Employment, benefits, social security and immigration are all
matters currently reserved to the UK Parliament.
As part of the promises made to the Scottish electorate in
advance of the referendum vote last week, Gordon Brown included
employment rights amongst those further powers that he believes
should be devolved to Scotland.
A House of Commons debate on Gordon Brown's 12-point plan is
expected in mid-October and a draft bill is to be drawn up by Burns
Night. Amending legislation is, however, unlikely to be passed
until after the General Election in May 2015.
Were the SNP to have the requisite majority to make use of
devolved power to legislate on employment rights, the White Paper
published in November 2013 gives us an outline of the keys issues
they may look to tackle:
