The Employment Rights Act 2025 heralds a new era of employment related reform which will be delivered in phases over the next two years. Employers need to prepare for the changes as a number of significant amendments to the law will take effect in 2026. They also need to be aware of the Government’s Implementation Roadmap and factsheet which provide guidance about the timeframe for implementation of the changes introduced by the Act, and we anticipate more updates during the course of this year.
Many changes are, however, still the subject of consultations. In this Law-Now, we outline the consultations closing and those expected to be published in 2026 and also the changes expected to come into force this year.
Key reforms expected to take effect in 2026
February 2026. The key reforms expected to take effect in February 2026 are:
- Making it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for taking part in industrial action.
- Simplification of the balloting procedure and shorter notice periods for industrial action.
April 2026. The key reforms expected to take effect in April 2026 are:
- Doubling of the maximum protective award for failure to consult on collective redundancies from 90 to 180 days’ pay.
- Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave becoming ‘day one’ rights.
- Sexual harassment becoming a category of protected disclosure under the whistleblowing regime.
- Removal of the lower earnings limit and three-day waiting period for statutory sick pay.
- Simplification of the trade union recognition process, and introduction of electronic and workplace balloting.
October 2026. The following key reforms are expected to take effect in October 2026:
- Making it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing to accept certain variations to their contract of employment.
- Strengthening the duty to prevent sexual harassment at work so that employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent it.
- Reintroducing employer liability for third party harassment.
- Protection against detriment for taking industrial action.
- Extending the time limit for employees to bring most claims in the employment tribunals from three months to six months.
- Trade union information and access rights.
Although the shorter qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection is not set to be introduced until 1 January 2027, where an employee’s effective termination date is on or after 1 January 2027 they would benefit from the shorter qualifying period, so employers should be mindful of the rules around notice requirements in the calculation of the effective date of termination.
Employers should also note that changes to paternity leave related rights for bereaved parents came into force at the end of last year, on 29 December 2025. The changes mean that where a mother, or a person with whom a child is placed or expected to be placed for adoption, dies their partner has a ‘day one’ right to paternity leave and the option to take the leave after shared parental leave which was not previously possible. As noted above, separate changes under the Act mean that paternity leave will become a ‘day one’ right for all employees from April 2026.
Consultations closing in 2026
Code of practice on electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots. The Government published its consultation, Make Work Pay: draft code of practice on electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots together with a draft code of practice in November 2025. The consultation seeks views on the draft code of practice which is intended to give practical guidance to employers, trade unions and independent scrutineers on the use of electronic and workplace balloting. The consultation closes on 28 January 2026, and the Roadmap indicates that electronic and workplace balloting will take effect in April 2026. For more information, see our previous Law-Now – Employment Rights Bill: Government published further consultation on electronic balloting.
Reform of non-compete clauses. Connected to the Government’s wider growth agenda rather than the Act specifically, the Government published a working paper on options for the reform of non-compete clauses in employment contracts. The latest options for reform include introducing a statutory limit on the length of non-compete clauses and an outright ban on non-compete clauses. The deadline for responses is 18 February 2026. For more information, see our previous Law-Now – UK Government re-opens the potential for legislating on employee non-compete clauses.
Consultations expected in 2026
Further consultations expected in 2026 on aspects of the Act include zero hours contracts, simplifying trade union recognition processes, protection against detriments for taking industrial action and flexible working.
What can employers do to prepare for the changes?
There is a significant amount of change ahead for employers in 2026 and beyond. Some of the changes, such as employer liability for third party harassment, will be more keenly felt by employers in certain sectors such as hospitality, media and consumer products due to the nature of their operations but many changes will affect all employers. Careful planning at an early stage will help to ensure compliance, and understanding what is changing and when will be an important first step.
A key aspect of compliance will involve People and Legal teams auditing their current arrangements, for example, reviewing template employment contracts and relevant workplace policies and procedures and updating them and the procedures they have surrounding them to ensure they align with the changes. Although well-drafted contractual provisions such as those relating to probationary periods will be important because of the shorter qualifying period for unfair dismissal, how these are operated in practice, for example, processes to review employees’ performance during probation and upskilling managers to handle these processes effectively will be crucial.
The changes will also require broader strategic people considerations including, for example, how to manage senior exits and carrying out largescale redundancy/restructuring projects in a risk managed way because of the increased financial exposure for employers once the cap on compensation for unfair dismissal is removed and the protective award doubled. Businesses will also need to prepare for the dawn of a new era of employment tribunal litigation risk, because of the anticipated uptick in employment claims as a result of the more favourable landscape of employee rights and how this may play out in practice with an already overburdened employment tribunal system.
For more information on the changes under the Act, see our previous Law-Now – Important changes for UK employers: the Employment Rights Act 2025 as well as our Employment Rights Act hub.
You can also register to hear more from our employment experts in our webinar series Employment Rights Act – the final position.
If you would like to discuss the measures under the Act, their impact on your sector and how your business can prepare for the changes, please get in touch with us via your usual CMS contact or a member of the Employment team.
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