Labour’s proposals – how could these changes affect park owners?

Introduction  

With the announcement of the general election on Thursday 4 July 2024, all standing political parties have put together their manifestos, each including changes to employment law. Naturally, the changes will affect park owners who employ staff.

Looking at the current polls, it is predicted that a Labour government will lead the UK. Labour have announced several substantial changes to employment law, proposing should they win the election.

In their own words ‘Labour’s plan will make work pay’ in a bid to declare their allegiance to the common worker, launching a campaign centred around upgrading the rights of workers.

We have briefly highlighted the key changes that will affect park owners below.

Additional protections for workers

There are currently three types of employment status under employment law: a worker, an employee and a self-employed person. Generally speaking, employees have full employment rights, whereas workers do not have protection against unfair dismissal or entitlement to statutory payments such as redundancy pay and maternity pay.

Labour are proposing to create a single status of a worker for everyone, but the genuinely self-employed. Essentially, combining employee and workers statuses would entitle all existing workers to full employment rights and this is quite a drastic change, which could have a significant impact on the sector.

As a high percentage of workers employed by park owners are typically employed on a casual basis and/or only work during peak season, park owners could expect their workforces to gain significant employment entitlements with a Labour government.

Unfair dismissal – day one right

Labour have announced that they will introduce “basic day one rights” for everyone, which includes the right not to be unfairly dismissed. Currently employees have to be employed for at least 2 years to be able to pursue a claim for unfair dismissal. As explained above, workers cannot pursue this claim at all.

If these changes do come to fruition, they will inevitably lead to a colossal increase in tribunal claims and park owners will also find it increasingly difficult to select, recruit, and dismiss staff.

How this will work in practice is unknown, but park owners would likely need to start enforcing probationary periods in order to assess a new staff member’s performance and become accustomed to following robust, ACAS Code compliant HR process from the outset of employment, from onboarding, appraisals and performance management to disciplinary process from day one.

Restricting use of zero-hour contracts

A zero-hour contract is a type of contract between an employer and a worker where the worker is employed on an ad hoc basis with no guarantee of work from their employer.  They are sometimes referred to as bank contracts or casual contracts.

It is reported that over a million individuals in the UK are currently employed on zero-hour contracts. Although presented negatively by the Labour party, many industries such as park owners rely on this type of employment relationship to effectively run their business during peak seasons and allow flexibility for the off season.

Labour have announced that they are proposing to ban zero-hour contracts in an attempt to end the ‘one-sided’ flexibility and ensure that all jobs have a baseline level of security.

However, some doubt has been cast on whether Labour are actually intending on a complete ban of such contracts, or whether they intend to restrict their use. During her speech to the Association of British Insurers last month, the Shadow Chancellor said “There’ll be nothing in Labour legislation that would stop employers from using overtime, or taking workers on a seasonal basis to fulfil demand at Christmas or during summer.”

Park owners can rest assured that the above changes are unlikely to be introduced immediately following the general election, as some of the proposals will need to go through a consultation process. That said, park owners should keep their ears to the ground and make sure they understand what these changes may mean to their business , if they are implemented.