The Employment Rights Bill, currently progressing through the House of Lords, is one of the biggest shake-ups of employment law for decades. It's as controversial as it is wide-ranging, with employer groups and some MPs warning that the changes will increase business costs and stifle growth. However, the Government remains firmly committed to the legislation and has now published a timetable for its implementation. Employers will be relieved that some of the most significant changes are being postponed until 2027, but with key details not set to be published until this year, employers will still have a lot to get to grips with in a relatively short space of time.
When will we get more detail?
One of the major difficulties for employers trying to prepare for these reforms is that some key details have yet to be published. In particular, we are still awaiting details of how probationary periods will interact with day 1 unfair dismissal rights, which workers will be eligible to be offered a guaranteed hours contract, and changes to collective redundancy consultation thresholds.
The good news is that a lot of these questions will be answered in the next few months. The Government will consult on these and other elements of the ERB between summer 2025 and early 2026. As the consultation documents are published, we'll be delving into the detail, so watch this space for more information.
When will the key changes under the ERB come into force?
Immediate measures
Some changes to trade union law will come into force as soon as the Bill gets Royal Assent - this may take place before the parliamentary summer recess, but otherwise is likely to happen in early autumn this year.
- Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023
- Repeal of most provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016
- Removal of the 10-year ballot requirement for trade union political funds
- Simplification of industrial action notices and ballot notices
- Enhanced protections against dismissal for taking industrial action
April 2026
The following changes are due to come into force in April 2026:
- Collective redundancies: Doubling the maximum period of the protective award (from 90 days' pay per affected employee to 180 days' pay) for failure to carry out collective redundancy consultation correctly.
- Day 1 paternity leave and unpaid parental leave: Introduction of these rights from the first day of employment.
- Whistleblowing: Specifying that disclosures related to sexual harassment are protected disclosures under whistleblowing law
- Fair Work Agency: Establishment of a new labour law enforcement body
- Statutory sick pay: Removal of the Lower Earnings Limit and waiting period.
- Trade union recognition: Simplification of the statutory recognition process for trade unions
- Electronic balloting: Introduction of electronic balloting for trade unions.
October 2026
- Fire and rehire: Provisions making dismissals related to “fire and rehire” or “fire and replace” (to effect contractual changes) automatically unfair in most cases
- Fair Pay Agreement: Establishment of the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body.
- Procurement Two-Tier Code: regulations relating to contractual terms for workers on outsourced public contracts
- Tipping policies: requiring employers to consult with employees about their written tips policy
- Trade union information and access rights: Duty on employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union, and introduction of workplace access agreements for trade unions
- Sexual harassment: Employers will be required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment and harassment of staff by third parties
- Employment Tribunal time limits: Extending time limits for bringing claims from 3 to 6 months
- Industrial action protections: New protections against detriments for taking industrial action (or to deter the worker from doing so).
2027 - precise date TBC
The following reforms are due to be introduced in 2027:
- Gender pay gap and menopause action plans: Introduction of mandatory action plans for larger employers.
- Pregnancy-related rights: enhanced protection against dismissal for pregnant employees
- Sexual Harassment: Further regulations specifying reasonable steps employers must take to comply with the preventative duty
- Blacklisting: Strengthening of the trade union blacklisting laws, to include blacklists generated by AI or by third parties
- Umbrella companies: Umbrella companies to be regulated similarly to employment businesses
- Collective redundancies: Changes to the collective redundancy consultation threshold for multi-site redundancies
- Flexible working: a requirement that any refusal of a flexible working request must be reasonable
- Bereavement leave: Introduction of bereavement leave rights.
- Guaranteed hours contracts: Duty to offer certain zero hours and agency workers a guaranteed hours contract, duty to give reasonable notice of shifts and shift changes, and compensation for cancelled or altered shifts.
- Day 1 unfair dismissal rights: Removal of the 2 year qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims.
The extended timetable may reflect the Government's recognition that the finer details still need to be hammered out and employers need to have reasonable time to prepare - but employers shouldn't leave it to the last minute, as these changes will have a major impact on day-to-day employee management.
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