UK is moving to ban NDAs to hide misconduct, Guardian reports

John Harney, Bloomberg News on Jul 7, 2025

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The U.K. government is moving to ban employers deploying nondisclosure agreements to muzzle workers who have been victims of misconduct on the job, the Guardian reported on Monday.

Under the reforms being prepared as part of broader employee rights legislation by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, any NDA that tried to head off complaints of workplace discrimination or harassment would be unenforceable, the newspaper reported.

Workers who complain of misconduct as well as witnesses would be able to speak out without facing legal repercussions as a result.

“Victims and witnesses of harassment and discrimination have been silenced for too long,” Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said in a post on X Monday night. “This Labour government will stamp it out.”

The workers rights agenda unfolds less than a week after a rebellion in Starmer’s own party forced him to back down from a welfare reform measure.

After making concessions, the Labour government found on the day of the welfare vote that it was still facing defeat in Parliament and pulled all of the divisive measures from the bill, leaving Chancellor Rachel Reeves with a £5 billion shortfall.

That marked a humiliating defeat for the prime minister just a year after Labour won a commanding victory in the 2024 elections.