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Press Release

1.47 million women to gain access to sick pay if Government delivers workers rights as promised, says WBG

A new briefing launched today by the WBG at Labour Party Conference 2024 shows women have most to benefit from new workers’ rights laws

A new briefing launched today by the Women’s Budget Group at Labour Party Conference 2024 shows women have most to benefit from new workers’ rights laws:

  • 1.47 million women will have new rights to sick pay under new provisions.
  • 555,000 women to have job security due to banning of exploitative zero-hour contracts and focus on women-led sectors.
  • New protections have the potential to reduce economic inactivity among women, contributing to the £88.7 lost each year through women’s lower labour market participation.
  • WBG urges UK Government to go further to make sure Bill can “genuinely improve women’s working lives” by improving childcare and social care, improving parental leave system and extending access to legal aid.

Dr Sara Reis, Deputy Director of the Women’s Budget Group said:

“Women are still the majority of workers in low paid or precarious work in our economy. They have the most to benefit from new workers’ rights laws pledged by the new Government. If delivered in full as originally promised, these new provisions have the potential to reduce the gender pay gap and economic inactivity, growing the economy over time. They can help build a feminist future of work where every woman is paid fairly, can work flexibly but with security and is free from discrimination or injustice.”

“But the Government must go further to genuinely improve women’s working lives and address the impact of unpaid care work and lack of access to justice. To deliver a feminist future of work the Bill must stay true to Labour’s original proposals including introducing a full consultation on parental leave and it must extend its provisions to self-employed women. The Government will also need to reform and invest in our early education and childcare and social care systems as well as restoring access to legal aid.”

WBG argues that Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, announced at the King’s Speech 2024, has the potential to help reduce the gender pay gap over time and build a feminist future of work:

  • More women (3.5%) than men (2.8%) are employed on zero-hours contracts.
  • 6.5% of women do not earn enough to qualify for sick pay compared to 2.8% of men.
  • The gender earnings gap (weekly pay) was 25% for all workers in 2024 while the gender pay gap (annual pay) was 14.3%.
  • More women (10.5%) than men (7.2%) are classified as low earners.
  • 72% of people who work part-time are women.
  • 25.1% of women compared to 19.1% of men are economically inactive.

WBG is calling on the Government to go further on a number of reforms to reduce the gender pay gap and increase gender equality in the long term:

  • Extend statutory sick pay to self-employed workers and increase the rate without changing the period of payment.
  • Deliver comprehensive reform of the social care and childcare systems as well as paid carers’ leave, to help redistribute unpaid care work.
  • Ensure genuine flexible working by introducing an advertising duty for all jobs to be advertised as flexible except in reasonable exceptions.
  • Review and restore legal aid in discrimination cases to ensure women have access to new employment rights as well as adequately resourcing the EHRC to enforce women’s rights.
  • Introduce a new model of parental leave ensuring six months non-transferable leave for each parent and, a six-month shared leave entitlement.
  • Strengthen and properly enforce the public sector equality duty with new duties and training on government officials.

ENDS

WBG spokespeople are available for interviews including at Labour Party Conference.

Please contact

Viktoria Szczypior, Press and Media Officer at WBG at press@wbg.org.uk / 07553663144 or Erin Mansell, Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Erin.Mansell@wbg.org.uk / 07799116631

Notes to editors

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