The IER Podcast

In accordance with the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA), a new Fair Work Agency (FWA) was launched on the 7 April 2026. The initial 'New Deal for Workers' (2021) said that 'Rights and protections are only worth the paper they are written on if they are enforced'. In this episode of the Working Life Podcast, we take a look at the hurdles this new agency is likely to face in its ambi...

Neil Todd, leading trade union law expert and Partner at Thompsons Solicitors and Carolyn Jones, Senior Vice President of the Institute of Employment Rights (IER), join us for the third episode of Working Life. In this episode, we revisit the detrimental practice of fire and rehire and examine where the Employment Rights Act 2025 ultimately landed after the government's initial pledge to ban t...

In the latest episode of ‘Working Life’, IER Chairperson Lord John Hendy KC discusses the right to strike in the UK with Professor Tonia Novitz, a leading academic in labour law at the University of Bristol Centre for Law at Work. She sits on the advisory board of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) and is co-editor of ‘The Right to Strike Reimagined’ (Bloomsbury 2026,) as well as c...

Welcome to the new 2nd season of the Institute of Employment Rights Podcast. In this episode, Prof Nicola Countouris (UCL & IER) and Lord John Hendy KC (UCL & IER), discuss the implications of the Government's new Employment Rights Act (2025). Topics covered are: - Worker Status - Sectoral bargaining - Industrial Action Legislation - Effective remedies for workers - Could P&O happe...

"Having the right to strike doesn't mean you have to exercise it. The point is to have the right in order that workers ultimately have leverage in negotiations." - Lord John Hendy KC Without improved support for workers’ right to strike, will Labour’s new Employment Rights Bill leave British workers over-exposed and under-protected ? In conversation with  Institute of Employment Rights...

"This is the first realistic chance we've had to revise the industrial relations structure of this country since Mrs. Thatcher came to power in 1979." - Lord John Hendy KC Will the Employment Rights Bill i mprove pay and conditions for British workers? Leading labour law experts Lord John Hendy KC and Prof. Keith Ewing address the absence of sectoral collective bargaining from the Labo...

Unmasking the weaknesses in Labour's plan to tackle fire and rehire and zero-hours contracts. "This is not ending fire and rehire, this is facilitating fire and rehire." - Professor Keith Ewing In this episode of the Institute of Employment Rights podcast, we delve into the Labour Party's proposed Employment Rights Bill with labour law experts Professor Keith Ewing and Neil Todd. T...

"Having a Proactive duty on employers to keep their workplace free of sexual harassment is, in principle, a very good step forward. The way in which it's formulated is that the employer must take on all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and the key issue is what are all those reasonable steps?" In the sixth episode of the Institute of Employment Rights podcast, equality an...

Will the Employment Rights Bill 2024 pave the way to reform of employment status for workers? Or will it leave open a trap door for worker rights to fall through? Institute of Employment Rights Director James Harrison examines the gaps in the Labour Party's Employment Rights Bill with Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King's College London, and Nicola Countouris, Professor of Labour...

How can the experience of prior legislation help get the best out of Labour's new Employment Rights Bill? And will the Care Sector be the new flag-bearer for improved terms and conditions? Carolyn Jones, Senior Vice President of the Institute of Employment Rights , leads a detailed discussion on Labour's new Employment Rights Bill. Joined by IER Vice President Professor Lydia Hayes and Exe...

What will Labour's new employment legislation bring for workers and trade unions? In this insightful episode, Carolyn Jones Vice President of the Institute of Employment Rights is joined by Lord John Hendy KC and Professor Keith Ewing to discuss the imperative need for comprehensive reforms in UK labour laws. Reflecting on changes since the Thatcher era, they explore critical issues such as se...

The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) was established in 1989 to combat anti-trade union legislation enacted during the Thatcher era. It has since created an extensive library of labour law resources with the help of a network of volunteer lawyers, academics, and trade unionists. The IER aims to develop modern employment laws and offers publications, briefings, and conference papers. Supporters...