The Employment Rights Act (ERA) 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, formally becoming law in the UK.
The Act will amend existing protections and introduce new rights for millions of workers as well as new obligations for employers.
Many of the changes will be introduced on a phased basis between early 2026 and into 2027, with different provisions coming into force at different times rather than all at once.
Here are some of the key dates and changes:
February 2026
- Trade Union Reform: Dismissal for participating in industrial action becomes automatically unfair. Reduction in notice periods for industrial action from 14 to 10 days and the removal of minimum turnout thresholds for most ballots.
April 2026
- Family Rights: Day one right to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave.
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): This will be payable from the first day of sickness absence and the lower earnings limit for eligibility will be removed.
- Collective Redundancy: Maximum protective awards to increase from 90 to 180 days’ pay for failing to comply with collective redundancy consultation requirements.
- Fair Work Agency (FWA): The FWA will be established and granted powers to investigate and enforce workplace rights.
- Trade unions: simpler recognition processes and the introduction of electronic balloting.
October 2026
- Harassment: Stricter duty to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment at work. An uplift of 25% in compensation for successful sexual harassment claims. A new liability for third-party harassment covering all types of harassment under the Equality Act 2010, not just sexual harassment.
- Fire and Rehire: automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing to agree to a restricted variation of their contract, this includes changes to pay, pensions, working hours, shift patterns or time off. Fire and rehire can only be used in very limited financial circumstances.
- Trade union rights: Unions will have new rights of rights of access to workplaces, with representatives having enhanced rights to time off and facilities. Employees to be informed of the right to join a union.
- Tribunal Time Limits: the time limit for bringing most claims to an Employment Tribunal will be extended from three to six months.
2027 Changes
- Unfair Dismissal: The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims will be reduced from two years’ service to six months.
- Compensation Cap: The cap on compensation for unfair dismissal claims will be removed allowing tribunals to award compensation based on actual loss rather than a formula cap.
- Zero-Hours Contracts & Guaranteed Hours: Protections aimed at reducing insecurity for zero-hours and low-hours workers, including requirements for contracts reflecting hours worked and reasonable notice of shifts, with compensation for cancellation or reduction of hours.
- Flexible Working: New requirements for employers to only refuse requests if ‘reasonable’.
- Bereavement Leave: New statutory right to leave for all employees from their first day of employment. The right will extend to the loss of a wider range of ‘loved ones’
- Equality Plans: Employers to have plans in place to cover gender pay gap actions and support for employees during menopause. Voluntary publication from April 2026 and mandatory from 2027.
If you have any questions on any of the issues raised in the above article, please contact Brenda Egan.