Employment Rights Bill timeline and insights

18 December 2025 Repeal of minimum service levels
18 February 2026 Some trade union changes
6 April 2026 Various changes
August 2026 Union balloting change
October 2026 Various changes
December 2026 Seafarers charter / tipping
January 2027 Unfair dismissal / fire and rehire
April 2027 Bereavement leave
Autumn 2027 Flexible working
2027 (dates tbc) Various expected changes

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is making wide ranging reforms to key employment law rights and duties throughout 2026 and 2027 including:

reducing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from two years to six months and removing the cap on unfair dismissal compensatory awards
introducing new rights for zero-hours and low-hours workers
changing the law relating to trade unions and industrial action, collective redundancies, fire and rehire, duty to prevent sexual harassment, statutory sick pay, family leave and non-disclosure agreements.

Our timeline (based on the UK Government's current implementation timetable) and insights set out below will help you prepare for the changes. We will keep this page updated with confirmed timings and ongoing consultations as more information becomes available.

Employment Rights Act timeline

18 December 2025
Bill gains Royal Assent
- Rules around minimum service levels for strikes removed
18 February 2026
Various trade union changes
- Simplification of industrial action notices and ballot notices
- Reduction in the notice period for industrial action from 14 to 10 days
- Extension of mandate for industrial action from 6 to 12 months
- Removal of minimum support threshold for industrial action ballots for certain public services
- Stronger protection against dismissal for taking industrial action
- Repeal of requirement for a trade union to supervise a picket
- Removal of restrictions on check off for trade union duties in the public sector
- Repeal of publication requirements in relation to facility time and power to limit facility time in the public sector
- Extended notification requirement for seafarers in collective redundancies
6 April 2026
Changes
- Increase maximum collective redundancy protective award from 90 to 180 days' pay
- Introduction of day one rights to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave and ability to take paternity leave after shared parental leave
- Inclusion of sexual harassment as a protected disclosure within whistleblowing framework
- Removal of Statutory Sick Pay lower earnings limit and waiting period
- Simplification of the trade union recognition process
- New obligation to keep records showing compliance with holidays and holiday pay
- Creation of Fair Work Agency (7 April 2026)
- Voluntary gender pay gap and menopause action plans
25 August 2026
Balloting change
- Electronic and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots
1 October 2026
Tribunal time limits
- Extension of employment tribunal time limits from 3 to 6 months (9 November 2026 for breach of contract claims in Scotland)
30 October 2026
Changes
- Introduction of duty to take 'all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment
- Power to introduce regulations setting out 'reasonable steps' in respect of duty to prevent sexual harassment
- Introduction of liability for third party harassment
- Introduction of right not to be subjected to detriment for participating in industrial action
- New requirement to inform workers of right to join a trade union
- Creation of new right of access to the workplace for trade unions
- New right to reasonable accommodation and facilities for trade union officials and learning representatives
- New right to time off and facilities for trade union equality representatives
- Increased regulation of unfair practices during statutory trade union recognition applications
October 2026
Other October changes (dates tbc)
- Introduction of new measures for public sector outsourcing
- Regulations to establish Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care sector in England
December 2026
Seafarer's charter
- Introduction of updated seafarer's rules e.g. on standards for safe working conditions
By end of 2026
Tipping
- Strengthened rules around tipping
January 2027
Unfair dismissal / fire and rehire
- Reduction of unfair dismissal qualifying period from 2 years to 6 months (1 January 2027)
- Removal of statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensatory award (1 January 2027)
- Prohibition on 'fire and rehire' and 'fire and replace' other than in limited circumstances
April 2027
Bereavement leave
- Enhanced rights to bereavement leave
Autumn 2027
Flexible working
- Changes to flexible working request process
2027
Other 2027 reforms (dates tbc)
- New rights for zero-hours and low-hours workers to be offered guaranteed hours after a reference period and to be given reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for cancelled, moved or curtailed shifts
- New collective redundancy consultation threshold
- Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans & requirement to provide information on outsourced labour
- Enhanced protections against dismissal for pregnant workers & new mothers
- Extended blacklisting protections
- Electronic and workplace balloting for recognition and derecognition ballots
- Regulation of umbrella companies
- Restrictions on non-disclosure agreements in relation to harassment or discrimination
Unknown
Other changes
- Removal of minimum turnout threshold for industrial action ballots
- England: School Support Staff Negotiating Body to be re-established

Consultations

The government is consulting on the following:

Holiday pay compliance and enforcement (30 June to 22 September 2026)
Tipping (19 August to 29 September 2026)
Workplace monitoring technologies (8 July to 30 September 2026)
Equal pay and pay discrimination (4 August to 27 October 2026).

Other consultations relating to the Employment Rights Act are now closed, with more likely to follow.

Employment Rights Act webinar series

We are running a Employment Rights Act webinar series, hosting 30 minute webinars covering key aspects of the Act and providing practical guidance on how employers can prepare for and manage the wide-reaching changes. Each of our sessions are delivered by members of our expert Employment and Immigration team. Recordings of the sessions which have passed can be found at the bottom of this page.

Workbox by Brodies

Users of Workbox by Brodies, our award-winning HR and employment law site, benefit from practical guidance pages, 275+ templates and ready-to-go training materials, all of which are updated as the law changes.

Membership gives access to our HR to-do list, which keeps track of all the latest developments, and a guidance page: Employment Rights Act 2025 - Preparatory Steps which identifies practical actions to help you plan ahead.

Find out more about how Workbox can help your business, or get in touch to arrange a short online demo.

Get in touch