|
INFORMATION AND CONSULTATION
Information
and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004
Introduction
From 6 April 2005
employees in larger organisations gained new rights to be
informed and consulted about developments in the workplace.
The Basics
- The
legislation implements the EC Directive on Informing and
Consulting Employees. It
is based on a framework agreed with the CBI and TUC.
- From
6 April 2005 employees in organisations with 150 or more
employees have a right to be informed and consulted on a
regular basis about issues in the organisation they work for. Organisations with 100 or more employees will come
within the scope of the legislation in April 2007, and ones
with 50 or more employees in April 2008.
- The
requirements in the legislation do not apply automatically. Employers
can initiate the process themselves, or an employee request must be made by at least 10% of
employees in the organisation (subject to a minimum of 15
employees and a maximum of 2500 employees).
- Existing
agreements on information and consultation may continue where
they enjoy the support of the workforce.
- The
new law is designed to encourage employers, employees and
their representatives to agree information and consultation
arrangements that suit their particular circumstances – it
does not spell out the subjects, method, timing or frequency
of the arrangements that are allowed.
- Agreed
arrangements may cover more than one company, or establish
different processes in different parts of an organisation.
- Standard
provisions based on the Directive apply as a fallback in
situations where no agreement is reached on information and
consultation arrangements. These
require the employer to inform employee representatives about the
organisation’s activities and economic situation, and consult
them on employment issues and major changes in work organisation
or employees’ contractual relations.
FAQs
Why has
this legislation been introduced
Who will be affected by the new
legislation?
What does
the legislation require?
What do
employers need to do?
Do
employees need to do anything?
What if
there are already I & C arrangements in a company?
What are
the standard I&C provisions?
What
happens if the legislation is breached?
Information and Consultation
in action
Information
and consultation in the workplace is not new.
Many businesses have well established internal
communications systems. See
how other organisations have benefited from creating
employee partnerships:
'Working within a Partnership Agreement has enabled us to
manage significant and essential changes and to overcome
potentially difficult situations, taking into account the
interests of the Company, Trade Unions and Employees.’
Mike
Gibson
National Employee Relations Manager, Lafarge Cement UK
"Working
in partnership across AstraZeneca has simply meant that employees
(and their elected representatives) and managers have assumed
joint accountability for solving business issues and for agreeing
how best to implement solutions for the benefit of the business,
its customers and its employees."
David Westbury
HR Business Partner
AstraZeneca - UK Operations, Macclesfield
Useful Documents
Guidance
To view the
DTI’s full guidance (dated January 2006) on the
Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004
click
here (
255Kb) [also
available in html format].
From the 6 April 2006 a small amendment will be made to the
Information and Consultation Regulations 2004. For further
information please see paragraphs 62 and 63 of the amended
guidance.
To view the
DTI’s summary guidance (dated January 2005) click here.
Click here
(
72Kb)
to view guidance for employees [also
available in html format].
Legislation
To view the
Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 click
here.
To view
Directive 2002/14/EC on informing and consulting employees click
here. (
)
Consultations
/ Impact Assessment
To view the
DTI discussion paper High Performance Workplaces: The role
of employee involvement in a modern economy (July 2002) click
here.
To view the
DTI consultation document High Performance
Workplaces: Informing and Consulting Employees (July 2003), containing the DTI-CBI-TUC agreed framework for
implementing the Directive in the UK, click here.
(
243Kb)
To view the Government’s response
to the consultation High Performance Workplaces: Informing and
Consulting Employees and the consultation on the DTI’s draft guidance
click here (
112Kb)
To view the
Government’s response to the consultation on the DTI’s draft
guidance click here.
To view the
Regulatory Impact assessment click here.
(
124Kb)
Welsh Language Versions
To view the Government Welsh language
summary of the response to the consultation High Performance
Workplaces: Informing and Consulting Employees
click here. (
65Kb)
To view the
DTI’s welsh language summary guidance on the Information and
Consultation of Employees Regulations click here
(65Kb MS Word)
Archived documents
To
view the DRAFT Information and Consultation of Employees
Regulations 2004 click
here.(
96Kb
)
To
view the DRAFT guidance on the Information and Consultation of
Employees Regulations click here.
If
you have any further queries, in the first instance please
contact:
Steven
Greenwell
Employment Relations
Department of Trade and Industry
1 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0ET
Tel: 020 7215 5056
E Mail:
steven.greenwell@dti.gsi.gov.uk
|
