Ben Smith, Senior Associate at specialist employment law firm, said it would be “painful” in the short term for businesses trying to cope with the extra red tape, while the longer term positive outcomes were harder to quantify.
Ben Smith stated that “the direct cost of these regulations is significant.”
“Smaller companies and those running on tight margins are likely to find adapting to these new rules – and the associated costs – particularly tough,” he added.
Despite that, the impact assessment says that millions of low-paid workers will be better off, as it argued there will be “significant wider benefits to society, including positive impacts on health and wellbeing, equality, competition, participation”.
The analysis also noted that the workers’ rights package “could have wellbeing benefits of over £3bn a year”.
The impact assessment also suggested that repealing anti-trade union legislation could lead to better terms and conditions and less industrial action.
“However, if relations remain more fractious, there could be more working days lost from strike action,” the analysis added.
The impact report highlighted that the reforms will also increase the burden on the Employment Tribunal and courts by 15 per cent.
The Tribunal already handles a lot of cases. Emma Cocker, senior associate at Lawrence Stephens previously explained to City AM that “we already know that tribunal claims are up by around 7 per cent compared with 2022/23 with over 650,000 open cases.”
“There is a real risk without further investment that the Employment Tribunal will struggle to cope with the increased demand,” Smith added.
