The Beecroft Report on employment law has been published by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Business secretary Vince Cable said the report, which was written by venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft, has been published to dispel some of the myths that have been associated with it.
He added: “Because of ongoing interest, we reached a view that it is in the public interest to allow people to have access to its content.”
The report sets out the following recommendations:
- Employers with less than five employees should be excluded from auto-enrolment.
- Employers with between five and 10 employees should be given the right to opt out of auto-enrolment
- Employers with less than 10 employees should also be given the right to opt out of various current and potential regulations (if implemented), including flexible parental leave and the right to request flexible working arrangements.
- The introduction of part of the EU Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) Directive, which is due later in 2012 and will change the solvency rules for defined benefit (DB) pension plans, should be resisted.
- A simple, flexible way should be found to put together multiple pension pots.
- The impact of the removal of the default retirement age (DRA) on employers’ willingness to recruit older workers and on the overall effectiveness of the workforce should be closely monitored. If the impact is very negative, a DRA, probably at a higher age than was recently the case, should be introduced.
- The UK law should be changed to incorporate the concept inherent in the EU Directive that harmonisation of terms and conditions of transferred and original employees of the transferee organisation can be enforced after one year.
- The consultation period for collective redundancies should be 30 days, regardless of the number of employees to be made redundant.
Cable said: “The government has a duty to ensure the labour market provides economic and employment opportunities, and has therefore set out a parliament-long review of employment law.
“Beecroft came and spoke to officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last year while compiling his report. Consequently, the vast majority of proposals in the final report reflect ongoing work by the department.”
Read the full Beecroft report
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