The Government has unveiled its employment law reform timeline with publication of an ‘Employment Rights Bill Roadmap’
All the way back in October 2024, the (then recently elected) Labour Government put forward its plans for an overhaul of employment law, with the new Employment Rights Bill (“the Bill”). At the time, we set out an initial summary of the Bill’s proposed changes. Further to a consultation process, the Bill’s proposals morphed somewhat, and we published a further update on these amendments in March 2025. However, the Government’s planned implementation timeline for these changes had remained relatively unclear, until now.
On 1 July 2025, the Government published its Employment Rights Bill Implementation Roadmap – you can read the full press release here, but a summary of key changes and the timeline for those is as follows:
After the bill is passed
Industrial action: The Government’s first priority appears to be to revisit the laws around striking and other industrial action, which came to the fore during the widespread rail and doctors’ strikes in the later days of the most recent Conservative government. The Government have said that they will immediately repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, as well as most of the Trade Union Act 2016, while also introducing increased protections against dismissal for taking industrial action. These changes form part of the Bill’s wider approach on trade unions and will make it especially important for employers to exercise caution with any strike-related dismissals.
April 2026
Redundancy: The maximum protective award for collective redundancy will be doubled, which will make it especially important for employers to carry out a fair and legally compliant collective consultation process when making twenty or more employees redundant.
Family friendly rights: Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become ‘day one’ rights.
Statutory sick pay: The removal of the lower earnings limit (currently £125 per week) and the three-day waiting period will come into force. Employers will need to update their family leave and sickness absence policies and should be aware that statutory sick pay will become payable for ‘one-off’ sick days.
Whistleblowing: Protections for whistleblowers will be strengthened to encourage reporting of wrongdoing.
Trade unions: Changes will be introduced to simplify the recognition and balloting processes.
April 2026 is also the target date for the introduction of the Fair Work Agency (“FWA”), who will be tasked with the enforcement of employment rights. We set out the FWA’s remit in greater detail in our March 2025 article, if you would like to learn more.
October 2026
Fire and rehire: An employee will be automatically unfairly dismissed if their employment is terminated because of their refusal to agree to a change in their employment contract. This will make it much more difficult for employers to impose changes in terms on their employees.
Sexual harassment: Employers’ existing duty to take “reasonable steps” to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees will be furthered, with the introduction of the new requirement to take “all reasonable steps”. Employers will also be required not to permit harassment of their employees by third parties (such as customers or suppliers), in respect of any protected characteristic. Harassment policies, processes, and training will need to be revisited to ensure compliance with the new law.
Late 2026 will also see various other changes, including new tipping laws and further trade union-related rights and protections.
2027
“Day one” right to unfair dismissal: Perhaps the most widely discussed change proposed by the Bill, is only expected to come into force in 2027. We are still waiting for confirmation of how this day one right will ultimately work, with concepts such as a statutory nine-month probationary period and a short-form dismissal process having been suggested. Regardless, unfair dismissal becoming a day one right is likely to introduce additional complexity to terminating short-service employees, putting a greater focus on process and rationale.
Zero hours contracts: The Government say that they will also end the “exploitative use” of zero hours contracts. It has been proposed that employees will have a right to receive a “guaranteed hours” contract, though we await further detail on this, and the proposals may be watered down further to consultation.
Other key changes include:
- Greater protection from dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers.
- Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans.
- Clearer guidance on reasonable steps for sexual harassment prevention.
- Statutory bereavement leave.
- Improved access to flexible working.
Overall, this roadmap provides a clearer picture for the employment law changes ahead. Employers may be relieved that some of the more notorious proposals – such as those affecting unfair dismissal rights and zero hours contracts – will be held on standby until 2027. That said, we can still expect a busy 2026, with changes that will significantly impact on employers’ approaches to collective redundancies, fire and rehire, harassment, family-related leave and sick pay.
If you have any questions about these changes or would like advice on how your business might be affected, please reach out to our employment team at [email protected] and one of our team will get in touch.
