The Employment Rights Bill is in the final stages of its journey through Parliament and the Government has published a roadmap setting out when its provisions are expected to come into force. This is good news for employers, as many of the bigger changes in the bill are delayed, which will give them more time to prepare and to contribute to consultations. Crucially, employers will have another year to make large scale changes to any outdated and uncommercial legacy contractual terms before the effective prohibition on changing contractual terms without consent (through the ban on ‘fire and rehire’) comes in.
Here is a summary of the most significant changes and their expected timelines:
Immediately upon the Bill becoming law
- Strikes: new provisions on industrial action and reducing the thresholds for lawful strike action will take immediate effect.
From April 2026
- Protective awards: the maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult in redundancy situations will double from 90 to 180 days’ pay.
- Day one rights: paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become day one rights for eligible employees.
- Statutory sick pay (SSP): the lower earnings limit and waiting period for SSP will be removed.
- Fair Work Agency: a new enforcement body will be established to support workers and uphold employment rights.
- Union recognition: the process for trade unions to gain statutory recognition will be simplified.
From October 2026
- ‘Fire and rehire’: the practice of dismissing and re-engaging employees to impose contractual changes will be banned.
- Union rights: employers will be required to inform workers of their right to join a union.
- Harassment protections: employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent workplace harassment, and they will also become liable for harassment by third parties.
- Tribunal claims: the standard time limit for bringing most employment tribunal claims will be extended from three to six months.
Sometime in 2027
- Collective consultation: the thresholds that trigger collective consultation obligations will be amended.
- Zero hours contracts: new rules will require employers to offer guaranteed hours that reflect the time that workers engaged on low or zero-hour arrangements regularly work.
- Day one unfair dismissal protection: the right not to be unfairly dismissed will become a day one right.
The Government has confirmed it will consult before implementing many of these changes, both to finalise the detail and to give employers time to prepare. We will continue to monitor developments and provide updates. If you would like to discuss how these changes may affect your organisation, please get in touch.
