Sir Keir Starmer visited IKEA in Croydon to promote new employment protections that will grant workers rights from their first day in a job, describing the measures as benefiting around two million workers in London.
The Prime Minister toured the Purley Way store on the morning of January 12, speaking with staff and announcing “day-one” employment rights including paternity leave and bereavement support as part of the recently passed Employment Rights Act.
The changes, scheduled to come into effect in April, include a right to unpaid parental leave from the first day in a new job, replacing previous rules requiring employees to wait several months. According to government figures, this will give an additional 1.5 million parents more flexibility to share childcare responsibilities immediately.
Speaking inside a bedroom showroom to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Sir Keir stated: “It is no good saying to a new dad that you will have to wait to spend time with your newborn.”
He drew on personal experience, explaining: “I think it is really important because I was between jobs when my boy was born, and I genuinely believe the bond between me and him is much stronger.”
A new Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave policy will allow fathers and partners who lose their partner before their child’s first birthday to take up to 52 weeks of leave. Aaron Horsey, described as an influential campaigner for the reform, said it “ensures that new parents and their employers have a clear route for support at one of the most difficult moments imaginable.”
The wider package of reforms being laid out in Parliament includes a day-one right to statutory sick pay, a ban on zero-hour contracts, a right to guaranteed hours, and a new right to make an unfair dismissal claim after six months’ service instead of two years.
The government is simultaneously raising both the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage from April. Sir Keir argued that workers would be about £600 better off year on year because of the changes, presenting this as a measurable gain in disposable income.
During conversations with IKEA staff, the Prime Minister said the cost of living emerged as the most important issue, overshadowing concerns about “volatility” on the world stage.
Sir Keir stressed the reforms were not solely worker-focused, stating some rights remain under consultation to “get the adjustments right” for employers. He told the LDRS: “If people are protected at work it is good for them, and it is good for business. We have come to IKEA because one of the things we have been saying is that good employers are already doing this.”
He argued that greater flexibility and higher disposable income would feed back into local economies, including Croydon’s high streets, stating: “It becomes circular and that is important.”
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Croydon West MP Sarah Jones and Business Secretary Peter Kyle. Reflecting on his connection to the area, he said: “I grew up on the Surrey/Kent border; for the Starmer family, a really good day out was Croydon, coming to the Whitgift Centre.”
