The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which would implement a number of the government's reforms to employment law, has been published. The Bill contains a new mandatory procedure which requires claimants to lodge claims with Acas before issuing proceedings. The Bill also includes a power for the Secretary of State to vary the statutory cap for unfair dismissal compensatory awards.

The Bill would also implement more straightforward changes which the government has previously announced it is going to introduce. These include: introducing financial penalties for losing employers where there are "aggravating features" to the claim; renaming compromise agreements as settlement agreements; requiring qualifying disclosures to be made in the public interest; introducing legal officers; providing that EAT judges will sit alone unless they direct otherwise; changing the indexation of a week's pay; and curbing the Equality and Human Rights Commission's remit.