| Act/ Incident | Advancement |
| Master and Servant Act 1823
| Made it a criminal offence for a workman to be disobedient and allowed calling for strikes to be punishable as an aggravated breach of contract. |
| Factory Act 1833
| Prohibited employment of children under 9 years old. |
| Slavery Abolition Act 1833
| Enforced prohibition of slavery throughout the British Empire. |
| Mines Act 1842
| Raised the starting age of colliery workers to 10 years. |
| Trade Union Act 1871
| Trade Unions were legalised for the first time in the United Kingdom. |
| Factory Act 1878
| Prohibited work before 10 years old and applied to all trades. |
| 1900
| The average life expectancy of a Liverpool mine worker was 30. |
| Trade Disputes Act 1906
| Introduced that trade unions could not be sued for damages during strike action. |
| The Old Age Pension Act 1908
| Provided a state pension for retirees. |
| National Insurance Act 1911
| Introduced a levy to ensure that people got a benefit if they were unable to work. |
| Education Act 1944
| Enshrined that women teachers were not to be dismissed upon marriage. |
| Contracts of Employment Act 1963
| Introduced the right to be given a contract of employment and the right to a minimum statutory notice of termination. |
| Redundancy Payments Act 1965
| After a qualifying period of work, gave people the right to a severance payment when made redundant. |
| Race Relations Act 1965
| Made it illegal to discriminate on grounds of race in employment and education. |
| 1968
| Strikes at Ford Motor Company Limited's Dagenham plant by women demanding equal pay. This has been depicted in the film 'Made in Dagenham'. |
| Equal Pay Act 1970 (came into force in 1975)
| Men and women to be paid the same wage for the same job. |
| Industrial Relations Act 1971
| Compensation for unfair dismissal introduced. |
| 1972
| UK acceded to European Union. |
| Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974
| Introduced rules on trade unions functioning and legal status and immunity of unions who take strike action in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute. |
| Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
| Defined the fundamental structure and authority for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare within the United Kingdom. |
| Sex Discrimination Act 1975
| Made discrimination in work, education or training on grounds of sex unlawful. Protected men and women from discrimination based on sex or marital status. |
| Employment Protection Act 1975
| Made it unlawful to dismiss someone on grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave. Procedures for making redundancies regulated. |
| Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981
| Protected employees' terms and conditions when a business or undertaking, or part of one, was transferred to a new employer. |
| The Equal Pay (Amendment) Act 1985
| Sought to ensure that women were paid the same as men for work of equal value. |
| 1990
| Independent taxation for women is introduced. For the first time, married women are taxed separately from their husbands. |
| Employment Act 1990
| All forms of closed shop (a place of work where all employees must belong to one trade union) were made illegal. |
| Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
| Defined Trade Unions' rights and responsibilities, protected striking workers and provided a framework for collective bargaining. |
| Disability Discrimination Act 1995
| Gave protection for disabled people in employment and in respect of access to services. |
| Employment Rights Act 1996
| Codified existing law on individual employment rights. |
| Protection from Harassment Act 1997
| Provided protection from harassment, stalking and any form of persistent conduct which causes another person alarm or distress. |
| Data Protection Act 1998
| Legislation introduced to govern the protection of personal data in the UK. |
| Working Time Regulations 1998
| Introduced the right to 20 paid holidays per year, breaks from work, and attempted to limit excessively long working hours. |
| National Minimum Wage Act 1998
| Introduced a national minimum wage in April 1999 at £3.60 per hour for over 21s. |
| Human Rights Act 1998
| Incorporated into UK Law the rights contained in the European Convention of Human Rights. |
| Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999
| Guaranteed maternity leave for 52 weeks in total. |
| The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations - 1999
| Made it illegal for employers to discriminate against transgender people. |
| Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000
| Required that employers give people on part-time contracts comparable treatment to people on full-time contracts who do the same jobs. |
| Fixed Term Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002
| Required that employers give people on fixed term contracts comparable treatment to people on permanent contracts who do the same jobs. |
| Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002
| Guaranteed fathers 2 weeks' leave at the statutory rate of pay after the birth/ adoption. |
| The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
| Introduced to protect people against discrimination based on sexual orientation (actual or perceived). |
| Employment Act 2003
| Introduced the right for parents of young and disabled children to apply to work flexibly. |
| Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
| Protected against unlawful discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. |
| Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
| Protected against unlawful discrimination on grounds of age. |
| Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007
| Increased statutory minimum annual leave entitlement to 28 days. |
| Pensions Act 2008 (came into force incrementally commencing in 2012)
| Provided the right to be automatically enrolled in a basic occupational pension. |
| Equality Act 2010
| Codified existing discrimination legislation. |
| Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010
| Allowed a woman to transfer up to 26 weeks of her maternity leave to her partner. |
| Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014
| Enabled eligible mothers, fathers, partners and adopters to choose how to share time off work after their child is born or placed for adoption. |
| Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014
| Limited the period over which claimants can seek recovery of deductions from wages to a maximum of 2 years. |
| Modern Slavery Act 2015
| Introduced to tackle modern slavery by consolidating various offences relating to human trafficking and slavery.
