Settlement agreements are in, no fault dismissals are out!
And so – the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill has had a second reading in the House of Commons. Vince Cable announced that the government will not be pursuing Adrian Beecroft’s ‘compensated no fault dismissals’ proposals.
Over 60 MP’s had signed had a motion calling on the government to drop it, as the move would have created “huge insecurity” for millions of employees. Last month, Cable said ‘The last thing employees want is the dead hand of fear hanging over them losing their jobs.’
Legislation to bring in settlement agreements will be introduced in the Bill that will allow employers to offer a termination package without fear of the offer being raised in a tribunal claim. This goes further than the ‘without prejudice’ rule – as there will not need to be an existing dispute.
The government will also publish standard ‘settlement agreement’ forms for employer and employee to use. It is not yet clear whether the requirement to obtain legal advice before signing a compromise agreement will be affected.
Watch this space for our further analysis, or speak to Debbie Francis – Head of Employment at Lawspeed.
Adrian, a highly experienced lawyer, founded Lawspeed in 1997. He is responsible for developing our extensive portfolio of products and services, including the widely used Lawspeed contract templates. Adrian is an expert on “recruitment law” and specialises in contracts, regulatory compliance, employment status and dispute handling. He is chair of the trade body the Association of Recruitment Consultancies, the only lawyer lead recruitment trade body in the UK. Adrian and his co-director Ravi devised Standards in Recruitment as a vehicle for helping drive up standards and compliance in the industry.
Adrian is our lead in discussions with the government over regulatory evolution. Apart from assisting with client support, Adrian’s primary role is research and development into methods of business delivery, our latest service Proterms being his most recent project. Adrian heads our IR35 lawyers team.