LABOUR’S worker reforms will cost business £5billion a year and raise the risk of higher prices and job losses, the Government’s analysis shows.
Nearly one in five companies will have to react to the cost burden by cutting their workforce.
Angela Rayner planned overhaul of worker reforms will cost business £5billion a year and raise the risk of higher prices and job losses[/caption]
The overhaul by Deputy PM Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds includes changes to sick leave rights and a ban on zero-hours contracts.
One in ten employers may end up cutting workers’ pay, analysis of the Office for National Statistics data shows.
It also suggested 40 per cent would most likely raise their prices, risking a return of inflation.
The alternative is businesses losing profits by absorbing costs.
The party acknowledged smaller businesses would face a bigger hit, despite ministers arguing against exemptions.
The Government has said it would “consider mitigation”.
Analysis showed the largest annual bills could be £1billion for ending zero-hours contracts and another £1billion for improving sick pay.
Ms Rayner said yesterday: “We said we would get on and deliver the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation and the growth our economy needs and that is exactly what we’re doing.”
Shadow Business Secretary Kevin Hollinrake is urging FTSE 100 bosses to raise their concerns about Labour’s package of regulation.
And Neil Carberry at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said: “Today’s impact assessment shows the cost impact will fall on firms who are already facing a wide range of other rising costs.”
