The Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations give employees rights to request to be informed and consulted on a regular basis about issues in the business for which they work. The requirement to inform and consult employees does not operate automatically.
It is triggered either by a formal request from employees for an Information and Consultation (I&C) agreement, or by employers choosing to start the process themselves. Under the Regulations, 10 per cent of the workforce can ask an employer to set up an Information and Consultation arrangement unless a pre-existing arrangement is in existence covering all employees; in which case it needs 40 per cent of employees to overturn the existing arrangements.
I & C arrangements do not need to be onerous and there is much to be said for putting purely voluntary arrangements in place rather than waiting to see if employees call for an agreement under the Regulations. From an employee relations point of view, if you wait for a request you may be seen as only responding to pressure and being opposed to informing your employees, whatever your views. From a legal point of view, a purely voluntary agreement is not subject to scrutiny and enforcement by the Central Arbitration Committee, unlike agreements under the Regulations.
Even under the Regulations, employers are free to agree the scope of the arrangements with employee representatives. However, if there is failure to reach agreement, or failure to act on an employee request, default provisions are triggered which can be onerous.
This law is being extended on 6 April 2007 and will be extended again on 6 April 2008 to employers with 50 or more employees.
Further information on the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations is available in the EEF publication Information and Consultation: A Practical Guide to the Law and your Association can help you with the practical implementation.