On 18 December 2025, the Employment Rights Act finally received Royal Assent following a prolonged “ping-pong” stage between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Employers would be well advised to begin planning now, as the resulting changes to UK employment law will be phased in over the next two years.
It has been confirmed that the changes for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will be implemented in April 2026 and from January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims will be reduced from two years to six months. The statutory cap for unfair dismissal claims (which is currently the lower figure of either one year’s salary, or £118,000) will also be removed from the same date, 1 January 2027.
Understanding what is changing, and when those changes will take effect, will be critical to developing new policies, updating contracts, and ensuring ongoing compliance.
Immediate change
Industrial action laws
Upon Royal Assent, the Government repealed the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. This removed the power to force minimum staffing during strikes in key sectors such as healthcare and education.
Shortly, with no date yet confirmed, the Government is also going to repeal significant aspects of the Trade Union Act 2016. This will see:
- the abolition of the 10-year ballot requirement for trade union political funds;
- changes to the rules governing the service and effect of industrial action ballot notices and industrial action notices; and
- the introduction of new protections against dismissal for employees who participate in industrial action.
April 2026 changes
Imminent changes that impact most workplaces
For most employers, this is when they will begin to feel the effect of the changes following the ERA 2025.
- Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become a day one right by 18 February 2026, enabling leave to be taken from 6 April 2026. This will allow an additional 32,000 fathers/partners per year to have access to paternity leave immediately, as a mother would with maternity leave, according to a recent government report published on 11 January 2026. The eligibility for statutory paternity pay is however not changing.
- Practical tip: Ensure that your contracts and handbooks are updated to account for this new day one right.
- The maximum protective award for failure to collectively inform and consult employees about proposed redundancies will increase from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay per affected employee from April 2026. Under the updated Statutory Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-Engagement, employment tribunals may apply a 25% uplift where an employer has unreasonably failed to consult, this could effectively result in total liability of 225 days’ pay per employee.
- Practical tip: Now is a good opportunity for employers to audit their redundancy processes against the requirements of the Code. Investing in training for HR professionals and line managers on effective and compliant consultation practices will help reduce risk and ensure consistency.
- It is expected from 6 April Statutory sick pay (SSP) will be paid from the first day of illness, instead of the fourth day and the lower earnings limit will be removed. Currently a worker must earn a minimum amount to be eligible for SSP, and will only receive the benefit after their fourth day of illness.
- Practical Tip: Once this change has been confirmed, ensure that systems and policies referring to waiting days and the lower earnings limit for SSP purposes are updated and communicate these changes to staff before April 2026.
- Sexual Harassment will be included in the list of what is covered under protected disclosures for the purpose of whistleblowing protections.
- Practical tip: Ensure preventative sexual harassment training is delivered to workers and that your whistleblowing policy is updated to include this.
- Trade Union members are expected to be able to vote electronically.
- Practical tip: Ensure all policies and handbooks outlining trade union members’ rights are updated.
- Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave will be extended to 52 weeks of leave for fathers or partners of a mother or adopter of a child who dies in childbirth, or within a year of the birth.
- Practical tip: Update handbooks to account for this new day one right.
October 2026 changes
Trade Union rights
Further trade union reforms are expected to be introduced, including a new requirement for employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union, revised rules on trade union access to the workplace, enhanced rights to reasonable accommodation and facilities for trade union representatives, and a new entitlement to time off for union equality representatives to carry out their duties.
Additional prevention of sexual harassment duties including harassment by third parties
The ERA will introduce a new duty requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. While the change in wording may appear modest, it significantly raises the compliance threshold for employers. What amounts to “all reasonable steps” will depend on factors such as the size of the organisation, available resources, and the working environment, and it will be interesting to see how employment tribunals interpret and apply this standard in practice. Where the employment tribunal finds that this duty has been breached, the tribunal can award an uplift to the compensation payable to the employee, of 25%.
- Practical tips: Employers should carry out regular, targeted risk assessments and deliver annual training to support ongoing compliance with this duty. Existing policies and preventative measures should also be reviewed and updated to ensure they remain effective and proportionate.
A further change will introduce a new obligation on employers to prevent harassment by third parties in relation to any protected characteristic. Under this duty, an employer may be held liable where a third party harasses an employee in the course of their employment and the employer has failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent such conduct.
