New Deregulation Bill Set To Make Further Cuts to Safety Law

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Letter to Branches




No. 467 /13
Ref
Date: 5 July 2013

To: All Branches

Dear Colleague

Government Publishes New Deregulation Bill which is Set To Make Further Cuts to Safety Laws

New draft legislation, namely the Government's new Deregulation Bill has been published, which aims to reform laws on health and safety, apprenticeships and employment law, among other matters. The aim of the Deregulation Bill is to free UK businesses from 'red tape' burdens and making life easier for Britons Bosses. The draft bill will now be scrutinised by a joint committee of MPs and peers, and legislation will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows.

The draft Deregulation Bill is the latest step in the government’s ongoing drive to remove what it says is unnecessary bureaucracy and burdens on business that costs British businesses millions, slows down public services like schools and hospitals and hinders millions of individuals in their daily lives. In reality we know that's not the case when it comes to Health and Safety Laws and worker protection.

The Deregulation Bill amends or repeals 182 different pieces of legislation, removing what the government refers to as unnecessary burdens on three key groups. Overall, ministers have already decided that over 1,900 substantive regulations will be scrapped or reduced.
The Bill will:
Scrap health & safety rules for certain self-employed workers, exempting 800,000
workers from health and safety law protection.
Weaken employment tribunal judges’ powers to issue orders and recommendations to businesses brought before them.
The Bill follows other deregulatory measures introduced by this government including:
binding new rules to exempt hundreds of thousands of so called "low risk" businesses from health & safety inspections (This includes Royal Mail and BT which are obviously not low risk!)
increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to two years, making it easier for employers to sack workers and saving businesses millions.

The TUC, CWU and other Trade Unions will continue to oppose and challenge negative
changes to Health and Safety Legislation where it lowers standards of safety at work.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer