Election Special 3 - Rounding up the rest

Posted: April 21, 2026

Author: Porter Dodson

Category: Employment

With just 2 days to go before we all hit the polls, it’s time for a round up of what the other parties are offering when it comes to employment law reform.

Conservative
Not a lot to be seen in the Conservative plans for employment law. Some cuts to national insurance, a desire for more apprenticeships and an intention to keep the National Living Wage increasing… not exactly revolutionary, you may even say conservative. They also want to amend the Equality Act to say that ‘sex’ means biological sex.

Green
Will the Greens’ policies leave their competitors green with envy? Supporting the humble employee, they are proposing day 1 rights for all with a move towards a 4-day working week and a £15 minimum wage. Gig economy workers are also set to benefit with equal rights.

Bosses are likely to feel jaded by the proposal for their pay to be capped at 10 times their lowest paid employee. Who will qualify as a boss and whether this applies to bonuses and the like is yet to be seen. Higher earners will pay more NI as the upper earnings limit will disappear too.

Beyond that, diversity takes the limelight with the extension of pay gap reporting and gender self-declaration proposals. Not to mention a Charter of Workers’ Rights, designed to repeal anti-union legislation.

Reform
Finally, the Reform Party intends to tear up the Equality Act and introduce a Free Speech Bill, whilst leaving the European Convention on Human Rights; some fairly radical proposals.

IR35 is out of the window, as are Tribunal fees (no no, we are aware there aren’t any at the moment, don’t worry; but Reform won’t be reintroducing them).

A simpler tax system is promised; details awaited! In the meantime, the personal allowance will jump to £20k and the higher rate threshold to £70k. Like the Conservatives, more apprenticeships are to be encouraged along with vocational courses.

So there you have it. Our three-part election special draws to an end, and it’s back to the usual policies we deal with! Remember, if election promises were money, we’d all be rich by now. Happy voting!