We’ve been talking about it for over 12 months now, but the workplace really is on the brink of significant change as the Workers Rights Bill will soon to receive Royal Assent and become law. When it does, the demands on and responsibilities of employers will increase considerably. The bill will strengthen protections for employees, introduce new expectations around fairness, and place additional compliance requirements on organisations.

Businesses must ensure their managers are ready. They will be at the frontline of implementing and reacting to the coming changes and ensuring that your business remains compliant. If they are not up to speed and properly trained, they risk becoming liabilities rather than assets.

With new legislation around the corner, HR departments and those responsible for HR in organisations are likely to see increases in their workload with casework, compliance checks, and policy revisions. But we cannot expect HR to be everywhere at once.

Line managers, who operate at the coal-face of employee relations, will need to be the first line of defence. They must be able to manage issues correctly from the outset; resolving problems fairly, apply policies consistently, and minimise the number of cases that need to be escalated. CIPD research suggests that around 80% of tribunal cases stem from businesses failing to comply with employment law, often due to managers’ lack of knowledge or consistency. Every mistake or oversight creates risk for the wider organisation, both financial and reputational.

Employment Tribunal statistics underline just how expensive those risks can be:

• 11,568 claims were received in Q1 2024/25, with 45,000 cases still open at the end of the quarter.
• The average award for unfair dismissal in 2023/24 was £13,749, with a maximum award of £179,124.
• Discrimination claims are even costlier. In 2023/24, the highest sex discrimination award was £995,128, and a disability discrimination award reached £964,465.

And these figures are before the new legislation comes into effect. Furthermore, they don’t reflect the thousands of cases settled through settlement or compromise agreements that don’t ever reach a hearing.

The reputational effects are equally damaging. Tribunal cases attract negative publicity, erode employee trust, and harm both recruitment and retention.

Research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found that 82% of UK bosses are “accidental managers”; a phrase we have coined before describing individuals who are promoted or defaulted into management roles without formal training. Unsurprisingly, poor management is a leading cause of staff turnover, with one in three employees citing it as the reason they quit their jobs.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has also highlighted the direct impact of poor management on employee wellbeing. Half of employees with low-quality managers reported that work negatively affected their mental health. In contrast, 72% with high-quality managers were willing to go the extra mile. The media constantly reports on the high number of economically inactive individuals in the UK because of Mental Health issues, but these figures show that trained managers deliver healthier, happier, and more productive teams.

Training managers is not just about compliance; it is about creating a culture of consistent, fair, and effective leadership across your organisation. Good training ensures:

• Consistency of approach: Managers at all levels role-model “what good looks like” and apply policies fairly.
• Legal awareness: Managers understand the foundations of employment law and their responsibilities under the new legislation.
• Confidence in difficult conversations: From disciplinary action to grievance handling, trained managers make decisions that protect the organisation.
• Improved employee engagement: Skilled managers treat people fairly, provide feedback effectively, and build trust.

With the Workers’ Rights Bill imminent, we recommend a number of priority training areas for managers:

• Employment Law: Ensure managers understand the legal framework they are operating within and the effects and potential consequences of their decisions.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI): Particularly dignity at work and sexual harassment. Expecting employers to show they have trained managers and general staff in these areas is pretty much non-negotiable as far as Tribunals are concerned.
• Leadership and Management Skills: Build confidence to lead teams effectively, hold those difficult conversations and make effective decisions.
• Communication: The root cause of many issues, some escalating to grievances, and a skill that requires continual development.
• Emotional intelligence: Equipping managers to understand and respond to employees’ perspectives with empathy.

At HR Champions, we have solutions for all of these priority areas along with bespoke Leadership & Management Development programmes that can be designed to meet your organisations specific needs.

We’ve been consistently running ILM-accredited Leadership and Management training courses for over twenty years, because they are an effective and proven solution. They are designed to bring managers up to speed quickly, help them interpret and apply employment law correctly, and give them the confidence to act without exposing your organisation to risk.

AI, automation, and new technology may be changing the way we work, but effectively managing people remains at the core of business success. With the Workers’ Rights Bill around the corner, the need to ensure managers are trained, confident, and capable has never been greater.

Contact us to discuss how we can prepare your managers for the future, protect against potential costly mistakes, and generate growth through productivity. Call us on 01452 331331, or complete the contact form.