Employment Rights Bill roadmap
Wednesday 24th September 2025
The Government has released its roadmap for implementing the Employment Rights Bill. This process will involve consulting with employers, trade unions, workers and other stakeholders on key changes to ensure effective implementation through secondary legislation. Additional support will be provided through the development of guidance and Statutory Codes of Practice.
There will be a phased implementation of the changes to ensure that all those affected have sufficient time to prepare, including ACAS, whose functions the Government sees as making an important contribution to employment relations. The Government’s roadmap also highlights its commitment to supporting ACAS, the employment tribunals, and the Fair Work Agency to ensure effective enforcement of the new provisions.
Below is a summary of the timeline for implementation of the key measures.
After Royal Assent
- Immediate repeal of the requirement to maintain minimum services levels during industrial action
- Immediate repeal of most provisions in the Trade Union Act 2016 which imposed more onerous requirements in relation to industrial action
- Provisions strengthening protection against dismissal for participating in industrial action will take effect
April 2026
- Statutory Sick Pay: the waiting period and lower earnings limit will be removed
- Collective Redundancy: the protective award will increase from 90 days to 180 days’ pay
- Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave will become day 1 rights
- The Fair Work Agency will be established
- Whistleblowing: a disclosure that sexual harassment has or is likely to occur will constitute a protected disclosure
- Changes to trade union recognition, along with electronic and workplace balloting will be implemented
October 2026
- Provisions restricting the use of fire and rehire or replace practices will be implemented
- An employer’s duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union will take effect
- The duty to prevent sexual harassment will be extended, requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace
- New trade union provisions go into effect, allowing increased access to the workplace to organise, recruit, hold meetings, and provide representation
- Employers will be obligated to prohibit third party harassment of employees
- New rights and protections for trade union representatives will be implemented
- Time limits for bringing Employment Tribunal claims will be increased from 3 months to 6 months for most claims
- Provisions protecting workers from detriments short of dismissal, for taking industrial action will take effect
During 2027
- The right to protection from unfair dismissal will become a day one right. A statutory probationary period of 9 months is anticipated allowing dismissal in particular circumstances
- Harassment protections will be extended to specify the reasonable steps which will be used to determine whether an employer has taken “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace
- Increased protection from dismissal for pregnant women and those returning to work following maternity leave or other family leave will take effect
- Changes to the right to request flexible working will be implemented. Aimed at increasing access, the burden will be on employers to prove that the request is unreasonable
- Equality Action Plans, which will cover the gender pay gap and menopause, will be required for employers with 250 employees or more (voluntary from April 2026)
- New rights for zero-hours and low-hours workers will take effect, providing increased protection and addressing the current “one-sided flexibility” concern
- Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave will become a general entitlement to bereavement leave and this is likely to include leave for those whose pregnancy ends prior to 24 weeks
- Collective consultation obligations will be triggered where there are to be 20 redundancies at a single establishment or where “the threshold number” across the employing entity, yet to be determined, is met.
Full details of both the phased consultation and implementation timelines can be found in the Government’s Employment Rights Bill roadmap
All information in this update is intended for general guidance only and is not intended to be comprehensive, or to provide legal advice.