In October Ford announced it was making 500 people redundant by closing its factory in Southampton The 90-day consultation period before large-scale redundancies can take place is to be cut to 45 days, ministers say.Employment Relations Minister Jo Swinson said the move, along with other changes, was aimed at helping workers and businesses.
But Labour said the changes would not boost economic growth and the TUC said: "Making it easier to sack people is the last thing we need."
The change, which affects the whole of the UK, is being introduced in April.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna described the announcement as a "watering down" of employee rights and criticised the Business Secretary Vince Cable, who in May described plans to make it easier to sack workers as "the wrong approach".
'Strike a balance'Ms Swinson said a consultation process had produced strong support for the changes and added: "The process is usually completed well within the existing 90-day minimum period, which can cause unnecessary delays for restructuring, and make it difficult for those affected to get new jobs quickly.
Continue reading the main storyThe last thing we need is for the government to make it easier to sack people...These measures will not create a single extra job.”End Quote Brendan Barber TUC "Our reforms will strike an appropriate balance between making sure employees are engaged in decisions about their future and allowing employers greater certainty and flexibility to take necessary steps to restructure."
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the change from 90 to 45 days would still allow "full employee engagement" and offer employee representatives a statutory right to contribute to the process.
But Mr Umunna tweeted: "Ministers think watering down people's rights at work is the big bazooka to get growth going and yet there is no evidence to support this."
The TUC's General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "The last thing we need is for the government to make it easier to sack people.
"Unemployment has not gone as high as many feared because employers have worked with unions to save jobs, even if it has meant sharing round fewer hours and less work.
"These measures will not create a single extra job. The idea that an employer will change their mind about taking someone on because the statutory redundancy consultation period has been reduced from 90 to 45 days is close to absurd."
WelcomedBut Alexander Ehmann, of the Institute of Directors, welcomed the decision: "Companies facing problems have to be able to restructure swiftly, and a 45-day consultation period brings the UK closer to a number of EU competitors.
"We would have preferred a move to a 30-day consultation period - the same as for smaller-scale redundancies - which would have made the law less complex," he added.
Ms Swinson also announced plans to exclude fixed-term contracts from collective redundancy agreements when they reach the end of their "natural life".
Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor, submitted a report earlier this year on cutting red tape Tim Thomas, head of employment and skills at the manufacturers' organisation EEF, said: "Today's announcement will send a strong signal to industry that the government is committed to creating the flexible labour market that it needs.
"By reducing the consultation period from 90 to 45 days, the government has taken a further step to creating a modern consultation system based on the quality, not the length of, the process."
The announcement came on the last day of trading for electrical store chain Comet, which has gone into administration.
Earlier this year the prime minister commissioned venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor Adrian Beecroft to write a report about how employment law could be reformed to cut red tape and boost UK businesses.
He reported in May but some of his recommendations were condemned by Business Secretary Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat.
Later in the summer the coalition decided that, rather than introduce the recommendations in the Beecroft Report, they would consult with businesses about what changes they would like to see introduced and that consultation has led to Wednesday's announcement.
The head of the TUC's equality and employment rights department, Sarah Veale, told BBC Radio Five Live the announcement was "rubbing salt into the wound" for many workers who were about to lose their jobs.
She suggested the government was "trying to build antagonism" into a process which worked well, and she said the extra time for negotiation often led to more jobs being saved.
Ms Veale pointed out that under the current system employers did not have to take the full 90 days to consult, if the unions were content, and she said this was the case in the majority of cases.
