The Employment Rights Bill, which will deliver up to £600 income savings for workers in the lowest paid, insecure jobs, returned to Parliament on Monday, 21 October and Kingston and Surbiton Labour Party advocated for better workers' rights in the borough.

Data shows that workers' rights in Kingston and Surbiton should be strengthened by 50-73%.

Thus, at the second hearing, the Kingston and Surbiton Labour party advocated for:

Ending fire and rehire and exploitive zero-hour contracts.

Strengthening statutory sick pay.

Including cost of living when setting minimum wage.

Removing discriminatory age bands from minimum wage.

Great protections against unfair dismissal.

Right bereavement and parental leave from day one.

Flexible working default where practical.

Greater protections for pregnant women and new mothers.

The Employment Rights Bill will support employers, workers and unions to get Britain growing again as shown by its Impact Assessment published on Monday, setting out how it could boost productivity, create better working conditions and move more people into secure work while improving living standards for families and communities across the UK.

The analysis shows "many of the policies within the Employment Rights Bill could help support the Government's Mission for Growth."

It concludes that the package could have "a positive but small direct impact on economic growth" and will "help to raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all."

Poor productivity, insecure work, and broken industrial relations have been holding back the British economy for too long.

Last year the country saw the highest number of working days lost to strikes since the 1980s – costing the economy millions of pounds.

This has entrenched a culture of brinkmanship that only serves to damage public services, public finances, and public faith in institutions.

Monday's hearing showed a significant step in putting an end to that as the Employment Rights Bill reached its second reading, alongside a package of consultations to help inform its next steps.

This includes a consultation on Labour's new approach to Statutory Sick Pay, where the Bill will be removing the waiting period and the Lower Earnings Limit.

The Bill is expected to benefit people in some of the most deprived areas of the country by saving them up to £600 in lost income from the hidden costs of insecure work.

Around 2.4 million people in the UK work irregular patterns like zero or low hours contracts or agency jobs, where insecure hours can mean forking out on expensive childcare or transport to cover last-minute shifts - or losing out altogether if work is changed or cancelled at short notice.

New protections like guaranteed hours and giving reasonable notice or compensation for lost work will help shift workers keep up to £600 a year.

For a cleaner working night shifts on an average annual wage of £21,058, a £600 saving would be worth over £250 more a year than the last two national insurance cuts.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: "We're delivering real change for working people across the country, while driving our mission for growth and making people better off.

"Successful firms already know that strong employee rights mean strong growth opportunities. This landmark legislation will extend the employment protections given by the best British companies to millions more workers.

We said we would get on and deliver the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation and the growth our economy needs – and that is exactly what we are doing."

The Plan to Make Work Pay was developed in partnership with both businesses and trade unions, and the Government will continue to work closely with all stakeholders on how best to implement these commitments.

The Impact Assessment sets out further details on how the new measures will:

• Create a level playing field for all businesses, raising standards and helping stop the undercutting of good employers. 
• Make flexible working the default, helping people achieve a better work life balance, which can lead to happier, healthier and more productive employees, which benefits both workers and businesses.
• Provide a boost for business by supporting higher workforce participation and more opportunities to employ a wider pool of talent, thanks to increased flexibility and employment rights.   
• Bring 1.5 million workers into scope of the right to unpaid parental leave. 
• Allow payments to workers for short notice shift cancellation or curtailment as high as £120 million per year.
• Offer benefits to workers in sectors such as hospitality, which makes up around 20% of low-paying jobs and accounts for a disproportionate amount of economic activity in areas of central Scotland, North Wales and Southwest England.
• Create a right to bereavement leave following the death of a loved one, which could benefit up to 2 million people a year.

The analysis also confirms costs to business will represent under 0.4% of total employment costs across the economy.

The majority of this will be transferred directly into the pockets of workers – helping raise living standards and give people more money to spend on the high cost of living, which has driven up over the past 14 years.

Through new consultations launched on Monday, the Government will be seeking views on the following four areas: 

Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay through setting a new rate for those on lower earnings

As part of the Government's Plan to Make Work Pay the waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be removed as well as the Lower Earnings Limit.

These changes will ensure SSP is available to employees from day one of their sickness absence and is available to all employees, regardless of their earnings.

A consultation will seek views on what percentage rate should be paid for those earning below the current rate.

The UK currently has one of the least protected labour markets in the OECD and these changes will mean up to 1.3 million employees who are currently excluded from SSP will now be eligible.

Further detail is available here.

Ensuring the provisions on Zero Hours Contracts apply effectively to agency workers

The Government is committed to ending one-sided flexibility for all workers, which is why this consultation wants to fully understand how the zero hours contracts measures in the Employment Rights Bill can best be applied to agency workers without causing unintended consequences.

Further detail is available here.

Creating a modern framework for industrial relations

Over recent years, trade union laws have been a barrier to effective, positive industrial relations in this country. 

Alongside reforms in the Bill, the Government is consulting on several changes to the industrial relations framework, hardwiring a series of fundamental principles including collaboration and accountability, and enabling trade unions to represent and deliver on behalf of their workers.

Further detail is available here.

Strengthening remedies against abuse of the rules on collective redundancy and fire and rehire

This consultation will ask for views on increasing the maximum period for the protective award in cases where employers haven't complied with collective redundancy rules and adding interim relief to collective redundancies and unfair dismissals in fire and rehire scenarios.

Further detail is available here.

Kingston and Surbiton Labour said: "Labour is reshaping the workplace for the better, leading the charge to create fairer, more secure workplaces and will continue to fight for working people in Kingston."