The new 2024 Employment Rights Bill was announced on the 10th October 2024, and it includes 28 individual employment reforms. With this announcement, businesses will need to adapt their operational procedures to align with new legal requirements. These changes are likely to have a significant impact on organisations certified under ISO 9001:2015, particularly in the areas related to human resources, risk management, and organisational performance.

Below, we explore how the key clauses of ISO 9001 will be affected by the forthcoming employment legislation.

Clause 5.1.1 Leadership and Commitment

ISO 9001 requires senior management to take accountability for the effectiveness of the quality management system (QMS). The Employment Bill will demand that leadership ensures compliance with new employment laws, such as day-one dismissal rights and flexible working. Organisations must update their policies to reflect these changes, ensuring they align with both legal requirements and quality objectives.

Clause 6.1: Actions to Address Risks and Opportunities

The Employment Bill introduces potential risks that organisations must address—ranging from managing day-one sick leave entitlements to mitigating operational disruptions caused by flexible working requests. Under ISO 9001, organisations need to assess and mitigate these risks, implementing changes in HR policies must be documented as part of risk management efforts.

Clause 7.1.2: People

This clause emphasises the importance of ensuring that sufficient and competent people are available to meet quality objectives. With the removal of zero-hour contracts and the requirement to guarantee minimum hours, organisations must revise their workforce planning and ensure they have adequate resources to maintain product or service quality. This will likely require re-evaluating contracts and staffing levels to ensure compliance and operational continuity.

Clause 7.2: Competence

Flexible working arrangements may require a fresh approach to employee training and competency management, especially where remote work or altered hours are concerned. ISO 9001 requires organisations to ensure that all employees possess the necessary competencies to fulfil their roles effectively, which could be impacted by changes in working patterns or job flexibility.

Clause 7.3: Awareness

Employees must be made aware of their rights under the new Employment Bill, particularly concerning dismissal, sick pay, and flexible working. Under ISO 9001, organisations are required to ensure employees understand their roles and responsibilities within the QMS, including any changes that stem from new employment laws. Updated policies should be communicated clearly to all staff.

Clause 7.4: Communication

The right to “switch off” from work-related communications outside of contracted hours, as established by the 2024 Employment Bill, will necessitate changes in internal communication protocols. ISO 9001 requires that organisations establish effective channels for communication, and businesses will need to ensure that these do not conflict with the new legal requirements to respect personal time. 

Clause 7.5: Documented Information

HR policies, contracts, and employment procedures will need to be updated in line with the new Employment Bill. Under ISO 9001, documented information must be controlled and updated to reflect current legal requirements. This includes maintaining up-to-date records on employee rights, sick pay policies, and flexible working arrangements.

Clause 8.1: Operational Planning and Control

The removal of zero-hour contracts and the introduction of flexible working could affect operational planning. Under ISO 9001, organisations must plan, implement, and control processes to meet quality requirements. Adequate planning will be crucial to ensure that employee availability and productivity do not negatively impact the ability to meet customer requirements.

Clause 10.2: Nonconformity and Corrective Action

If legal noncompliance arises due to failure to implement the new employment laws, organisations need to handle this as a nonconformity within their QMS. Organisations must investigate any failures to comply with employment laws and take corrective actions to prevent recurrence, ensuring that both legal and quality obligations are met.

Conclusion

The 2024 Employment Bill will require businesses to reassess their HR processes to comply with new legal standards. For ISO 9001-certified organisations, this means reviewing and potentially updating their quality management systems to incorporate the new employment regulations. 

Although identifying and complying with legislation is not an explicit requirement of ISO 9001, it is implicitly expected that organisations should be compliant with relevant laws.

We are finding external auditors are increasingly expecting to see a legal register or other evidence of compliance during ISO 9001 certification audits.

Assent can help you identify the legislation that applies to your business and provide a template legal register that we can complete with you to provide evidence of compliance.Our legislation database is freely available on our Resilify platform.