- Practical tips: Employers should consider undergoing similar risk assessments to their sexual harassment risk assessment processes to cover third-party harassment risks, ensuring appropriate preventative measures are identified and implemented.
The increase to the time limit to bring most types of tribunal claims from 3 months to 6 months is also expected to be coming into effect.
- Practical Tips: Ensure managers carefully document the reasons for dismissals and other key decisions and retain their notes. This is already good practice but will become increasingly important if tribunal proceedings continue to take longer to reach a hearing.
- Develop a practice of taking statements from key witnesses at an early stage once a claim is received, rather than waiting until closer to the hearing. This helps ensure recollections remain accurate and protects against witnesses leaving the organisation before the claim is heard.
- Review document retention policies to ensure they remain appropriate in light of the extended time limits. As a general principle, documents may need to be kept for longer. Ensure that investigation notes and other key records are stored securely for a sufficient period to establish whether a claim has been brought.
Tipping policies in restaurants
Employers will be required to consult with their employees ahead of creating their tipping policy. The ERA also requires Employers to consult with their employees when they review their tipping policies, which must be done every three years following its creation.
2027 changes
From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims will be reduced from two years to six months.
- Practical tip: Ensure you have regular review meetings with your employees during their probation period.
The statutory cap for unfair dismissal claims (which is currently the lower figure of either one year’s salary, or £118,000) will also be removed from the same date, 1 January 2027.
Within the month of January in 2027, new restrictions on “fire and rehire” practices will be introduced, making it significantly harder for employers to dismiss employees and re-engage them on less favourable terms.
- Practical tips: Employers should carry out reviews of existing contracts to identify any built-in flexibility clauses and assess how far these can be relied upon to implement changes without engaging the new restrictions on contractual variation. When drafting contracts for new hires, the forthcoming reforms should be factored in from the outset, with carefully considered flexibility provisions included where appropriate.
Flexible working
Sometime in 2027, the right to request flexible working will become available to all employees from day 1 of employment. Employers will also need to be in a position to justify any refusal of a flexible working request, with clear and reasoned grounds for their decision.
- Practical Tips: Whilst 2027 may feel a long way away, carefully considering flexible request and the reasons for any decision is best practice and will help with a smooth transition to the new requirements.
Atypical workers’ rights
Furthermore, protections for zero and low hour workers, including agency workers are going to be greater, bringing the right to a contract reflecting actual hours worked, and reasonable notice of shifts and compensation where shifts are curtailed or withdrawn on short notice.
- Practical Tip: Employers will well advised to put in place comprehensive monitoring arrangements capable of capturing when and how much work is undertaken by staff engaged on zero-hours or minimal-hours contracts over the applicable assessment window. Because the obligation to make a guaranteed hours offer arises automatically and must be kept under continual review, rather than being initiated by a worker, the measures are likely to generate a considerable increase in administrative complexity for those organisations within scope.
Menopause protection
It will be mandatory for employers with over 250 employees to create and publish action plans regarding how they will support employees going through the menopause, as well as their plans to improve their gender pay gap.
- Practical tip: Begin considering these possible action points in advance of this becoming a mandatory requirement to ensure you are prepared for the creation of the action plans. Start up conversations internally for how colleagues experiencing the menopause will feel best supported by you.
Pregnant workers and maternity rights
Employees who are pregnant or who return from maternity leave will benefit from strengthened protections from dismissal.
- Practical tip: Consider updating your policies and handbooks to contain provisions relating to support for employees who are pregnant or are returning from maternity leave.
Changes that are coming, but don’t yet have a date
Gagging clauses in settlement agreements
Under the ERA any attempt by an employer to prevent a worker from making allegations or disclosures concerning either harassment or discrimination will not be permitted. So called ‘gagging’ clauses sometimes found in statutory settlement agreements are also going to be rendered obsolete following the introduction of the Act.
How Moore Barlow can help
Moore Barlow are specialists in Employment law and have a dedicated team available to assist with ensuring your business and workers are supported. Our teams are committed to providing high quality legal advice to ensure your businesses are up-to-date with the above law changes, and are supported throughout the changes as they arrive, from the day they change and throughout the adjustment periods.
