Employment Rights Bill – Key Law Changes
Whilst the Employment Rights Bill continues to work its way through Parliament, the Government has published a timeline for bringing employment law reforms into effect.
This article outlines the key changes to employment law and when they are expected to take effect.
2025
- Industrial Action – the current legislation requiring a minimum level of service during industrial action is planned to be repealed upon the Employment Rights Bill being passed into legislation.
April 2026
- Statutory Sick Pay – the Bill proposes to remove the waiting period and lower earnings limit for SSP so that it becomes payable from the first day of absence and payable to all employees.
- Day One Paternity Leave – current legislation provides for employees to have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service before they are eligible for paternity leave. The Bill proposes to allow the right to take paternity leave from day one of employment
- Fair Work Agency – to be established to enforce employment rights
- Extending Limitation for Employment Tribunal Claims – Currently, claims to the Employment Tribunal must be brought within 3 months of the date of dismissal or problem complained of. The Bill proposes extending the time limit from 3 months to 6 months.
- Duty to Prevent Sexual Harassment – employers are currently limited to take ‘reasonable steps’ in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. The Bill seeks to strengthen the employer’s duty to take ‘all reasonable steps’.
- Trade Union Recognition & Rights – the Bill proposes lowering the threshold for union membership to allow unions to apply for statutory recognition. It also proposes widening trade union officials’ rights to access the workplace. Currently union officials have no right to access the workplace without the employer’s consent. In addition to representatives of unions having the right to paid time off, the Bill proposes increased rights to be provided with reasonable facilities to carry out their duties.
October 2026
- Ending ‘Fire and Re-Hire’ – the proposal to make dismissal on the grounds of the employee rejecting varied terms of employment an automatically unfair dismissal has been revised and will only apply to ‘restricted variations’ of terms of employment. Restricted variations cover changes to pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement and pensions. The new rules restricting the practice of fire and re-hire are planned to be introduced in October 2026.
2027
- Dismissal Rights – the proposal to remove the requirement for employees to have 2 years’ continuous service before they are protected from unfair dismissal has been delayed until 2027. The Government had proposed for employees to be protected from unfair dismissal from day one of employment. However, the House of Lords have passed a vote to extend this from day one to 6 months.
- Family Friendly Rights – the Bill proposes stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers. The Bill proposes making it unlawful to dismiss a woman during their pregnancy or maternity leave or within 6 months of returning from maternity leave. Such protection will also apply to adoption leave and shared parental leave.
- Banning Zero-Hours contracts – the Bill intends to restrict the use of zero-hours contracts by proposing a right to guaranteed hours.
- Bereavement Leave – all employees will be provided with the right to take time off work to grieve.
What happens next?
As of 17 July 2025 the Bill is at the House of Lords final reporting stage. The amendments proposed by the House of Lords will be passed back to the House of Commons for consideration.
Once the Bill is agreed between both the House of Commons and the House of Lords it will be ready to receive Royal Assent and become enacted into law.
For further advice and assistance in employment law matters please do not hesitate to contact Natalie Peacock on natalie.peacock@rogers-norton.co.uk
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*This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or any other professional advice.