After a lot of back and forth, the Employment Rights Bill received Royal Assent in December 2025, officially making it law.
Now known as the Employment Rights Act of 2025, the changes this act will bring will reshape how businesses manage their workforce, handle dismissals, respond to industrial action, and much more. Some provisions are already in effect, but many will arrive in February, April, and
October 2026, and the impact will be felt across businesses of all sizes.
This blog focuses specifically on what’s changing in 2026 and what you need to do now to prepare. Let’s break down what’s coming, when it’s happening, and how you can prepare your business.
Employment Law Changes That Are Already in Effect
Minimum service level rules for strikes have been removed. The previous government introduced regulations requiring certain sectors to maintain minimum service levels during strike action.
These rules have now been scrapped, meaning that there’s no longer a legal requirement to maintain specific service levels during industrial action.
What this means for your business: You need to reassess your contingency planning for potential strike action. Without minimum service level requirements, you’ll need alternative strategies for maintaining important services during disputes.
February 2026 Changes
February 2026’s employment law changes focus heavily on industrial action and union activity. Even if you don’t currently recognise a union, these changes matter. Workforce attitudes can shift, and it’s always better to be prepared.
Increased dismissal protection for industrial action. Employees participating in lawful industrial action will have stronger protection against dismissal. The current 12-week protection window is also being removed entirely.
Notice periods for industrial action will be reduced. Trade unions will be able to give shorter notice before taking industrial action, changing to 10 days from the currently required 14.
Simple majority voting for industrial action. Unions will need a simple majority of those voting to proceed with industrial action.
Picket supervisors are no longer required. The requirement for unions to appoint and identify picket supervisors is being removed, simplifying the logistics of organising picket lines.
Industrial action mandates will be extended. Mandates for industrial action will now last 12 months rather than 6, giving unions a longer window to take action following a successful ballot without needing to re-ballot members.
Political fund rule changes. The rules around trade union political funds are being reformed, though the specifics of how this affects employers are limited.
How Businesses Can Prepare
If you recognise a union or operate in a sector where unionisation is common, now is the time to strengthen your employee relations. Focus on proactive dialogue, addressing concerns before they escalate into disputes.
Alongside this, invest in creating a workplace culture where employees feel heard and valued. After all, the best defence against industrial action is a workforce that feels their employer genuinely cares about their wellbeing and treats them fairly.
However, you should also review your business continuity plans with the reality of potentially shorter notice periods in mind. How would you maintain operations with less warning of industrial action? What communications would you need in place?
April 2026 Changes
April 2026 will bring changes that will affect day-to-day HR practices, particularly around family leave, sick pay, redundancy, and harassment.
Day-one rights for paternity and unpaid parental leave. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become day-one rights, meaning that employees can access them immediately upon starting employment, rather than after a qualifying period.
However, it’s important to note that whilst the leave becomes a day-one right, Statutory Paternity Pay still requires 26 weeks’ continuous service. This means new employees may be entitled to take the leave but not receive statutory pay during it.
The restriction preventing paternity leave after shared parental leave will also be removed, giving families more flexibility when planning leave.
Statutory sick pay reforms. SSP will be payable from the first day of illness rather than after a waiting period of three days, and the lower earnings limit will be removed. SSP will be paid at 80% of usual earnings or the statutory flat rate, whichever is lower. This means more employees will be eligible for SSP, and they’ll receive it sooner.
Collective redundancy consultation penalties to be doubled. The maximum protective award for failing to properly consult on collective redundancies will double from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay. This significantly increases the financial risk of getting redundancy consultation wrong.
Sexual harassment will become a qualifying disclosure. Sexual harassment will become a “qualifying disclosure” under whistleblowing law, meaning employees who raise concerns about sexual harassment will have protection against detriment and dismissal for doing so.
