The second reading debate of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill 2012-13 took place on 11 June 2012. The Public Bill Committee, which will scrutinise the Bill, will sit for the first time on 19 June. The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, announced that he will amend the Bill "to facilitate the use of settlement agreements" (currently known as compromise agreements). The amendment would give employers more freedom when offering employees settlement agreements outside the context of litigation, since evidence of such offers would be inadmissible in unfair dismissal claims. BIS also announced that it will launch a full consultation on compromise agreements in the summer.

During the second reading debate, a number of MPs raised concerns over Acas's ability to handle the increased workload that is likely to result from the new mandatory pre-claim conciliation procedure. A number of Labour MPs criticised many of the employment aspects of the Bill. Vince Cable also assured the Commons that compensated no-fault dismissals, as recommended in the Beecroft report, would not feature in the Bill.