Theresa May, during her campaign and at the beginning of her term as prime minister, repeatedly committed to introducing worker representation on company boards as part of her corporate governance reform package. The news at the beginning of October flashed with headlines such as "Worker reps on company boards could happen within a year if PM makes good on her commitment" – "if", as it turns out, being the operative word, as May has now announced that such representation will not be a compulsory requirement.
When challenged on this backtrack, May argued that there are "other routes that use existing board structures, complemented or supplemented by advisory councils or panels, to ensure all those with a stake in the company are properly represented". May has stated that there is still to be reform in this area but that this will not create a more European-style binary board system (for example, in Germany, workers' voices are kept separate from the running of the company), as May argues that "our unitary boards have served us well and will continue to do so". This is despite concerns that the UK is falling behind its European counterparts by not having such representation at board level.
Only time will tell what these reforms will look like and whether or not they will actually encourage and increase worker representation on boards.
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