Employment Rights Act 2025 Timeline Update – What Employers Need to Know

The Government has published an updated timeline for implementing the changes in the Employment Rights Act (which passed in December 2025).  The changes will take effect across 2026 and 2027.  We set out the proposed timeline and the changes below:

18 February 2026

• Repeal of the majority of the Trade Union Act 2016: simplifying requirements for industrial action and political funds.
• Protection against dismissal for taking industrial action: extended from protection during the first 12 weeks of industrial action to the whole period of the industrial action.

6 April 2026

• Collective redundancy protective award: doubling the maximum level of the protective award (for failure to conduct collective consultation correctly) from 90 to 180 days' pay per affected employee. 
• Day 1 paternity leave and unpaid parental leave: removal of the qualifying periods for these rights.
• Whistleblowing: clarifying that disclosures by workers about sexual harassment will be "qualifying disclosures" under whistleblowing law, so that the worker will be able to bring a claim if they are dismissed or treated detrimentally because of the disclosure. 
• Bereaved partners' paternity leave: eligibility to be extended and will enable 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. 
• Statutory sick pay: removal of the Lower Earnings Limit of £125 per week and the three-day waiting period to qualify for payment.

October 2026 

• Tipping law: employers will be required to consult with staff when developing or changing their policies on distributing tips fairly.
• Trade unions: a new duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union, strengthening trade unions’ right of access to the workplace, regulation of unfair practices in the trade union recognition process, new rights and protections for trade union representatives and extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action. 
• Harassment:  employers will be required to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment (strengthening the existing duty) and clarifying that they will be liable for failing to prevent harassment by third parties.   

January 2027 

• Unfair dismissal: reduction of the unfair dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months, and removal of the statutory caps on unfair dismissal compensation (currently the lower of £118,223 or 52 weeks’ pay). This will apply to dismissals from 1 January 2027. 

• Fire and rehire: dismissal for an employee's refusal to agree to a "restricted variation" is to be treated as automatically unfair, unless the employer can establish that it was suffering severe financial difficulties so that the restricted variation was unavoidable. Restricted variations will include reductions to pay, changes to working hours or pension benefit. 

  This was originally due to be implemented in October 2026 and will now take effect in January 2027. The Government is also consulting about what changes to shift patterns and employee benefits will amount to restricted variations.

2027

• Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers: additional protections will apply to women who are pregnant, on maternity leave and for a protected period following a return to work. We are awaiting further details of the proposals. 
• Trade unions: extending blacklisting protections and an industrial relations framework (most likely in the form of a new Code of Practice).
• Regulation of umbrella companies: to bring them in line with employment businesses.
• Collective redundancy: introduction of a new collective consultation threshold for redundancies across multiple establishments (the threshold is yet to be confirmed).
• Flexible working: introducing a requirement for refusal of a flexible working request to be reasonable and for employers to explain the reasoning.  The Government is consulting on a new procedure which would require employers to consult with an employee before refusing a flexible working request. 
• Guaranteed hours: workers to be offered guaranteed hours to reflect their average hours worked over an initial reference period (the reference period is not yet confirmed), and introducing a requirement for employers to provide "reasonable" notice of shifts, cancellations of shifts and shift changes (the notice period is not yet confirmed) and compensation for failure to comply (the amount to be confirmed).

What employers should do now

• Review and update contracts, policies and practices to reflect the changes in time for their implementation. 
• Review and update staff training, particularly in areas of sexual harassment and third-party harassment. 
• It's expected that more changes will be announced with some measures (including the right to guaranteed hours and collective redundancy reform) requiring more detail from the Government, so employers should keep an eye on key updates.

If you would like to know more, apply to join our Howard Kennedy Employment Rights Act 2025 workshop on Wednesday 25 February 2026.   We will run in-depth interactive sessions, using case studies to bring to life the key changes being introduced and exploring how businesses can adjust to the new employment law landscape. We'll be focussing on the changes and how businesses can prepare for the changes in unfair dismissal claims, union rights, guaranteed hours, collective redundancies and changing contractual terms. 

There are a few remaining places so, with these changes set to be a key focus for employers in 2026 and 2027, contact us to request a place here.