UK Employment Law Evolution Since 1970 and Essential Contract Law

This report examines UK employment law's evolution since 1970, highlighting key legislation like the Equal Pay Act and Equality Act 2010, alongside developments in trade union rights, health and safety regulations, and maternity/paternity leave. It also outlines the essential ingredients of contract law, including offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, certainty, and legal intention, emphasizing their importance in creating legally enforceable agreements. The report concludes that significant progress has been made in protecting employee rights and ensuring fair treatment in the workplace, while also stressing the necessity of fulfilling all contractual elements for valid agreements. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Business Law and
Ethics

Table of content
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business law is the important legal regulation which helps how to provide protection
to all the organisations and companies to manage their business, agreements and general from
working procedure in a proper manner. Company law, contract act, employment law, IPR etc.
As some of the major acts which helps out to provide protection to all the working of
organisations in a systematic approach. Employment act helps in protecting the rights of
employees in the company. Whereas contract act is the agreement which is being enforceable
by law(Hepburn, 2020). This report will cover interview session of a mid-ranking law firm
through which there will be a discussion about the UK employment law and its evolution
since 1970 and further will also provide the essential ingredients of law of contract.
MAIN BODY
Evolution of Employment act since 1970
Employment act is the most important legislation which is being made in UK in order
to protect the rights of all the workforce in the organisations and companies. In late 1970
there is being seen that there was no clear reformation and description of the laws which are
being needed to manage and maintain clear formation of rights of employees. Back in 29
May 1970 for about 50 years ago there was an introduction of equal pay act 1970 by royal
assent. That was the most landmark moment as earlier all the employees were being fighting
for the equal pay in UK. Their main focus was to remove the gender pay gap and to manage
all the unequal pay to be in an equal manner. As there was a major dispute from match girls
strike in 1888 where there were seen that about 200 girls along with woman’s went for a
strike in order to protest for all the working conditions and their pay scale was less as
compare to men. From 1970 there has been seen that major development in the employment
contracts and laws were being taken place. The legislation focuses on removing the gender
pay gap introduced equality act 2010 through which no discrimination can take place in any
of the working areas (Crenshaw, 2020).
Since 1970 employment act started to evolve as with the same page for men and
women there has been introduction of industrial relations in order to avoid unfair dismissal in
1971. There were also being seen that UK made exist to the European Union in 1972 through
which they also maintain the trade union along with the labour relations act 1974 in order to
manage the legal status along with the immunity for all the trade unions who usually take the
strike actions and contemplation. Later on, there were health and safety act through which

UK government in force regulations to manage the health and safety for the welfare of
workers and also sex discrimination act 1975 through which they focused on providing
training, education and in an equal manner so that there should not be any kind of
discrimination on the basis of marital or sexual status. Employment act has taken further
undertakings with general terms and conditions in order to make the employees feel safe and
also meant all the acts regarding to payment independent taxation for women and other
disability discrimination act 1995 (Bobek, Pembroke, and Wickham, 2020). Later on,
employment rights act 1996 was being codified through all the existing laws within
individual employment rights. Since then, there was data protection with the work time
regulation act and human rights act 1998 were being framed with Europe in convention of
human rights. UK government also emphasised on providing the maternity and paternity
leave with the gender reassignment and also contracts for the part-time workers. There were
several employment bills which were being introduced by the Queens in 2019 and in 2020
currently there were being seen major implementation of three important features in
employment regarding to the cooperation agreements with the information agreements and
other future employment terms in relations through which the work and be implemented in
proper manner. So, the employment act has taken a major wide expansion for the protection
of employees from 1970.
Thus, there can be seen that UK government focused on managing all the legislations
and to emphasise all the important pieces of the rules which have to be encouraged in order to
manage the workplace environment to be better and safe for employees (Aguilar-Gómez, and
et. al., 2020). They removed discrimination and promoted training, education, health and
hygiene facility, trade unions, leads in all the other unitary and integrated aspects through
which harassment, victimisation is can be avoided from the employment areas. They also
provided certain rights to the employees in order to take actions for all the illegal activities
which ever being taken place in the organisation. Further they also indicated to manage and
remove the gender pay gap as bye focusing on developing the strategies through which every
person should be treated equal. The endeavour of government is to manage a systematic
approach through which no employees can feel discriminated on their working areas. They
also impose penalties, fines or all the employers who were against the legal rules and actions
which were being amended by the government. There were several tribunals which were
being made to hear all the cases and the issues of the employees. Further since 1970 there

