Rather, they set out the broad costs for employers and potential impacts on low earners. They range from 60% of earnings, which is the lowest rate our internal modelling suggests would not leave employees worse off, to 80% of earnings, as proposed in the 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business consultation. We are proposing to introduce a taper to the current SSP rate, whereby an employee is entitled to a certain percentage of their average weekly earnings or the current SSP flat rate, whichever is lower. It is important that this percentage strikes the right balance between providing the financial security that employees need, retaining the incentives to return to work when appropriate, and balancing the costs to businesses. To change this, the Employment Rights Bill repeals the exclusion on employees earning below the LEL from being entitled to SSP. These changes will mean that all employees who are otherwise eligible for SSP, regardless of their earnings, will receive sick pay when they need to take time off due to illness.

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Employers who flout the rules will be barred from hiring workers from abroad. The department is committed to the promotion of active participation and inclusion in society through the framework of employment rights and the provision of income supports, employment services and other services. These provisions ensure that it will always be more worthwhile to be in work, than to rely solely on welfare alone. The Irish government believes employees are the most valuable resource of any business. Allowances are granted to businesses who hire unemployed or disabled people, in order to reduce unemployment rates and prevent people from becoming excluded. The most likely explanation for the gender pay gap widening by age is women becoming mothers and leaving the workforce or taking on lower-paying jobs with more flexibility, incurring the motherhood penalty.

The gender pay gap widens as women age

Interestingly, MWP also talks about ending the ‘scourge’ of ‘fire and replace’, a practice which sees workers dismissed and replaced by a workforce willing to work on lesser terms and conditions. Please note the government issued an Employment Rights Bill on 10 October. This Bill is its primary vehicle to make the proposals contained in its Plan to Make Work Pay law.

Employment supports

This means up to 1.3 million employees are excluded from SSP, with a disproportionate impact on those working in low paid, part-time or multiple jobs. The current Statutory Sick Pay system fosters economic insecurity at work. Our commitment to remove the Lower Earnings Limit will ensure that all employees have access to Statutory Sick Pay and the peace of mind that this brings when they need to take time off work due to illness. No one should feel forced to struggle through work when they are too unwell to do so. By removing the waiting period and making Statutory Sick Pay available from day one, we are providing security to those who need it most. We support the Government’s ambitions to strengthen rights for workers and value the co-operative approach to involve employers in the reforms.

• Labour will ensure the safe development and use of AI models by introducing binding regulation on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models and by banning the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes.
• Employee monitoring is also under scrutiny (irony intended!) with a requirement for employers to consult and negotiate with employee reps or trade unions where surveillance technologies were to be introduced.
• Most interestingly, when we control gender pay gap analysis for job characteristics, we observe pay parity.
• 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.

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This consultation forms part of government’s commitment to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay, as part of the Plan to Make Work Pay, an ambitious agenda to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people and deliver economic growth. Labour will make the changes we need to forge ahead with new roads, railways, reservoirs, and other nationally significant infrastructure. We will set out new national policy statements, make major projects faster and cheaper by slashing red tape, and build support for developments by ensuring communities directly benefit. We will also update national planning policy to ensure the planning system meets the needs of a modern economy, making it easier to build laboratories, digital infrastructure, and gigafactories.

This year, we find that having a bachelor’s degree closes the gender pay gap when data are controlled. However, the pay gap widens for women between the ages of 30 and 44, with women overall earning $0.81 compared to every $1 men earn when data are uncontrolled and $0.98 when controlling for job title and other compensable factors. At age 45 and older, the gap widens further for the uncontrolled group, with women making only $0.72 compared to every $1 men make, which has decreased by 2 cents. The uncontrolled gender pay gap is not less meaningful than the controlled gender pay gap.

• If you’re willing to watch someone’s home — and maybe feed the pets, water the plants and take out the garbage — become a housesitter.
• 43.The government believes that all workers should be able to enjoy fair rights and benefits, no matter who they work for.
• 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.
• 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.
• We will strengthen the Migration Advisory Committee, and establish a framework for joint working with skills bodies across the UK, the Industrial Strategy Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.
• When data are controlled, childless women earn the same amount as mothers while fathers earn 2 percent more than childless men.

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. 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. This document sets out the next steps we intend to make in our mission to effect change and make work pay. Your monthly round-up of the latest evidence and insights to keep your people practices relevant and up to date, including workplace conflict and employment law updates.

The government wants to make sure that everyone can get on in work and not be held back because work isn’t compatible with important family responsibilities. A new Fair Work Agency bringing together existing enforcement bodies will also be established to enforce rights such as holiday pay and support employers looking for guidance on how to comply with the law. Labour will also work with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, and the Northern Ireland Executive, to drive growth across the country. Our industrial strategy will support successful industries across all nations of the UK. Labour will further reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to improve land assembly, speed up site delivery, and deliver housing, infrastructure, amenity, and transport benefits in the public interest. We will take steps to ensure that for specific types of development schemes, landowners are awarded fair compensation rather than inflated prices based on the prospect of planning permission.

Gender Pay Gap Report (GPGR)

The country remains too centralised, with the economic potential of too many regions and communities ignored. Our labour market fails to provide secure jobs and, as a result, for far too many people work does not pay. Intreo is a single point of contact for all employment and income supports. Designed to provide a more streamlined approach, Intreo offers practical, tailored employment services and supports for jobseekers and employers alike. There are a range of employment schemes and other supports which encourage long-term unemployed people to return to work. They are aimed at people who have been on unemployment or certain other social welfare payments for a specific period of time.

Labour will reform employment support so it drives growth and opportunity. Our system will be underpinned by rights and responsibilities – people who can work, should work – and there will be consequences for those who do not fulfil their obligations. We will immediately update the National Policy Planning Framework to undo damaging Conservative changes, including restoring mandatory housing targets. We will take tough action to ensure that planning authorities have up-to-date Local Plans and reform and strengthen the presumption in favour of sustainable development. Labour will support local authorities by funding additional planning officers, through increasing the rate of the stamp duty surcharge paid by non-UK residents.

Some schemes fund community and voluntary organisations to provide employment opportunities which benefit the local community. Some metro areas showed that the gender pay gap closed for both controlled and uncontrolled pay data in 2023, following rapidly rising wages during the Great Resignation. For childless women of color, the pay gap is considerably smaller when data are uncontrolled and closes completely for women of color when data are controlled. This demonstrates that parenthood is not financially incentivizing for women of most races. Some concessions do seem to have been made from earlier proposals, not least in terms of the apparent slowing down the speed of change in some areas with commitments to consult ‘fully’ with business, workers and civic society.

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. 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. In strengthening SSP, we are committed to working closely with employees, stakeholders and businesses to develop and implement a system that is fair, supportive and effective, kickstarting economic growth and breaking down making work pay barriers to opportunity. We are committed to working with employers, trade unions and other stakeholders to support the wellbeing of working people and their long term physical and mental health.