Gender pay gap and menopause action plans. From April 2026, businesses will be encouraged to voluntarily create action plans addressing gender pay gaps and menopause support. These will become mandatory at some point in 2027, so getting ahead of the curve now makes sense.
The Fair Work Agency will be established. A new Fair Work Agency will be created to enforce employment rights and tackle non-compliance. This represents a more proactive approach to employment law enforcement, with an increased chance of negative implications for businesses that aren’t meeting their obligations.
How Businesses Can Prepare
Review your family leave policies now. Understand how day-one paternity and parental leave will affect your workforce planning and coverage arrangements, and make sure that managers receive updated guidance on how to apply these new rules. Updating your HR policies to reflect these changes should happen well before April.
Assess the financial impact of SSP changes. More employees becoming eligible for SSP from day one will likely lead to extra costs. Factor this into your budgeting and consider how you’ll manage increased absence costs.
If you’re facing potential redundancies, ensure your consultation processes are absolutely watertight. With penalties doubling, the cost of getting this wrong has become significantly higher. Support with redundancy processes can help you navigate complicated situations whilst ensuring that you remain compliant.
Strengthen your approach to preventing sexual harassment. The enhanced whistleblowing protections mean employees will feel more confident raising concerns. Make sure your reporting mechanisms are clear and accessible, and train managers on how to respond appropriately when concerns are raised.
Consider voluntary action plans. Even though gender pay gap and menopause action plans won’t be mandatory until 2027, starting work on them now demonstrates commitment and gives you time to develop meaningful, rather than rushed, approaches.
October 2026 Changes
The October 2026 employment law changes will tackle some of the more contentious employment practices and significantly strengthen employee protections.
Fire and rehire restrictions. “Fire and rehire” practices (dismissing employees and rehiring them on worse terms) will automatically become unfair dismissal in the vast majority of cases. There will be extremely limited exceptions, essentially only where a business genuinely faces closure without the changes.
Expanded liability for harassment. Employers will be liable for harassment by third parties (such as customers, clients, or suppliers) unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. The duty to prevent sexual harassment is also being strengthened, requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” rather than simply “reasonable steps”. This subtle language change implies a higher standard of prevention.
Tipping law changes. Employers will need to consult with workers or their representatives before creating or changing tipping policies, and these policies must be reviewed and updated at least every three years. This ensures transparency around how tips are distributed and gives workers a voice in the process.
Extended tribunal time limits. The time limit for making most claims to employment tribunals will increase from three months to six months. Whilst this gives employees more time to bring claims, it also means employers face a longer period of potential liability after an event takes place.
How Businesses Can Prepare
If you’re considering contract changes, you’ll need to negotiate changes with employees through consultation and come to an agreement together. This is another development that makes strong employee relations and effective communication even more important. People management training can help your managers navigate these conversations effectively.
Audit your approach to third-party harassment. What reasonable steps have you taken to prevent harassment from customers, clients, or suppliers? Do you have clear policies? Do employees know how to report concerns? Are there consequences when third parties behave inappropriately? Document the steps you’re taking, as proving that you have made “all reasonable steps” requires demonstrable action.
Review your sexual harassment prevention measures. The raised standard means you need to be proactive. Risk assessments, training managers and employers, making sure you have clear reporting processes and carrying out regular policy reviews will all form part of demonstrating you’ve taken all reasonable steps.
If you have tipping arrangements, ensure you have a clear, written policy. If you don’t have one, create it in consultation with your employees, and make sure you review this policy every three years.
Improve your record-keeping. With six-month tribunal time limits, you should maintain clear records of decisions, conversations, and events for longer periods.
2027 Changes
These updates feel far away at present, but it is still useful to know what 2027 will bring – especially if you’re an employer who likes to plan ahead
Pregnancy and maternity rights will be strengthened. The Employment Rights Act aims to further protect pregnant workers and workers who are on maternity leave from dismissal.
