Labour’s workers’ rights bill set to become law after Lords end stand-off

It means the bill will likely become law before Christmas, after the deadlock was ended by Conservative peer Lord Sharpe, who withdrew an amendment he had tabled for the Employment Rights Bill.

This ended the prolonged parliamentary tussle known as “ping-pong”, when legislation is batted between the Commons and Lords until agreement is reached.

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The climbdown by the upper chamber followed assurances by the Government over scrapping the compensation cap on unfair dismissal and calls by business groups to cease the stalemate, despite their outstanding concerns over the package of measures, which include a ban on zero-hour contracts and day-one rights to statutory sick pay.

Welcoming the Bill’s progress, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: "This landmark legislation, now soon to be in law, will drag Britain’s outdated employment laws into the 21st century and offer dignity and respect to millions more in the workplace."

But his Tory counterpart Andrew Griffith said despite changes being secured it remained “a bad Bill”.

He warned: “It will pile costs onto small businesses, freeze hiring, and ultimately leave young people and jobseekers paying the price for Labour’s capitulation to their union paymasters.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “This is an historic day and early Christmas present for working people across the country, and the trade unions who represent them.

“Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, sick pay for all, expanding parental and bereavement leave, strengthening protections for pregnant women, whistleblowers and victims of sexual harassment, repealing Tory anti-union laws, ensuring union access to workplaces, establishing a social care fair pay agreement – these are just some of the watershed measures this Bill will now deliver.”

The Government had suffered a series of defeats during the Bill’s rocky passage through the Lords.

With the clock ticking down to the Christmas recess, in a bid to end the impasse the Government ditched its election pledge to give employees day-one protection against unfair dismissal and instead accepted a six-month qualifying period for the workplace safeguard, demanded by peers.

But as part of the compromise, it introduced at the 11th hour a measure to scrap the compensation limits for unfair dismissal, which are currently the lower of 52 weeks’ pay or £118,223, sparking a fresh row.