Last updated 8th May 2026

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Please note that this material has been published for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

On 18 December 2025, the Employment Rights Bill received Royal Assent and, as such, is now law under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (“ERA 2025″). The most significant changes are summarised below:

Trade Unions/Industrial Action

The government has published guidance to help employers, unions, and workers prepare for the new provisions which came into force on 18 February 2026. They have also published a fact sheet.

Protection against dismissal for taking industrial action

The protected period (broadly, the first 12 weeks of industrial action) that grants automatic protection for employees from unfair dismissal for taking part in protected industrial action will effectively be extended, meaning the protection will apply irrespective of the length of the industrial action.

When: 18 February 2026

Notice of industrial action ballot

The ERA 2025 reduced the amount of information that unions must include in the notice of an industrial action ballot that they send to an employer.

When: 18 February 2026

Information included on voting paper

The ERA 2025 has reduced the amount of information that unions must include on an industrial action ballot voting paper.

When: 18 February 2026

Mandate period for industrial action

The mandate period for industrial action, following a successful ballot, has increased from 6 to 12 months.

Six-month mandates obtained under ballots opened before 18 February 2026 will not be automatically extended to 12 months. Unions would need to re-ballot to secure a 12-month mandate.

When: 18 February 2026

Notice period for industrial action

The notice period a union must give to an employer of industrial action was reduced from 14 days  to 10 days (or 7 days if the employer agrees).

Transitional arrangements have the effect that the 14 (or 7) day notice period will continue to apply to any industrial action in relation to which the employer received a notice before 18 February 2026.

When: 18 February 2026

Penalties for not collectively consulting

Employees could claim a protective award of up to 90 days’ pay if their employer did not comply with its collective consultation obligations. The ERA 2025 has now doubled the maximum protective award to 180 days’ pay.

The trigger for collective consultation is either:

• 20 or more employees at one establishment, which reflects current legislation; or
• where employees are being made redundant at more than one establishment, a higher threshold number will apply – this threshold shall be determined in further regulations, with the relevant consultation closing on 21 May 2026. This is a change to the current status quo which is being implemented under the ERA 2025.

When: 6 April 2026, with the trigger element pending further regulations.

Reform to statutory sick pay

Qualifying workers must now be paid SSP from their first full day of sickness and will be entitled to SSP no matter their earnings. If a worker earns less than the lower earnings limit, they will be entitled to SSP at 80% of weekly earnings.

When: 6 April 2026

Disclosure of sexual harassment to be added to list of qualifying disclosures

Sexual harassment is now expressly listed as a qualifying disclosure. However, such disclosures still need to meet the relevant criteria for qualifying disclosures (i.e., the individual must reasonably believe that the information disclosed is true and is in the public interest).

When: 6 April 2026

“Day 1” paternity and unpaid parental leave

Paternity and unpaid parental leave are now day one rights (removing the qualifying period of 26 weeks for unpaid paternity leave and one year for unpaid parental leave) for parents of babies with an expected week of childbirth on or after 5 April 2026 or 6 April 2026 for adoption. Statutory paternity pay, however, still requires 26 weeks’ service.

When: 6 April 2026

Trade union recognition

It is now easier for unions to obtain recognition. Only 10% of workers in a proposed bargaining unit need to be union members to apply, and the 40% workforce support threshold for a ballot has been abolished, requiring only a simple majority of those who vote. From 6 April 2026, the Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC“) need only be satisfied that union members meet the minimum percentage threshold in the relevant bargaining unit.

• workplace access – unions gain enhanced CAC-enforceable rights to access workplaces.
• employer information duties – employers must provide worker information (name and role) to the CAC within 5 working days of a recognition application and notify employees of their right to join a union.
• certification officer levy – the levy paid by trade unions and employers’ associations to the Certification Officer has been repealed.

When: 6 April 2026

Holiday pay and leave records

Employers must now maintain records demonstrating compliance with annual leave and pay obligations, including but not limited to entitlements to annual leave, holiday pay, and payments in lieu on termination. While employers have flexibility in the format of these records, they must be retained for six years. Failure to comply constitutes an offence punishable by a fine, with enforcement falling to the Fair Work Agency (“FWA“).

When: 6 April 2026

Establishment of the Fair Work Agency

The FWA is a government agency consolidating enforcement functions previously spread across multiple bodies. Its remit covers NMW, NLW, holiday pay, statutory sick pay, employment agency standards, gangmaster licensing and protections against serious labour exploitation. The FWA has broad investigatory powers and can:

• issue notices requiring payment of arrears.
• impose financial penalties.
• seek labour market enforcement undertakings and orders.
• initiate tribunal proceedings (including standalone discrimination or unfair dismissal claims on behalf of individuals); and
• publicly naming non-compliant businesses.

Non-compliance with a labour market enforcement order, providing false information or obstructing investigations now constitutes a criminal offence. The FWA’s priorities for 2026/27 include reducing regulatory burdens, improving data sharing, raising awareness and preparing for expanded enforcement from 2027.

When: 7 April 2026

Employers to be liable for harassment by third parties

Currently, employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

The ERA2025 expands this duty to taking “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers will also be liable for harassment from third parties, for example customers or clients, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it happening.

