As of 18 December 2025, the Employment Rights Bill received Royal Assent, which brings in some significant changes for employers. The changes brought by the Employment Rights Act 2025 will start to take effect throughout 2026 and 2027, with some changes starting with immediate effect. In this month’s blog post, we examine the changes and their effective dates.
Employment Rights Bill Timeline – What’s changing and when?
Immediate Changes
- Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
- Stronger protections for workers taking part in industrial action, with dismissals linked to strike action becoming automatically unfair.
- Simplified rules around industrial action notices and ballots.
February 2026
- Further trade union reforms come into force:
- Notice periods for industrial action are reduced to 10 days.
- Industrial action mandates can last up to 12 months.
April 2026
A large number of core employment rights take effect:
Parental and paternity rights
- Day-one rights to paternity and ordinary parental leave, allowing notice to be given from the first day of employment.
Statutory Sick Pay
- Sick pay becomes payable from the first day of illness.
- The lower earnings limit is removed, widening eligibility.
Collective redundancy
- The maximum protective award for failure to consult doubles from 90 to 180 days’ pay.
Trade union and enforcement
- Simplified trade union recognition procedures and the introduction of electronic voting.
- Creation of the Fair Work Agency to enforce employment rights.
Later in 2026
October 2026 and onwards
- Time limits for bringing most employment tribunal claims increase from 3 months to 6 months.
- Further reforms, including enhanced pregnancy and maternity protections and new bereavement rights, are expected through secondary legislation.
2027
January 2027
- Unfair dismissal qualifying period reduces from 2 years to 6 months’ service.
Later in 2027
- Additional statutory rights, such as guaranteed hours for zero-hours workers, bereavement leave, and extended parental rights, are expected to come into force, subject to regulations.
What does this mean for employers?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 brings the most significant changes to UK employment law in decades. This means that employers have a lot of work to do to ensure compliance. From reviewing contracts of employment to updating policies and retraining HR, it is undoubtedly a substantial undertaking. At John Burke Associates, we ensure that our knowledge of relevant legislation is both current and fully integrated within our management operating procedures.