|
| National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2016
| Introduced the National Living Wage. |
| Scotland Act 2016
| Provided for the devolution of the Scottish employment tribunals. |
| Trade Union Act 2016 | Changed requirements for union ballots for trade union action and other related matters.
|
| Bank of England and Financial Services Act 2016
| Extended the Senior Managers and Certification Scheme to all firms authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. |
| Equality Act (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017
| Require employers with 250 employees or more in private companies and voluntary sector organisations to disclose their gender pay gap and related information. |
| Finance Act 2017
| Amended ITEPA 2003 to change the rules on off payroll working (IR35) in the public sector, making public authorities responsible for determining the status of a contractor they are engaging. |
| GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018
| DPA 2018 repeals and replaces the DPA 1998 and incorporates the GDPR, which is intended to provide individuals with more control over their personal data, into UK law. |
| Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018
| Introduced, amongst other things, mandatory reporting of pay ratios between CEO's and average staff. |
| Employment Rights (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018
| Increased the maximum penalty for aggravated breach of employment law from £5,000 to £20,000 |
| The Employment Rights (Employment Particulars and Paid Annual Leave)(Amendment) Regulations 2018
| Provided for a written statement of terms and conditions to be a day 1 right and for certain additional information to be included. Also provided for an increase in the reference period for determining a week's pay for holiday purposes from 12 to 52 weeks. |
| The Employment Rights (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019
| Extended the right to a written statement of terms and conditions to workers and reduces the threshold to request the set up of information and consultation arrangements from 10% to 2% of employees, subject to an existing minimum of 15 employees. |
| The Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019
| Removed the "Swedish derogation" with agencies being obliged to inform workers of this by no later than 30 April 2020. |
| The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2019
| Required temporary work agencies to provide a Key Information Document to agency workers which includes details of rates of pay, who will pay them, how they will be paid and the type of contract they are being engaged on. |
| The National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Act 2019
| Required all termination payments above the £30,000 threshold to be subject to employer national insurance contributions. |
| The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018
| Provided for two weeks bereavement leave for bereaved parents of a child under the age of 18 along with pay subject to eligibility requirements. |
| Employment Bill
| Introduced in the Queens Speech in December 2019 this proposed a number of new rights due to be implemented during "this Parliamentary session". |
| European (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2018 | Implemented on 31 January 2020, the Act gave ministers powers to make secondary legislation to give effect to citizen's rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement relating to freedom of movement as well as provisions on retained EU law and how it should be interpreted. |
| Finance Act 2020 | Amended ITEPA 2003 to change the rules on off payroll working (IR35), making medium and large private sector organisations responsible for determining the status of a contractor they are engaging. |
| The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure)(Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 | Altered tribunal and early conciliation procedure to reduce bureaucracy and increase the tribunal's capacity to deal with claims. |
| European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 | Implemented into UK law the three main future UK-EU relationship agreements: the UK-EU trade and co-operation agreement, UK-EU security of classified information agreement, and UK-Euratom nuclear co-operation agreement. It also made provision in connection with the future UK-EU relationship. |
