The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces some of the most significant changes to UK employment law in recent years, with new rules affecting sick pay, unfair dismissal, flexible working, zero-hours contracts, redundancy consultation, workplace harassment and trade union rights.
Rather than taking effect on a single date, the reforms are being introduced gradually throughout 2026 and 2027. This phased timetable gives employers time to prepare, but it also creates a complex set of deadlines, consultations and proposed regulations to track.
Several important changes are already in place, including Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of absence, day-one rights to paternity and unpaid parental leave, increased collective redundancy awards and new holiday pay record-keeping requirements. Further reforms are expected later in 2026, followed by major changes to unfair dismissal rights and fire and rehire practices from January 2027.
This Employment Rights Act roadmap explains what has changed, what is coming next and the practical steps employers should take to update their HR policies, contracts, payroll processes and manager guidance.
Consultation Exercises
Several Employment Rights Act reforms still require further consultation before the final rules, regulations and guidance are confirmed. These consultations allow employers, workers, trade unions and other stakeholders to shape how the changes will work in practice. They cover areas including guaranteed hours, holiday pay enforcement, workplace monitoring, pay transparency and employment status.
Employers should follow the outcomes closely, as the final details could affect contracts, policies, payroll processes, workforce planning and HR compliance responsibilities.
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Ongoing/Summer 2026
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Consultation exercises to cover the following proposed measures:
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- Misuse of non-disclosure agreements - seeking views on proposals to prevent the misuse of non-disclosure agreements in cases of workplace harassment and discrimination (consultation closed 8 July 2026)
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- Employment rights for unpaid carers - review of how things have been working since the introduction of Carer’s Leave in April 2024 and whether this should be paid and/or extended instead of being one week’s unpaid leave (review concludes 1 September 2026)
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- Time off for public duties - seeking views on how the right to time off work for public duties operates in practice, and on proposed changes to the list of public duties eligible for time off under the legislation (consultation closes 4 September 2026)
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- Holiday pay compliance and enforcement - seeking views on the proposed approach to ensuring compliance with statutory holiday pay entitlements, what support and guidance the Fair Work Agency can provide to help support compliance and the extent to which rolled-up holiday pay is being used in practice (consultation closes 22 September 2026)
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- Workplace monitoring technologies - seeking views on proposals to support the fair, transparent and responsible use of workplace monitoring technologies (eg in tracking location, digital activity, communication, behaviour surveillance etc), used to monitor, manage or make decisions relating to workers (consultation closes 30 September 2026)
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- Pay Transparency measures - seeking views on the current equal pay framework and proposals on ways to address issues currently affecting disabled people, those from ethnic minority groups and outsourced workers through the introduction of proactive and preventative measures - e.g publishing information on pay and conditions in job adverts, strengthening enforcement, etc (consultation closes 27 October 2026)
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To be confirmed
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Consultation exercises to include the following proposed measures:
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- Employment status (merging employees and workers)
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Key Changes Already In Place
Several important employment law changes have already taken effect during 2026. These measures include new day-one leave rights, changes to Statutory Sick Pay, stronger whistleblowing protections, increased penalties for failures to consult on collective redundancies and new holiday pay record-keeping duties.
Employers should review their current HR policies, payroll settings, employment documents and manager guidance to confirm that these changes have been fully implemented across the organisation.
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18 February 2026
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- Repeal of most of the Trade Union Act 2016
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Most of the Trade Union Act 2016 was repealed, simplifying requirements relating to industrial action, political funds and trade union administration.
The changes included removing the 40% support threshold for industrial action ballots in certain important public services, increasing the industrial action ballot mandate from six to 12 months, reducing the notice period for industrial action from 14 to 10 days and removing the requirement to appoint a picketing supervisor.
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- Removal of political fund ballot requirements
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Trade unions are no longer required to ballot their members every 10 years on whether to retain a political fund.
Changes were also introduced to simplify how members contribute to political funds, including a return to an opt-out system for new members.
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- Simplified industrial action notices
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The information that trade unions must provide to employers when announcing an industrial action ballot or planned industrial action has been reduced.
The information required on industrial action ballot papers has also been simplified.
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- Stronger protection against dismissal for industrial action
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The previous 12-week limit on automatic unfair dismissal protection for employees taking part in protected industrial action was removed.
Employees participating in protected industrial action that began on or after 18 February 2026 are protected against dismissal regardless of how long the action continues.
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- Early notice for day-one family leave rights
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Employees who became newly eligible for day-one Paternity Leave or Unpaid Parental Leave on 6 April 2026 were permitted to give their employer notice from 18 February 2026.
This transitional measure allowed eligible employees to arrange leave that would begin after the new rights came into force.
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6 April 2026
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- Increased collective redundancy protective awards
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In the event of a finding that there has been a failure to consult, the award has doubled from 90 days full pay per affected employee to 180 days. (Note this will also apply for a failure to consult in “fire and rehire” exercises).
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- “Day 1” right to Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave
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Previously 26 weeks service was required for an entitlement to Paternity Leave and 12 months for Parental Leave. This is now no longer the case. It is now also possible for Paternity Leave to be taken after Shared Parental Leave (giving greater flexibility in when/how Paternity Leave can be taken)
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- Whistleblowing protections
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Strengthened protection for whistleblowers by making it explicit that sexual harassment can be the basis for a protected disclosure.
