by category, 2023; 900,000 workers reported they had no paid holiday despite this being a day-1 entitlement]; and 1.8 million workers said they did not get a pay slip. [Enforce for Good, Resolution Foundation 2023]. ↩

3. The Resolution Foundation found that 14% of the lowest-paid workers report that they receive no paid holiday, 6-times higher than the highest-paid. Likewise, a worrying 11% of low-paid workers say they do not have a pay slip, twice as many as those in the highest-paid quintile. [Enforce for Good, Resolution Foundation 2023]. ↩

4. Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) polling in August 2024 found that 7 in 10 (74% ) employers believe that strengthening employment rights will improve workforce retention, compared to just 6% who do not. ↩