The government’s proposed reforms to employment law would be “highly damaging” to business investment in the UK, according to CBI president Rupert Soames. 

Writing in The Times, Soames argued that this week’s U-turns on more controversial aspects of the legislation – from changes to statutory sick pay, to tweaks to protections for agency workers and rowing back on the “right to switch off” – did not go far enough. 

Soames, the chairman of Smith & Nephew, slammed the legislation as a barrier to investment and workforce expansion from abroad. 

The employment legislation has come under fire from business groups including the British Chambers of Commerce, UKHospitality, and the Institute of Directors, and Soames argues that the CBI’s views have been “largely ignored”. 

“The government’s reforms must be seen in the context of one of the biggest cost increases for employers in decades – higher national insurance, the living wage hike, and changes to business rates and taxation on business assets”.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds promised this week to “untap the UK’s potential by attracting the best talent”. 

Soames argues that employers around the country are being punished for the bad behaviour of a few rogue employers: “Everyone acknowledges that there are, unfortunately, bad actors in the labour market — a small minority of bad employers, just as there are a few bad employees.”

Soames added: “In combination, these measures are profoundly detrimental to investment and growth.”

“By the government’s own estimates, this legislation will add £5bn to companies’ costs.”