The Employment Rights Act 2025 became law on 18 December 2025.
The Act will introduce additions and amendments to existing legislation, including the Employment Rights Act 1996.
The employment law changes included in the Act will happen in 2026 and 2027.
Many changes have not happened yet. The advice on the rest of this website reflects the current situation.
Preparing for the changes
Employers should consider the impact of these changes on their organisation.
To help with this:
- watch our Employment Rights Act webinar
- sign up to the Acas newsletter – for updates on employment law changes, news and events
- book on Acas's Probation and the Employment Rights Act 2025 masterclass – Tuesday 27 October 2026
If you're a worker, some of these changes will affect you. You can also tell your employer about this page.
We'll update this website when anything changes.
Take part in consultations
The government is consulting on parts of the Act, as part of the Make Work Pay initiative. They're seeking views from employers, workers and trade unions. Find the latest government consultations on GOV.UK.
There is also an Acas consultation about requests for flexible working. Closes 17 December 2026.
What's already changed
Some changes took place between December 2025 and October 2026.
Strikes, industrial action and trade union ballots
On 18 December 2025, rules around 'minimum service levels' for strikes were removed. These rules were about keeping services running during a strike.
On 18 February 2026, the following changes happened:
- dismissal for taking part in industrial action became 'automatically unfair'
- the 12-week limit for claiming unfair dismissal because of industrial action was removed
- the time needed to give notice of industrial action reduced to 10 days, instead of 14 days
- the requirement for picket supervisors was removed
- industrial action mandates now last for 12 months, instead of 6 months
- industrial action and ballot notices were simplified
- the 40% public sector support threshold rule was removed – to succeed, ballots need more votes in favour of industrial action than against
Read more about strikes and industrial action
Paternity leave and ordinary parental leave
From 6 April 2026:
- paternity leave became a 'day one right', allowing someone to give notice of leave from the first day of employment
- ordinary parental leave, or unpaid parental leave, became a day one right
- the restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave was removed
Find out more about:
Sick pay
From 6 April 2026:
- statutory sick pay is paid from the first day of illness, instead of the fourth day
- the lower earnings limit has been removed – workers do not need to earn a minimum amount to be eligible for statutory sick pay
Collective redundancy protective award
The maximum 'protective award' for failure to consult in collective redundancy is 180 days' pay. This change happened on 6 April 2026.
Find out more about collective consultation for redundancy
Whistleblowing protections for sexual harassment
On 6 April 2026, sexual harassment became a 'qualifying disclosure' under whistleblowing law. This means whistleblowers making a sexual harassment disclosure have protection from detriment and unfair dismissal.
Find out more about:
Gender pay gap and menopause action plans
Employers of all sizes can voluntarily publish action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps. This change happened on 6 April 2026. Sometime in 2027, this will become mandatory for employers with 250 or more workers.
Find out more about:
Holiday records
From 6 April 2026, employers must keep records of annual leave and holiday pay. They must keep this information for at least 6 years.
Find out more about keeping holiday records
Fair Work Agency
The Fair Work Agency was established on 7 April 2026, to:
- bring together existing enforcement bodies
- take on enforcement of other employment rights, such as holiday pay and statutory sick pay
Find out more about the Fair Work Agency on GOV.UK
Trade union recognition
How a trade union can be recognised in a workplace has been simplified. This change happened on 6 April 2026.
Trade union ballots
Trade union members can vote electronically or in-person in ballots. This is if the employer and trade union agree. The change applies to industrial action, union elections and other statutory ballots. This change happened on 25 August 2026.
Employment tribunal time limits
Time limits for making a claim to an employment tribunal have increased to 6 months. This change happened on 1 October 2026.
The previous time limit was 3 months. If a problem at work started before 1 October 2026, the 3-month limit might still apply.
Find out about employment tribunal time limits
Upcoming changes
The following law changes have not happened yet.
October 2026 changes
Important: In most cases, how these changes will be implemented is subject to government consultations.
