Parental and bereavement leave

The Bill gives “day one” rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers. Around 30,000 fathers or partners will be eligible for paternity leave, while an extra 1.5 million parents will have the right to unpaid leave from day one.

It will also establish a new right to bereavement leave for workers.

Pregnant women and new mothers will get beefed up protections from dismissal whilst pregnant, on maternity leave and within six months of returning to work.

Flexible working

The right to flexible working will become the default for all employees, unless the employer can prove it’s “unreasonable”. There are currently eight reasons bosses can refuse requests such as extra costs or struggles to meet customer demand. But it is not clear how narrowly the change will be interpreted.

The Government estimates 1.7million people could return to the workforce - who are currently out of the labour market - due to flexible working and other policies.

Sick pay

Statutory sick pay will be strengthened, removing the lower earnings limit for all workers and cutting out the waiting period before sick pay kicks in.

Under the existing system, workers who earn less than an average of £123-per-week do not qualify. There were 1.5million people earning below this threshold in 2022-23.

The bill will also end the three-day waiting period before workers can get sick pay. Instead it will kick in on the first day someone is off sick.