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Employment Rights Act 2025 provisions

18 December 2025 – Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 repealed with immediate effect. The controversial legislation, which required workers in certain public services to maintain minimum service levels during strikes, was repealed immediately upon Royal Assent of the Employment Rights Act 2025. This represents a symbolic first change under the new Act, removing what the Government described as an attack on trade union rights.

February 2026 (two months after Royal Assent):

• Dismissal for taking part in industrial action becomes automatically unfair, removing the current 12-week limit for claiming unfair dismissal. Workers will now be protected from dismissal for the full period of any lawful industrial action, significantly strengthening protections for those engaging in strikes.
• Trade union ballot requirements reduced, with the 40% support threshold in important public services removed and various prescribed information requirements simplified. These changes aim to reduce administrative burdens on trade unions while maintaining democratic principles.
• Period for giving notice of industrial action reduced from 14 days to 10 days, allowing unions to take action more quickly following a successful ballot while still providing employers with advance notice.
• Mandate for industrial action extended from 6 months to 12 months, meaning trade unions will not need to re-ballot as frequently to maintain their mandate for action, reducing costs and administrative burden.
• Requirement to appoint a picket supervisor repealed, removing the obligation for unions to designate a specific individual to oversee picketing activities and notify police of their details.
• Reversal of political fund rules so new members will be automatically opted into a union’s political fund, with the ability to opt out, rather than requiring active opt-in.

April 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025):

• The Fair Work Agency (FWA) will be established as a new single enforcement body for employment rights. The FWA will consolidate enforcement functions currently spread across HMRC, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. It will have robust powers including workplace inspections, civil penalties for underpayments, and the ability to bring proceedings on workers’ behalf. Crucially, the FWA will enforce statutory holiday pay and statutory sick pay compliance for the first time, with the power to issue notices of underpayment going back up to six years and impose penalties of up to 200% of the underpayment. Employers must keep records demonstrating compliance with holiday pay for six years, with failure to do so becoming a criminal offence. Full enforcement powers commence (exact timing not yet confirmed) later in 2026/2027.
• Paternity leave becomes a day one right, removing the current 26 weeks qualifying service requirement. This allows employees to give notice of paternity leave from their first day of employment, ensuring new fathers and partners can access this vital time with their families regardless of length of service.
• Ordinary parental leave becomes a day one right, removing the current 1 year qualifying service requirement. Employees will be able to access up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave for each child from day one of employment, supporting work-life balance for working parents.
• Restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave removed, correcting what appeared to be an inadvertent gap following the April 2024 changes. This allows greater flexibility for families to structure their leave arrangements.
• Sexual harassment becomes a ‘qualifying disclosure’ under whistleblowing law, meaning protection from detriment and unfair dismissal for whistleblowers making a sexual harassment disclosure. This strengthens protections for those who speak up about sexual harassment in the workplace.
• From April 2026, employers with 250 or more employees are expected to introduce voluntary equality action plans. Although voluntary, these measures signal a growing expectation for transparency and proactive equality initiatives. Equality action plans will be mandatory in 2027
• Statutory Sick Pay waiting period removed, meaning employees will receive SSP from the first day of sickness rather than after four days. This removes a significant financial barrier for those who need to take time off due to illness.
• Statutory Sick Pay lower earnings limit removed, extending SSP eligibility to lower-paid workers who currently earn below the £123 per week threshold. This will provide greater financial protection to vulnerable workers.
• Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave (BPPL) becomes a statutory right from 6 April 2026, providing up to 52 weeks of unpaid leave for fathers and partners whose partner dies in childbirth or within the first year of the child’s birth or adoption placement. It is a day one right with no qualifying service requirement, ensuring bereaved parents have immediate protection at the most difficult of times.

October 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025):

