Labour law without labour law: The United Kingdom’s labour market response to COVID-19

Abstract

The United Kingdom’s response to the COVID-19 crisis with respect to labour law and protecting workers and working relationships had several idiosyncratic aspects that distinguished it from ostensibly similar attempts to protect jobs during the pandemic. The UK approach was striking, in comparative terms, due to its lack of engagement with any process of social dialogue at the national, sectoral, and enterprise levels. The structures of worker representation of this type are so weak in the UK, due in part to a particular tradition of collective bargaining, that any such involvement would possibly not even have been feasible given the short time frame without the creation of new ad hoc infrastructure. While most other advanced economies made use of relatively familiar methods of labour law, alongside macroeconomic intervention and state support, the UK’s response was largely devoid of any traditional labour law content, and did not make use of labour law categories or methods, in particular the placing of obligations on the employer. This meant that the UK’s approach reflected a form of “labour market” regulation which aimed, unusually, at solidifying rather than deregulating the labour market. While this approach comes with many significant complexities and risks, it provides a potential model for future interventions which do not rely on sometimes tired or outdated labour law categories.