Vanessa Hogan, senior associate at law firm Hogan Lovells, said: "There were no real surprises for employers in the Queen's Speech. As confirmed in the Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation, in future employees will be required to engage in 'pre-claim conciliation' to try and reduce the number of cases going to the employment tribunal.
"Employers will welcome this if it succeeds. But it remains to be seen if pre-claim conciliation is any more successful than the repealed statutory dispute resolution procedures that had the same objective.
"The Speech also contained confirmation that the Government intends to press ahead with a more flexible system of parental leave to allow parents to balance their work and family commitments. However, it is still unclear what form this system will take. Although the Government response to the Modern Workplaces consultation was originally due last year, the response has still not been published."
