How are employers and unions responding to the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations

Transposition of the EU information and consultation Directive means that the UK now has, for the first time, a general statutory framework giving employees the right to be informed and consulted by their employers on a range of key business, employment and restructuring issues. A central aspect of the government’s legislative strategy has been to maximise organisations’ flexibility of response to the new Regulations and encourage the adoption of agreed, organisation-specific information and consultation arrangements. This paper reviews the options open to employers, trade unions and employees under the Regulations and assesses their potential take-up. Survey data indicate there has been a spread of information and consultation arrangements over recent years but there has been little sign to date of the extensive adoption of formal ‘pre-existing agreements’ which, under the Regulations, offer employers greater protection from employee pressure for new arrangements to be negotiated via the Regulations’ statutory procedures. Even where employers are being proactive, the predominant approach seems to be one of ‘risk assessment’ rather than ‘compliance’. For their part, trade unions have so far tended to take a defensive stance towards the new legislation, reflecting concern that the Regulations could potentially threaten union-based arrangements.