• Extension of tribunal time limits from three months to six months for most claims. This significant extension will make it easier for employees to bring claims by doubling the time available to submit tribunal applications, though it may also increase the number of claims facing employers.
• Fire and rehire becomes automatically unfair for ‘restricted variations’ to core employment terms. Dismissals to impose changes to pay, working hours, shift times, pensions, or statutory holiday will be automatically unfair unless the employer can demonstrate the change was necessary to prevent business closure due to financial difficulties. This significantly restricts the controversial practice while allowing a narrow exception for genuine business emergencies.
• Employers will be liable for third-party harassment unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. This extends employer liability to harassment by customers, clients, or other third parties, applying to all types of harassment under the Equality Act, not just sexual harassment. Employers in customer-facing sectors such as retail and hospitality will need to implement robust preventative measures.
• Tipping law strengthened under Employment Rights Act 2025 provisions. Employers will be required to consult with recognised trade unions, workers’ representatives, or workers themselves (where no such bodies exist) when creating or revising tipping policies, and to review these policies at least every three years. This builds on the October 2024 changes that required tips to be passed on in full and allocated fairly and transparently.
• Trade union rules updated with new employer duties and union representative rights. Employers will have a new duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. Updated rules will govern a trade union’s right of access to the workplace, and there will be new rights to reasonable accommodation and facilities for trade union representatives carrying out their duties. Union equality representatives will have a new right to time off to carry out their duties.
• Increased protection against detriment for industrial action. Workers taking part in industrial action will be protected against detriment, in addition to the existing protection from unfair dismissal. Detriment is when someone is treated less favourably by their employer, including actions such as denial of promotion, training opportunities, or other workplace benefits.
• Public sector outsourcing ‘two-tier code’ introduced. New measures will be implemented to avoid having different terms and conditions for ex-public sector employees and private sector employees when public sector work is outsourced. This aims to ensure fair treatment and prevent a two-tier workforce.
• Adult Social Care Negotiating Body established. A new negotiating body for adult social care will be created to support fair pay agreements and improve working conditions in the sector.

December 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025):

• Mandatory Seafarer’s Charter introduced. A new mandatory charter for seafarers will come into force, setting higher standards around health and safety, pay, job security and rest breaks for those working in the maritime industry.

January 2027 (Employment Rights Act 2025):

• Unfair dismissal qualifying period reduced from two years to six months. This change will apply to employees who have six months’ qualifying service on 1 January 2027, significantly expanding the number of workers protected from unfair dismissal. Employers will need to review probationary periods and dismissal procedures to ensure compliance.
• Cap on unfair dismissal compensation removed. Previously limited to 52 weeks’ pay or £118,223 (whichever is lower), compensation will now be uncapped, meaning awards could be substantially higher, particularly for high earners or cases involving serious procedural failures. This dramatically increases potential financial exposure for employers.

2027

• Trade union protections extended and new industrial relations framework introduced. Laws that protect trade union members from discrimination and being ‘blacklisted’ will be extended. A new industrial relations framework will be established to help employers and trade unions work together more effectively.

• Umbrella companies brought within regulatory scope. The definition of employment agencies will be expanded to include ‘umbrella companies’, allowing enforcement bodies (including the Fair Work Agency from 2027) to regulate and take action against umbrella companies that fail to meet their legal obligations.

• Enhanced protections against dismissal for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. The legislation will make it unlawful to dismiss pregnant women, mothers on maternity leave, and mothers who return to work for at least a six-month period after they return, except in specific circumstances such as gross misconduct or genuine redundancy.
• Statutory bereavement leave introduced, including for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Employees will have a day one right to unpaid bereavement leave when they experience the loss of a loved one, including pregnancy loss. The duration and whether any of this leave will be paid has not yet been confirmed and remains subject to consultation.
• Zero-hours contract workers gain right to guaranteed working hours based on hours regularly worked. Workers will have the right to be offered a contract reflecting the hours they have worked over a defined reference period (expected to be 12 weeks). This aims to end exploitative zero-hours practices while maintaining some flexibility.
• Workers gain right to compensation for cancelled, moved or curtailed shifts. Employers will be required to provide reasonable notice of shifts, and failure to do so will result in compensation payments. Workers will also receive compensation if shifts are cancelled or cut short without adequate notice.
• Flexible working refusals must be based on reasonable grounds with enhanced consultation requirements. The existing eight statutory reasons for refusing flexible working requests will remain, but the burden on employers will increase, with a requirement to demonstrate that refusals are genuinely reasonable and that proper consultation has taken place.
• Statutory specification of ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment. Building on the October 2024 duty to take reasonable steps, regulations will provide a non-exhaustive list of what amounts to ‘reasonable steps’, giving clearer guidance to employers. The standard will also be raised from ‘reasonable steps’ to ‘all reasonable steps’.
• Menopause and gender pay gap action plans become mandatory. Following the voluntary introduction in April 2026, larger employers will be required to publish action plans setting out measures to address gender pay gaps and support offered to employees experiencing menopause.
• Collective redundancy consultation rules amended to include organisation-wide thresholds. A new trigger will require collective consultation where a threshold number of employees are proposed to be made redundant across an employer’s entire business, not just at one establishment. The specific threshold will be set in regulations.

Content will be added as the changes are introduced, so keep checking back!