The amendments include:

• Application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers – All workers, including up to 900,000 agency workers in the UK, should be able to access a contract which reflects the hours they regularly work. These amendments will ensure that agency work does not become a loophole in our plans to end exploitative zero hours contracts. They will offer increased security for working people to receive reasonable notice of shifts and proportionate pay when shifts are cancelled, curtailed or moved at short notice – whilst retaining the necessary flexibility for employers in how they manage their workforces.
• Strengthening remedies against abuse of rules on collective redundancy – The government will increase the maximum period of the protective award from 90 days to 180 days and issue further guidance for employers on consultation processes for collective redundancies. Increasing the maximum value of the award means an Employment Tribunal will be able to grant larger awards to employees for an employer’s failure to meet consultation requirements.
• Strengthening statutory sick pay – The government will ensure the safety net of statutory sick pay is available to those who need it the most, making it a legal right for all workers for the very first time. Up to 1.3 million employees on low wages who find themselves unable to work due to sickness will either receive 80 per cent of their average weekly earnings or the current rate of statutory sick pay – whichever is lower. The government is also ensuring employees have a right to statutory sick pay from the first day of sickness absence, so they are able to take the time off they need to recover and stay in work rather than risk dropping out altogether.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “For too long millions of workers have been forced to face insecure, low paid and irregular work, while our economy is blighted by low growth and low productivity.

“We are turning the tide – with the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, boosting living standards and bringing with it an upgrade to our growth prospects and the reforms our economy so desperately needs.

“We have been working closely with businesses and workers to progress this landmark bill and deliver our Plan for Change - unleashing growth and making work pay for everyone.”

Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary said: “Everyone deserves security and respect at work. These common-sense reforms will improve the quality of jobs in this country, boost growth and put more money into people’s pockets.

“Policies like banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, ensuring protection from unfair dismissal from day one, and tackling ‘fire and rehire’ are long overdue and necessary.

“This is about creating a modern economy that works for workers and business alike. Driving up employment standards in Britain will stop good employers from being undercut by the bad and will mean more workers benefit from a union voice.”