In brief
- The Employment Rights Bill will introduce the biggest changes in employment law in a generation, covering nearly 30 different changes in the law.
- The Government has just published an implementation timetable, giving employers a clear idea, for the first time, of when the different measures are expected to come into force.
- In this article, we give details of the implementation timeline and practical suggestions of what employers should be doing now to get ready.
The Government has published its implementation timetable for the Employment Rights Bill, the most significant overhaul of UK employment law in a generation. With the Bill now expected to receive Royal Assent by October 2025 and with phased implementation starting almost immediately, employers should act now to prepare for the changes.
The implementation timeline: Key dates every employer must know
The Employment Rights Bill introduces nearly 30 employment law reforms. The implementation dates for key measures are set out below:
At or shortly after Royal Assent
- Trade union legislation repeals: Rolling back various statutory strike and industrial action requirements that had been introduced by the previous Government in the last several years
April 2026
- Collective redundancy protective awards: Maximum protective awards double from 90 to 180 days' pay
- Simplified trade union recognition: Streamlined processes for statutory recognition, making it easier for unions to obtain collective bargaining rights with employers
- Fair Work Agency launch: The new enforcement body will begin operations, combining existing agencies into a single, more powerful regulator
- Statutory Sick Pay: All employees will receive SSP from day one of illness
- Enhanced parental rights: Day-one access to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave becomes available
October 2026
- Employment tribunal time limits: Extension from three to six months for bringing statutory claims
- Fire and Rehire crackdown: New automatically unfair dismissal protections for employees refusing contract variations who are dismissed and rehired/replaced
- Trade union right of access: New right for unions to access any employer's workplaces to communicate with the workforce
- Duty to prevent sexual harassment: The existing duty is strengthened to require employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
- Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union: Employers must give workers a written statement advising that they have the right to join a trade union
- Third-party harassment protection: Employers will become liable for harassment of their employees by third parties, unless the employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent the third party from doing so
2027
- Day 1 unfair dismissal rights: The two-year qualifying service requirement is removed. Employers can take advantage of a statutory probationary period with a lighter-touch dismissal procedure
- Collective redundancy consultation thresholds: A new additional obligation on employers to collectively consult when dismissing a certain number of employees across the entirety of the workforce (rather than at just one establishment)
- Zero-hours contracts: Workers gain rights to guaranteed minimum hours based on regular work patterns
- Gender Pay Gap and menopause action plans: New mandatory action plans for employers with 250+ employees
- Flexible working requests: Employers must demonstrate that a flexible working request refusal is reasonable. This could in effect introduce a test of proportionality into an employer's decision-making process.
Practical implications: what employers should do now
Employers can take comfort that some significant measures, such as making unfair dismissal a Day 1 right, will not now be implemented until 2027. However, the timetable makes clear that a number of sweeping changes are coming into force before then, not least the package of measures targeted at giving trade unions greater opportunities for influence in the workplace. Employers should therefore look to take various steps now, including:
- considering the effectiveness of existing employee representation arrangements;
- reviewing collective redundancy consultation processes to ensure they are fit for purpose given the prospective doubling of protective awards to up to half a year's salary per affected employee; and
- analysing their workforce makeup to understand the impact on workforce flexibility of various measures in the Bill.
If you would like more information or support on preparing for Employment Rights Bill changes, please get in touch with your usual Mishcon contact or with a member of the Employment team.