The end of “exploitative” zero-hour contracts. Workers on zero-hour contracts will gain the right to guaranteed working hours based on their usual working pattern over a 12-week period.. In a similar vein, workers will also have the right to be paid for shifts that are cancelled, cut short by the employer, or moved to a later date.
Flexible working regulations to be updated. If an employer rejects a flexible working request, they will have to explain why they have rejected the request and why they believe their refusal of the request is reasonable.
New rights to bereavement leave. Employees will gain a new right to bereavement leave, and there will be an extension to parental bereavement leave for miscarriages occurring before the 24th week of pregnancy.
Changes to the collective redundancy threshold. Currently, the threshold for collective redundancy sits at 20 or more redundancies at one establishment. In 2027, this will change to include redundancies that take place across the employer’s organisation as a whole.
How Businesses Can Prepare
Review your maternity and pregnancy policies. Make sure your policies clearly outline the protections in place for pregnant workers and those on maternity leave. Train managers on what constitutes discrimination and how to handle performance concerns or restructures that involve pregnant workers or those on maternity leave. The strengthened protections mean you need to be extra careful that any decisions can be justified on legitimate business grounds.
Assess your use of zero-hours contracts. If you use zero-hours or low-hours contracts, start thinking about how guaranteed hours arrangements would work in your business. Calculate what patterns have emerged over the past 12 weeks for your zero-hours workers, as this will likely form the basis of their guaranteed hours.
Prepare for more detailed flexible working responses. When you reject flexible working requests, you’ll need to do more than cite one of the eight statutory reasons. You’ll need to explain why your refusal is reasonable in the circumstances. This means documenting your decision-making process more thoroughly: what alternatives you considered, why they wouldn’t work, and what business impact you’d face.
Create or update your bereavement leave policy. With new statutory rights coming, ensure you have a clear bereavement leave policy that covers the new entitlements.
Review your redundancy processes if you operate across multiple sites. If you’re planning any restructures or redundancies in 2027, get expert advice early to ensure you understand whether collective consultation requirements apply. The penalties for getting this wrong are already significant and set to double in April 2026.
Unfair Dismissal: Why You Need to Act Now
Perhaps the most significant change for many businesses is the reduction in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection from two years to just six months. While this change is due to be implemented on 1st January 2027, it is essential that you start planning for this much, much sooner.
This is because if you hire someone in early 2026, and they reach six months’ service after the law changes, they’ll be protected from unfair dismissal even though they were hired before the change came into effect.
This means that potentially every hire you make from July 2026 onwards will be subject to these new rules.
What this means in practice: Your recruitment and onboarding processes need to be tightened now. Probationary periods need to be actively managed, with regular check-ins, clear feedback, and documented performance concerns.
Employers can no longer afford to coast through the first six months, hoping someone will improve or fit in better with time. If they’re not working out, you need to address it promptly and properly.
It is also crucial that your managers understand how to conduct effective probationary reviews and make evidence-based decisions about whether someone is right for the role. Leadership development and coaching may become even more valuable when managers need to make these calls confidently and fairly within a shorter timeframe.
Turning Change Into Opportunity
These employment law changes represent a fundamental shift in the balance of power between employers and employees.
The government’s stated aim is to “make work pay” and provide stronger protections for workers, so for employers, this means adapting how you recruit and retain your workforce.
Whilst these changes will no doubt bring challenges, they also present an opportunity. Businesses that embrace the spirit of these reforms: treating employees fairly, consulting genuinely, preventing harassment proactively, and managing performance transparently have the opportunity to build even stronger, more engaged workforces and reduce HR problems that consume time and money.
Ultimately, the choice is to approach these changes as an irritating compliance burden or see them as a catalyst for building better workplaces. We’d argue the latter approach is not only more ethical but may hold a lot more opportunity for long-term growth and success.
Need help adjusting to 2026’s employment law changes? We’re here to provide practical, straightforward guidance that makes sense for your business.Get in touch today, and let’s make sure you’re ready.