Do UK government ministers have any redress under employment law when they are &#39;reshuffled&#39; out of a job?
<p>There has recently been a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58574180" rel="nofollow noreferrer">'cabinet reshuffle'</a> in the UK.  A number of ministers have been removed from their posts and have seen a change in their status and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaries_of_members_of_the_United_Kingdom_Parliament#Additional_salary" rel="nofollow noreferrer">salaries</a>.  Are these changes covered by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff/fair-dismissals" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fair dismissal</a> criteria of UK empoyment law, or would they (in theory) have a case for unfair dismissal?</p>

<h2>No</h2>
<p>The reason is very simple: MPs are not <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/foi/foi-and-eir/commons-foi-disclosures/members-of-the-house-of-commons-and-members-staff/mps-employers-2020/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">employees</a>.</p>

<p>TLDR: <strong>Yes</strong> in law, but they probably can't establish that the dismissal is unfair.</p>
<h2>Government ministers as servants of the Crown</h2>
<p>It has been suggested elsewhere that MPs are not employees. Be that as it may, the question asks about <em>government ministers</em> who, in addition to being MPs, are also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_servant" rel="nofollow noreferrer">servants of the Crown</a> by virtue of their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_of_the_Crown" rel="nofollow noreferrer">office in the executive</a>. IPSA, which provides the information linked to in the other answer/comment, is <a href="https://www.theipsa.org.uk/mps-pay-and-pensions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">not responsible for the additional salary paid to government ministers</a> over and above their MP's salary.</p>
<p>Although not relevant to employment rights, to support the proposition that a government minster is a servant of the Crown see <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/6/section/12" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 12(1) of the Official Secrets Act 1989</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In this Act “Crown servant” means (a) a Minister of the Crown; [...]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Note also that technically a person could be a government minister <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/parliament/parliamentary-research-archive/ministers-outside-parliament" rel="nofollow noreferrer">without being an MP at all</a>. It could be an interesting question for politics stackexchange whether or not this has ever happened.</p>
<h2>Crown servants as &quot;employees&quot;</h2>
<p>Quoting from the first Wikipedia article linked to above:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Crown servants serve &quot;at the pleasure of the Crown&quot;, and do not
therefore benefit from the protections normally available to employees
by law.[3] However, the majority of these protections are applied to
them by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>See also <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03698/SN03698.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">'Civil servants: Employment rights'</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For  historical  reasons,  servants  of  the  Crown  are  treated  in
common  law  as  a  separate category  of  employee  and  are  not
regarded  as having  a  “contract  of  service”  in  the  normal
sense. The main difference is that theoretically a Crown servant is
dismissible at any time at the  will  of  the  Crown.  However,
various  aspects  of  employment  legislation  have  been extended  to
“Crown  employment,”  particularly  in  the  areas  of  employment
protection,  trade union rights and discrimination.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Unfair dismissal</h2>
<p>The rules on unfair dismissal are found in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (the &quot;<strong>ERA 1996</strong>&quot;). <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/94" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 94(1)</a> (which is in Part X) provides:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>An employee has the right not to be unfairly dismissed by his employer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 191</a> provides that this right is applicable to Crown employees:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) Subject to sections 192 and 193, the provisions of this Act to
which this section applies have effect in relation to Crown employment
and persons in Crown employment as they have effect in relation to
other employment and other employees or workers.</p>
<p>(2) This section applies to [...] (e) Part X, apart from section 101</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, it would appear that government minsters <em>do</em> have unfair dismissal rights.</p>
<p>Similar provisions can be found in in <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/section/273" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 273(3)</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/section/273" rel="nofollow noreferrer">273(1)</a> of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation Act 1992). <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/part/IV/chapter/II/crossheading/duty-of-employer-to-consult-trade-union-representatives" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chaper II of Part IV</a> of that Act makes various provisions for unfair dismissal in the context of trade union law, however those are specifically excluded for persons in Crown employment by way of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/52/section/273" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 273(2)</a>. So a minister's unfair dismissal rights are not as wide as a regular employee.</p>
<p>Crown employees also benefit from various other employment rights by way of similar provisions e.g. in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 but those are not directly relevant to the question.</p>
<h2>Can dismissals of government minsters actually be unfair?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/98" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 98</a> of the ERA 1996 provides:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) In determining for the purposes of this Part whether the dismissal
of an employee is fair or unfair, it is for the employer to show [...]
(b) that [the reason for dismissal] is either a reason falling within
subsection (2) or some other substantial reason of a kind such as to
justify the dismissal of an employee holding the position which the
employee held.</p>
<p>(2) A reason falls within this subsection if it [...] is that the
employee could not continue to work in the position which he held
without contravention (either on his part or on that of his employer)
of a duty or restriction imposed by or under an enactment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Quoting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_in_Council#Prerogative_orders" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Traditionally, Orders in Council are used as a way for the Prime
Minister to make political appointments</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/26/section/1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 1</a> of the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975 provides:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Her Majesty may by Order in Council—</p>
<p>(a)provide for the transfer to any Minister of the Crown of any
functions previously exercisable by another Minister of the Crown;</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>(c)direct that functions of any Minister of the Crown shall be
exercisable concurrently with another Minister of the Crown, or shall
cease to be so exercisable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, given that the Prime Minister has a legislative power to dismiss minsters or strip them of their functions, it seems unlikely that such a dismissal would meet the criteria of unfairness. Either because they &quot;<em>could not continue to work [as a minister] without contravention [on his part]
of [a restriction] imposed [under] an enactment</em>&quot; pursuant to section 98(2) of the ERA 1996, or under the generality of a &quot;<em>substantial reason of a kind such as to justify the dismissal</em>&quot; pursuant to section 98(1).</p>

united-kingdom employment