Harassment
These changes will happen on 30 October 2026:
- employers must take 'all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment of their workers – the current law says 'reasonable steps'
- employers will be liable for harassment from third parties, for example customers or clients, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it
Sometime in the future, the law will specify what 'reasonable steps' means when preventing sexual harassment.
Find out more about the changes to:
More changes to trade union rules
These trade union changes will happen on 30 October 2026:
- updated rules on a trade union's right of access to the workplace
- an updated Code of Practice on trade union recognition
- new rights for some trade union representatives around facilities and time off for duties
- workers taking part in industrial action will be protected against being treated less favourably by their employer
New Adult Social Care Negotiating Body
There will be a new negotiating body for adult social care. This will start in October 2026.
November 2026 changes
One change will happen in November 2026. It applies to employment tribunal claims in Scotland.
Breach of contract claims in Scotland
Time limits for making breach of contract claims in Scotland will increase to 6 months. This change will happen on 9 November 2026.
December 2026 changes
One change will happen in December 2026. It's specific to the seafarer industry.
Seafarers' (Wages and Working Conditions) Regulations
There will be new regulations for seafarers. These will introduce higher standards around health and safety, pay, job security and rest breaks. This will happen in December 2026.
Other 2026 changes
There are some changes to tipping law happening by the end of 2026.
Tipping
Employers will need to consult before creating or reviewing a tipping policy. This is either:
- with the trade union or worker representatives, if they have them
- directly with workers
Employers will also need to:
- share an anonymised summary of consultation feedback with affected workers
- update their tipping policy at least every 3 years
January 2027 changes
Important: In most cases, how these changes will be implemented depends on government consultations.
Unfair dismissal
From 1 January 2027:
- employees will have the right to claim unfair dismissal after 6 months of being in a job, instead of 2 years
- the limit on compensation for unfair dismissal will be removed
Protection from unfair dismissal was expected to become a right from the first day of employment. The government changed this to a 6-month qualifying period.
Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union
From 1 January 2027, employers will have a duty to tell workers about their right to join a trade union.
Dismissal and rehire
There will be increased protections against dismissal and rehire. This means dismissing someone then rehiring them on worse terms and conditions. It's sometimes known as 'fire and rehire'.
Dismissal and rehire will become an automatically unfair dismissal in most cases. This will change in January 2027.
An updated Code of Practice to support these changes will be provided in 2027.
Other 2027 changes
The government has not announced when in 2027 most of these changes will happen.
Important: In most cases, how these changes will be implemented is subject to government consultations.
Flexible working
There will be an amendment to flexible working law. If an employer rejects a flexible working request, they will have to:
- state the business reason, or reasons from a list of 8 acceptable reasons
- explain why they believe their refusal is reasonable
Acas will review its Code of Practice after the law changes.
Zero-hours and low-hours contracts
Workers on zero-hours and low-hours contracts will get the right to:
- guaranteed working hours, if they want them
- compensation if a shift is cancelled, shortened or moved to another time
- reasonable notice of shifts and changes to shifts
Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans
Action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps will become mandatory. They are currently voluntary.
Collective redundancy
These collective redundancy changes will happen in 2027:
- employers will need to consider the total number of redundancies across their whole organisation, not just individual workplaces
- increased collective redundancy protection for workers on ships that regularly operate from British ports but are registered outside Great Britain
Bereavement leave
There will be a new right to statutory bereavement leave. The leave will be unpaid.
Trade union changes
These trade union changes will happen in 2027:
- extending laws that protect trade union members from discrimination and being 'blacklisted' – this means being unfairly denied job opportunities or treated less favourably
- a new industrial relations framework
- workers will be able to vote electronically in ballots for trade union recognition and derecognition
Increased pregnancy and maternity rights
The Act will strengthen protections against dismissal for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave.
Non-disclosure agreements
This law change will void clauses that would prevent workers from alleging or disclosing work-related harassment or discrimination.
Regulation of umbrella companies
The definition of agencies will be expanded to include 'umbrella companies'. This will allow enforcement by the relevant bodies.