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- Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave
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A new right under the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 which came into effect on 29 December 2025. This enables bereaved fathers and partners to take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of the child’s life.
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- Statutory Sick Pay - SSP entitlement from first day of absence
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Removal of Lower Earnings Limit and 3 day waiting period, meaning that all eligible employees are entitled to SSP regardless of earnings.
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- Retention of holiday pay and holiday entitlement records
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A new mandatory duty to keep records relating to statutory annual leave entitlement and holiday pay for 6 years following the implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (which introduced a new regulation into the Working Time Regulations 1998).
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- Action plans on gender equality and supporting employees through the menopause (voluntary)
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- Menopause guidance (voluntary)
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- Simplification of the Trade Union recognition process
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7 April 2026
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- Establishment of a new Fair Work Agency body
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This body will gradually take over the enforcement of certain statutory rights, e.g. National Minimum Wage, holiday pay, statutory sick pay, modern slavery, employment tribunal penalties etc.
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Upcoming Changes
Further reforms will come into force throughout the remainder of 2026 and during 2027. The upcoming measures will introduce significant changes to unfair dismissal, fire and rehire practices, flexible working, zero-hours contracts, bereavement leave, workplace harassment duties, trade union rights and protections for pregnant employees and new mothers.
Some implementation dates and final details remain subject to consultation and parliamentary approval. Employers should use the roadmap to identify upcoming deadlines, assess areas of risk and begin preparing well before each new requirement takes effect.
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31 August 2026
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- Introduction of changes related to electronic and workplace balloting for statutory Trade Union ballots
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Will enable voting electronically as well as physically within the workplace or by post. It is expected that the current requirement for a 50% turnout will also be removed at the same time.
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October 2026
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- Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union
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To apply to new joiners as well as existing staff. Expected 30 October 2026
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- Strengthening trade union right of access
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Relating to TU’s being able to request physical access to workplaces and digital access to workforces (e.g via email or other digital platforms) for the purposes of recruiting, organising and collective bargaining purposes (but not for organising industrial action). Expected 30 October 2026
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- Requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees
- Introducing an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties
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The current requirement (introduced in October 2024) is to take “reasonable steps”. Change expected 30 October 2026.
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- Regulations to establish the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body in England
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- Extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action
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Expected 30 October 2026
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- Increased Employment Tribunal time limits
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To increase the timeframe for being able to submit a tribunal claim from 3 months to 6 months. Expected 1 October 2026 (with the exception of breach of employment contract claims in Scotland, which will take effect on 9 November 2026)
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- Public sector outsourcing and procurement
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The government will reinstate the two-tier code. This will require outsourced private sector employees working alongside staff transferred from the public sector to receive terms and conditions that are no less favourable.
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By the end of 2026
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Introducing a mandatory requirement to consult with staff when developing and reviewing tipping policies (as opposed to this being a recommended action) and for these to be reviewed and consulted upon every 3 years.
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- Seafarer Protection Regulations
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New regulations will strengthen employment protections for seafarers. Further detail will be provided through supporting regulations and guidance.
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January 2027
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Instead of needing a minimum of 2 years of continuous service. From 1 January 2027, employees who already have at least six months’ service will immediately qualify for ordinary unfair dismissal protection. Employees with less than six months’ service will qualify once they reach the six-month threshold.
The compensatory cap for successful claims of unfair dismissal (currently whichever is the lower of 52 weeks' gross pay or £123,543) is to be withdrawn completely.
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Making it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing to agree to a change in contract, where the change will reduce pay, alter performance-related pay measures, affect pensions, reduce time off or change working hours or shifts - referred to a “restricted variations” (except where businesses genuinely have no alternative - the bar for demonstrating this will be high).
Note - it will also be automatically unfair to replace the employee with another person on less favourable terms (or agency/other non-employed workers) to do the same role.
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2027 - Dates To Be Confirmed
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- Introduction of a requirement to produce gender pay gap and menopause action plans (further to introduction on a voluntary basis in April 2026)
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Employers with 250 or more employees will need to publish action plans showing how they will address gender equality and support employees through the menopause.
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Protection from dismissal for those who are pregnant, on maternity leave or who have returned to work for a six month period after they return to work (i.e. expanding current protections which relate specifically to redundancy dismissals)
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Whilst collective consultation will still be required where 20 or more redundancy dismissals are proposed at a single establishment, there will be a new threshold for multi-site redundancies
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Requirement for employers to explain the basis of decisions where applications for flexible working are being refused (as opposed to just quoting one of the 8 acceptable statutory reasons), and for any such rejection to be reasonable.
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A new day one right to unpaid bereavement leave - not just for parents as is currently the case. This will now also include pregnancy loss before 24 weeks of pregnancy.
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A new right to a guaranteed hours contract (and therefore more stable earnings) if regular hours are worked over a defined period (likely to be 12 weeks), and with reasonable notice of shifts and compensation payments for shift cancellation/movement and curtailment at short notice (with limited exceptions which are yet to be set out)
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Legal protections against blacklisting connected to trade union activity will be widened.
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New regulations will prevent the misuse of non-disclosure agreements in cases involving workplace harassment or discrimination.
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Last updated: 4 August 2026
Implementation dates remain subject to parliamentary approval, secondary legislation and government guidance. This article covers employment law in Great Britain and does not constitute legal advice.
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