were lot of changes which were being seen in the current scenario which made it quite
uplifted and also manage a healthy working environment.
Essential Ingredients of Contract
Contract law is an agreement which is being in forcible by law and helps out to
manage the obligations and rules in the essential working features of the parties. This is
generally an important lawful object which is being needed when two or more parties are
intending to create a legal obligation in between them. There are six essential ingredients
which are being needed in order to frame a valid contract in UK they are like, offer this is
generally an expression given by one party in order to make the willingness regarding the
intention to create a binding agreement between them (Griep, and Zacher, 2021). As offer is
an invitation to treat which is being made by one party on the instance of completing a task or
making the other party to be divided by the act. The other one is acceptance which is
generally been given as the unqualified and a final expression of assent which is being given
for the offer which was being made by one party. This is generally the agreeing on the offer
which is being made by another party within a reasonable time. As acceptance can be in oral
or in written manner. Thirdly consideration is an essential and important element of contract
without which no valid contract can be framed. Consideration is mainly the sum or the
amount which is being decided between the parties in order to complete the contract that is
being bind it between them. It is important to decide that surplus consideration or the sum for
which the parties are engaged in the contract. It is important for the contract to be supported
with the consideration in order to make it in foreseeable. Another important ingredient in this
capacity which is generally the legal ability of the person to enter in a contract. As all the
parties who want to be in an agreement should be legally binding with the relation between
them. And they should be capable with a mental and sound mind to perform all the act of the
contract and also to understand the agreement which is being made between them. Certainty
is it another important legal rule which is generally all the stipulation and the requirements
which are being needed in order to perform the contract as with the contracting parties
through which the signatures and the sensual formalities are being made (Chen and Tang,
2021). It is important that all the agreements made in the contract should be certain and
arrangement meets to be explained in a proper manner with a well-defined and described
framework. Lastly it is the intention and legality which is the important framework and
ingredient of a contract as it is important for all the parties to have a legal intention to enter
into a contract and also to bind and complete the task in a proper manner. No party sue

without any intention can create a contract as they should disclose all the material facts which
are being made between the agreement and should also have no mere intention to breach or to
illegally harm the other party(Ishak and Asni, 2020). There is being needed that all such
agreements which are being made should be in a legal manner with all the positive intentions.
Thus, there can be said that contract law in order to be framed in a proper manner need to
have all these essential agreements to be fulfilled without which no contract between the
parties and no agreements can be enforced legally.
CONCLUSION
From this above report it is concluded that employment law is being immensely
changed from 1970 as there has been seen in the introduction of equal pay in 1970 and after
that there were certain regulations and rules regarding to trade union, health and hygiene,
equal pay at work, equality act 2010, human rights act 1998, maternity and paternity leave
and many more conditions are being applied by the UK government in order to make the
employees right to be safer and also to protect them from any kind of discrimination.
Furthermore, it is also concluded that contract law needs to have some important essential
ingredients that are to be fulfilled in order to maintain a proper legal contract they are like
offer, acceptance, certainty, consideration, legal intention and many more.
REFERENCES
Chen, G. and Tang, L., 2021. Competing for seafaring labour: Social security and agency
employment in Chinese shipping. Global Networks.
Crenshaw, K.W., 2020. Race, Reform, and Retrenchment: Transformation and legitimation
inantidiscrimination law. In Theories of race and racism (pp. 616-627). Routledge.
Hepburn, E., 2020. Uncharted waters: The social and equality impacts of Brexit. Scottish
Affairs, 29(2), pp.141-178.
Bobek, A., Pembroke, S. and Wickham, J., 2020. Living in precarious housing: Non-standard
employment and housing careers of young professionals in Ireland. Housing Studies,
pp.1-24.
Griep, Y. and Zacher, H., 2021. Temporal dynamics in organizational psychology. In Oxford
Research Encyclopedia of Psychology.
Aguilar-Gómez, C.R., and et. al., 2020. Differentiated payments for environmental services:
A review of the literature. Ecosystem Services, 44, p.101131.

Ishak, M.S.I. and Asni, F., 2020. The role of maqasid al-Shariʿah in applying fiqh muamalat
into modern Islamic banking in Malaysia. Journal of Islamic Accounting and
Business Research.