The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published a letter from the Minister for Small Business, Consumers & Labour Markets, Paul Scully MP, relating to exclusivity clauses in employment contracts. The letter sets out the government’s latest steps to better protect and support low-income workers as we look to build a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy.
The letter refers to legislation, already laid before parliament, which will widen the ban on exclusivity clauses, ensuring lowest paid workers have the freedom to boost their income through extra work if they wish. This will widen the ban on exclusivity clauses which restrict staff from working with multiple employers, to those whose income is below or equivalent to the Lower Earnings Limit at £123 a week. In addition to supporting workers to increase their income, the reforms will also benefit businesses by widening the talent pool of job applicants to those who may have been prevented from applying for roles due to an exclusivity clause with another employer, and also helps businesses to fill vacancies in key sectors like retail and hospitality.
These reforms follow the consultation on extending exclusivity clause ban to low-income workers launched by the government in December 2020, where the majority of responses agreed with the approach to extend the ban to contracts where the workers’ guaranteed weekly income is below or equivalent to the Lower Earnings Limit (£123 a week).
The draft legislation referred to is the Exclusivity Terms for Zero Hours Workers (Unenforceability and Redress) Regulations 2022.
Formed in 2017, following significant legislative changes designed to increase competition within the legal services marketplace, Pro Employment Law is a progressive set of barristers’ chambers, consisting only of experienced employment law barristers, offering a full range of specialist advisory, case management, and advocacy services directly to the public through the Public Access scheme. We supply our legal services exclusively in the area of Employment Law to clients located across England & Wales. All of the legal services we supply are covered by professional indemnity insurance with Bar Mutual.
Please contact us for a free, initial telephone consultation with a barrister.
In McMahon v AXA ICAS [2025] EAT 8, the EAT faced a number of issues on appeal around the payment due from a deduction of wages as well as a disability discrimination claim which was struck out by the employment tribunal. The respondent also cross-appealed a decision on deduction of wages, arguing that there was… >>
Where a claimant has failed to comply with the early conciliation (EC) requirement but the employment tribunal did not reject the claim under either Rule 10 or 12 of the ET Rules 2013 (now Rules 12 or 13 of the ET Rules 2024), the tribunal should not reject the claim at a later stage, eg… >>
In East Lancashire NHS Trust v Akram [2025] EAT 2, the EAT followed the approach set out by the Supreme Court in Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew [2024] IRLR 56 on how to calculate a day’s pay for holiday pay purposes. It explained that: • a person should receive… >>