Employment Rights Act 2026 reforms and other proposals: what's the latest state of play?

Recent political turmoil and a change of Prime Minister hasn't slowed the pace of employment law reform, which continues to pose significant challenges for employers.   It might be the time of year for putting on your out-of-office message and trying to escape the heatwave, but it's important for HR leaders and business owners to keep in mind the significant changes just around the corner and those that are bubbling beneath the surface. 

What's changing soon? 

From 25 August 2026, for the first time trade unions will be able to conduct ballots on strike action (and various other votes) via electronic voting under the Electronic and Workplace Balloting Code of Practice.   The new Code of Practice sets out guidance on pure electronic, hybrid, and workplace voting options for balloting.  

What's changing this autumn and winter?

From 1 October 2026, the limitation period for most employment tribunal claims will be extended from three to six months.  This will increase uncertainty for employers and give much greater scope for dissatisfied employees to submit (and receive the results of) a data subject access request before they need to notify their claim to ACAS and lodge it with the tribunal.  

Another important (non-ERA) change relating to right-to-work checks will also come into force on 1 October, extending these requirements to workers and individual contractors as well as employees (and with penalties for employing or engaging them to work illegally). 

From 30 October 2026, major changes under the ERA will come into force, including: 

• trade union access agreements
• the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union
• strengthened protections for trade union representatives and activities
• the requirement for employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of staff
• the requirement for employers not to permit the harassment of staff by third parties. 

The changes to unfair dismissal law (removal of the statutory cap on the compensatory award and the reduction of the qualifying service period from 2 years to 6 months) and fire and rehire restrictions come into force on 1 January 2027 (with care needed for dismissals close to this deadline).  

The new Code of Practice and strengthened employer duties in relation to tipping are due to come into force by the end of 2026.  The Government withdrew its original draft Code of Practice after fierce criticisms from trade unions but has committed to a further consultation concerning this.   

The remaining changes under the ERA 2025 (including the change to the collective redundancy threshold and right to guaranteed hours) are expected to come into force in 2027, but precise dates are yet to be confirmed. 

What else is on the horizon?

The Government is consulting on reforms to the equal pay framework with a view to introducing pay transparency requirements (similar to some provisions of the Pay Transparency Directive which is being implemented across the EU) and strengthening enforcement of equal pay law.  In particular, it is proposing to introduce a statutory requirement for employers to publish information about pay and conditions in job adverts, extending the duty of employment tribunals to order equal pay audits and job evaluations in certain circumstances, establishing a new equal pay enforcement unit and extending the remedies available in pay discrimination claims linked to race and disability rather than sex. 

There is no clear timescale yet for these reforms (nor indeed for the mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting which the Government previously committed to introducing). 

Equal pay law isn't the only area the Government has in its sights.   It's also consulting on a possible statutory code of practice governing employee monitoring technologies, recently concluded a call for evidence on possible reform to TUPE, and has issued a call for evidence on the experiences of people with variations in sex characteristics (including intersex people).  Although these measures will not be immediate, they will have a significant practical impact and employers will need to stay abreast of them.   No need to take a paperback on holiday this year - the stack of consultation papers is action-packed enough. 

We'll be looking at the impact of the most immediate changes in our interactive Employment team workshop on the morning of 30 September - if you'd like to attend, please get in touch with your usual Employment team contact.