When: October 2026

Extension of time limits for bringing tribunal claims

Save for in limited circumstances, tribunal claims currently need to be brought within three months of the act complained of (e.g. dismissal, discrimination, deduction from wages, etc).

The ERA 2025 extends the time limit for bringing tribunal claims from three to six months.

When: October 2026

Unfair dismissal – compensation cap

Unfair dismissal compensation is currently capped at the lower of 52 weeks’ gross pay or £123,543. The ERA 2025 will remove both caps from 1 January 2027.

Although this appears to be a relatively major change, the government’s January 2026 impact assessment concluded that removing the cap will have “limited” impact, noting that few awards currently reach it (the median was £6,746 in 2023/24 and only 6% of successful awards exceeded £50,000). It also acknowledged that higher-paid employees and those with limited re-employment prospects will likely benefit the most, exposing high-pay sectors to greater risk.

Unfair dismissal – reducing the qualifying period

At present, employees need two years’ service with their employer before they gain unfair dismissal rights. This means that, to terminate the employment of an employee with the qualifying length of service, an employer must have a potentially fair reason for dismissing the employee and a fair and reasonable process must be followed.

The ERA 2025 will reduce the qualifying period significantly, giving employees unfair dismissal rights once they have obtained six months’ service.

When: 1 January 2027 – anybody with six months service on or after this date will have unfair dismissal rights. Therefore, this change will essentially apply to anyone who is employed from 1 July 2026 onwards.

Stronger rights to flexible working

At present, employees have a right to request flexible working from day one, but employers can refuse a request based on one or more of the following business reasons: burden of additional cost, inability to reorganise work among existing staff or recruit additional staff, detrimental impact on quality of work or performance, detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand, insufficient work during the proposed hours and/or planned structural changes to the business.

The penalty for breaching the statutory flexible working regime is eight weeks’ pay, subject to a cap of £5,600.

The ERA 2025 will implement measures which make it mandatory for employers to submit written reasons for refusing flexible working and they can only do so if their refusal is reasonable. The statutory cap will remain the same.

When: These measures are set to take effect in 2027.

Gender pay and menopause action plans

The Equality and Human Rights Commission requires employers with 250 or more employees to publish gender pay gap reports on an annual basis. Employers are not currently required to publish an action plan but many voluntarily do so.

New regulations will require employers with 250 or more employees to publish “equality action plans” which will include their plans for closing the gender pay gap and supporting employees through the menopause. Employers will be subject to penalties for non-compliance.

The government has published step-by-step guidance for large employers on creating gender equality action plans (found here), supplemented by a list of potential action plans (found here – to be actioned at step 2 of the guidance).

When: These measures were introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026 and will become mandatory in 2027.

‘Fire and Rehire’

The Code of Practice on Fire and Rehire took effect in July 2024. This means that although ‘fire and rehire’ currently remains lawful practice, it is discouraged.

Changes implemented by the ERA 2025 mean that dismissals used to impose changes to key terms (pay, hours, pensions, shift patterns/length, time‑off rights, and certain benefits to be set by further regulations) are automatically unfair, including where such measures are used to introduce new flexibility clauses – unless the employer is facing financial collapse and the measure could not reasonably have been avoided.

TUPE and dismissals wholly or mainly attributed to a reduction in work are not within the scope of this legislation, and regulations may clarify that expenses and certain pay types are also out of scope.

When: These measures were supposed to take effect in October 2026. However, the government has updated its roadmap to suggest they will now take effect in January 2027.

Dates for implementation to be confirmed

Non-disclosure agreements

The ERA 2025 will introduce a rule meaning that any clause that prevents a worker from talking about acts of harassment or discrimination, including how their employer handled such allegations, will be void. This may be extended to cover independent contractors and trainees, with limited exceptions set by future regulations.

While these exceptions are not currently known, it is speculated that NDAs which have been entered into at the employee’s request, having received independent legal advice, may be permitted and would not be void.

When: It is currently unclear when this will be implemented as this ban was not included in the government’s roadmap. The government has launched a consultation which closes on 8 July 2026.

If you would like to follow the ERA 2025’s journey from Bill to Act, you may be interested in our suite of articles from throughout the process of implementing the ERA 2025:

A new Employment Rights Bill to rule them all—and in the consultation bind them Published: 10 October 2024

Worked Up: your monthly employment & immigration law lowdown (December 2024) Published: 10 December 2024

An Employment Rights Bill update: longer limitation periods on the way Published: 25 February 2025

Employment Rights Bill: government responds to consultations and tables amendments Published: 17 March 2025

The Employment Rights Bill, Part 2: a new age of transparency begins Published: 11 July 2025

The Employment Rights Bill: a major pivot on unfair dismissal rights and what comes next Published: 28 November 2025

The Employment Rights Bill: finally across the line, but what does it really mean for employers? Published: 17 December 2025

Employment Rights Act 2025: Further consultations launched Published: 9 March 2026

Check out our employment horizon tracker here, where you can keep you up to date with all the latest developments in Employment and Immigration law.

Our employment and immigration lawyers will continue to track developments closely. We will issue further updates as implementation plans are announced and highlight where we think the changes may have a particular impact on the media, technology and sports sectors. In the meantime, our specialists are here to help if you have any questions.