Coalition tensions revealed over proposals to slash employment red tape
Mon, 21 May 2012
Cutting employment red tape to boost jobs is proving to be area of controversy within the coalition government.
Vince Cable, business secretary, yesterday (20 May) described proposals to allow employers to fire underperforming staff at will as “bonkers”.
However, Prime Minister David Cameron said he would examine the idea of “no fault dismissal”. Speaking at the Nato summit in Chicago, he said: “I am interested in anything that makes it easier for one person to say to another person: ‘Come and work for me.’ We need to examine every proposal.”
The evidence of tension within the coalition comes ahead of the publication of a report by venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft later this week. According to
The Sunday Telegraph, the report is expected to include 20 proposals aimed at cutting regulations that employers say are stifling job creation.
These include:
- Major changes to the TUPE (transfer of undertakings) regulations that protect workers’ rights when they are transferred to a new employer
- Amendments to the Equality Act, which currently makes employers liable for claims from employees against third parties, for example, making racist comment to customers
- Moving the responsibility to check on foreign workers’ eligibility to work in Britain from employers to the Border Agency or the Home Office.
- An end to a mandatory 90-day consultation period when a company is considering redundancy programmes. Beecroft recommends a 30-day period and five-day period in exceptional circumstances.
