Sir, John Cridland’s call for cutting back on employee protection (Thunderer, Mar 15) is bad economics based on poor evidence. The increase in employment tribunal cases that the CBI cites is due to big numbers of identical equal pay and working time cases in the public sector, most of which would melt away if they could be amalgamated into test cases or class actions. Tribunal cases from individuals have actually fallen in the past year.
When the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) measures what small businesses think is really holding them back, regulation is cited by just 6 per cent — a figure that has halved in two years. The biggest concern of SMEs in the latest BIS Business Monitor was lack of access to finance. Regulation came last.
The Government is already extending the time that employers can dismiss people unfairly from one to two years. Adrian Beecroft wants to go further by abolishing all protection against unfair dismissal however long and loyal the service. At least Mr Beecroft is honest that this allows people to be sacked on a whim rather than dressing it up as somehow making it easier for employees.
Ministers should listen carefully to the HR experts in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: “Making it easier to dismiss staff without due cause is far more likely to harm the prospects of UK plc by fostering crude and outdated attitudes to employment relationships that will put employees off from ‘going the extra mile’. Unproductive and disengaged workers will cost firms far more than the threat of tribunals.”
The UK already has one of the least regulated labour markets in any prosperous country. There is no economic evidence that giving bad bosses permission to manage their staff incompetently will help the economy.
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Brendan Barber
General Secretary, TUC