Employment Rights Act hub: Everything employers need to know

18 December 2025

Royal Assent

Several measures have come into force immediately following Royal Assent. These include:

• Protections against dismissal for taking part in industrial action;
• Simplification of industrial action notices and ballot notices;
• Removal of the ten-year requirement for trade union political funds; and
• Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and most of the Trade Union Act 2016.

April 2026

• A day-one right to unpaid parental leave;
• A day-one right to paternity leave and potentially the ability to take paternity leave following shared paternal leave;
• A right to statutory sick pay from day one of sickness and removal of the lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay;
• The establishment of the Fair Work Agency;
• Provisions which allow the threshold for statutory union recognition to be lowered from 10% to anywhere between 2% and 10%;
• Sexual harassment disclosures to be deemed public interest disclosures; and
• Protective award for failure to consult properly during a collective redundancy increased from 90 to 180 days’ pay.

October 2026

Further changes will be implemented in October 2026. Including:

• A new employer duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment;
• A new employer duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent third-party harassment of employees;
• Reforms to tipping practices;
• Extension of time limits to bring a tribunal claim from three to six months;
• A new employer duty to provide a statement of trade union rights;
• Strengthened protections against detriment for taking part in industrial action; and
• Enhanced rights to time off and facilities for union representatives, including union officials, union learning representatives and union equality representatives.

2027

The remaining changes brought in by the Act will come into force in 2027, including:

• A six-month qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal and removal of the cap on unfair dismissal and removal of the cap on unfair dismissal compensation;
• An enhanced employee right to request flexible working;
• A new right to bereavement leave, potentially including for pregnancy loss;
• Limitations on the practice of fire and re-hire and fire and replace;
• Enhanced protections against dismissal after statutory family leave, pregnancy and maternity leave; and
• A new duty on employers to offer guaranteed hours and provide reasonable notice of shifts, changing the way zero hours contracts will function in practice/