Shropshire Chamber of Commerce has welcomed amendments to unfair dismissal rules in the new Employment Rights Bill.

The Government has now agreed to a six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal cases – having originally proposed giving these rights to new staff from day one.

The U-turn follows pressure from a number of business groups, as well as many employers.

Ruth Ross, chief executive of Shropshire Chamber, said: “Businesses will be relieved that the Government has agreed to this key amendment.  

“The British Chambers of Commerce was pivotal in lobbying for this change, which we know from our own research was causing worry for a number of Shropshire employers.

“Businesses have always been clear that making the Employment Rights Bill work would take business, unions and government working together to find a landing zone for such major policy changes.   

“It is crucial to find a balance which gives businesses confidence to hire and to support employment, at the same time as giving meaningful protection to workers.”

She added: “I know that businesses will still have concerns about many of the powers contained in this Bill around areas such as guaranteed hours contracts, seasonal and temporary workers and thresholds for industrial action.  

“But this latest decision does show the value of being able to feed the views of businesses to our decision-makers. It’s one of the reasons we encourage as many employers as possible to take part in our quarterly economic survey.”