Raising the Standard? The Regulation of Employment,and Public Sector Employment Policy

This article describes developments in employment regulation in 2005 and assesses how far these measures fulfilled the Government’s pledges to the union movement made in the Warwick Agreement. It also examines the Government’s behaviour as an employer, and the interplay between public and private sector employment practice. It concludes that there was limited evidence of Government commitment to the traditional conception of the good employer. There was also little sign of the public sector being used to promote a coherent model of employment practice to private sector employers in 2005. Direct regulation of the employment relationship was more in evidence.