The national president of the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed), Hetal Patel, has written to business secretary Peter Kyle calling for the Government to implement the Employment Rights Act carefully and communicate clearly with small businesses such as independent retailers so they can prepare.
In the letter, Patel wrote: “Fed members are responsible employers and value a positive working relationship with their staff members, so we fully understand the measures in the Act and their positive intentions.
“However, we continue to have concerns that the Act will have the unintended consequence of making recruitment of staff less flexible, ultimately adding to unemployment, which is not in the interests of anyone.”
The letter comes at a time of unemployment rising to 5.3%, and youth unemployment now at 16.1% among 16–24-year-olds and described as an ‘existential crisis’ by former Labour MP and government minister, Alan Milburn, chair of the Independent Review into Youth and Work.
The Fed’s letter came as the British Retail Consortium shared data indicating that flexibility at work is important for younger workers especially, which is likely to be made more challenging by measures in the Act. These include reasonable notice of a shift change.
Patel concluded the letter with a promise to engage with the government in its upcoming consultations on further measures in the Act. He also requested a meeting so the Fed could share the concerns of independent retailers directly.
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