Changes to employment regulation in Scotland 



Employment regulation in Scotland is diverging from that of England and Wales in several important ways, especially as a result of constitutional developments that followed the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Under the Scotland Act 2016, various law-making powers have been devolved to the Scottish government, including:


• some powers in relation to equal opportunities at work;


• some employment support services; and


• regulation of employment tribunals and tribunal rules of procedure. The statutory employment rights themselves, such as the right to claim unfair dismissal, remain the responsibility of the Westminster government.



In May 2015, the Scottish National Party reached an agreement with the Scottish TUC to campaign for greater devolution of employment rights, to include health and safety, equality and trade union laws, and for the 90-day collective redundancy consultation period to be reinstated in Scotland.



In September 2015, the Scottish government committed to abolish employment tribunal fees in Scotland as soon as the government is “clear on how the transfer of powers and responsibilities will work”, following a consultation. 



Regarding equality laws, the Equality Act 2010 (EA 10) continues to apply in Scotland, but under the Scotland Act 2016 the Scottish Parliament now has the power to implement the "socio-economic equality duty". This is the duty on public bodies to have due regard for the need to eliminate inequalities resulting from socio-economic disadvantage (section 1, EA 10) which has never been implemented by the Westminster government. 



Other significant differences include:


• specific legal duties on Scottish commissioning bodies when engaged in public procurement (see Chapter 12);


• extra obligations in relation to the Public Sector Equality Duty, including a legal obligation to conduct an equality impact assessment, abolished in England in 2011 (see Chapter 7);


• specific anti-blacklisting procurement rules (see Chapter 5);


• retention of Scotland’s Agricultural Wages Board following the abolition of the board in England (see Chapter 4);


• Scotland’s attitude to the Trade Union Act 2016 (TUA 16). The Act was described by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon as a measure that would never have been proposed, let alone passed, in the Scottish parliament (see Chapter 6).