On the 18^th December 2025, the UK’s major Employment Rights passed Parliament, marking a significant step towards greater rights and fairer treatment for workers across industries. The new laws are designed to provide employees with greater security, and modernise UK employment laws. We’re excited to see the positive impacts they’re set to make, especially around health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Here’s a recap of some of the key dates and milestones up to this point:

·  10 October 2024: The Bill was first introduced to the House of Commons (fulfilling the government's "100-day" pledge).

·  21 October 2024: Second reading in the Commons; the government launched four major consultations on sick pay, zero-hours contracts, and industrial relations.

·  12 March 2025: The Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons.

·  14 March 2025: Introduced to the House of Lords.

·  18 December 2025: Royal Assent granted. The Bill officially became the Employment Rights Act 2025.

The government has confirmed that there will be a phased rollout of the new rules included in the bill and so we have put together a timeline of when each law is due to take effect. We hope it's helpful.

What has already changed?

Minimum service level rules for strikes has now been removed

As of December 18, 2025, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was repealed with immediate effect. This means that:

• Employers in key sectors (such as rail, health, and fire services) no longer have the power to issue "work notices" forcing employees to work during a strike.
• Unions and workers in these sectors are no longer legally required to provide a minimum service during industrial action. The government officially withdrew all related guidance and consultation documents on this day, declaring the 2023 Act "out of date."

February 2026

Protection for those dismissed for taking industrial action

Dismissals for taking part in industrial action will become 'automatically unfair.’ This will remove the current 12-week limit for claiming unfair dismissal.

Trade union activity:

- Notice of Industrial action will be required to be given 10 weeks in advance, reduced from 14

- Unions will need a simple majority to vote for industrial action

- Picket supervisors will no longer be required

- Industrial action mandates will last for 12 months, instead of 6months

April 2026

Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave

- Paternity leave will become a 'day one right', allowing someone to give notice of leave from the first day of employment – currently someone must have worked for their employer for 26 weeks

- Ordinary parental leave will also become a day one right

- The restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave will be removed

Sick pay

- Statutory sick pay (SSP) will be paid from the first day of illness instead of the fourth

- The lower earnings limit that has made workers who earn below a minimum amount ineligible for SSP will be removed

Whistleblowing protections for sexual harassment

- Sexual harassment will become 'qualifying disclosure' under whistleblowing law,  protecting those who make a sexual harassment disclosure from detriment and unfair dismissal

Menopause Action Plans

At Fertifa, we see firsthand the scale of the impact of menopause on employees across industries. We are delighted that employers will be required to create action plans to properly support their employees.

These will be voluntary from April 2026. They will become mandatory in 2027.

More trade union changes

It will be easier for a trade union to gain recognition in workplace

Fair Work Agency

- Bring together existing enforcement bodies

- Take on enforcement of other employment rights, such as holiday pay and statutory sick pay

October 2026

Dismissal and rehire

Dismissing someone then rehiring them on worse terms and conditions will become an automatically unfair dismissal in most cases. This is sometimes known as 'fire and rehire'

Harassment

- Employers will be liable for harassment from third parties

- Employers will need to take 'all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment

A change to the law around non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) is also expected

Tipping

Employers will need to:

- Consult with workers or their representatives before creating a tipping policy

- Update their tipping policy every 3 years

Employment tribunal time limits

Time limits for making a claim to an employment tribunal will increase to 6 months for all claims. The current time limit for most claims is 3 months. This will change in October 2026.

More changes to trade union rules

- A new duty for employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union

- Updated rules on a trade union's right of access to the workplace

- A new right to reasonable accommodation and facilities for trade union representatives carrying out their duties

- A new right to time off for union equality representatives to carry out their duties

Public sector outsourcing 'two-tier code'

There will be new measures for public sector outsourcing to avoid having different terms and conditions for ex-public sector employees and private sector employees.

2027 changes

The government has not announced when in 2027 most of these changes will happen, but we have been told to expect:

Unfair dismissal

Protection from unfair dismissal will become a right after 6 months of being in a job. Currently, someone must have worked for their employer for 2 years before claiming unfair dismissal.

Protection from unfair dismissal was previously expected to become a right from the first day of employment.

Increased pregnancy and maternity rights

The Act will strengthen protections against dismissal for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave.

Bereavement leave

There will be a new right to statutory bereavement leave. It's not known yet whether this will be paid or unpaid leave.

Zero-hours contracts

Workers on zero-hours contracts will get the right to guaranteed working hours, if they want them.

Compensation for cancelled shifts

Workers will have the right to be paid if a shift is cancelled, moved to another date, or cut short by an employer.

Flexible working

There will be an amendment to flexible working law in 2027. If an employer rejects a flexible working request because of a genuine business reason, they will have to:

- State the reasons

- Explain why they believe their refusal is reasonable

Further harassment change

The law will specify what 'reasonable steps' means when preventing sexual harassment, following earlier changes in October 2026.

Collective redundancy

Employers will need to consider the total number of redundancies across their whole organisation, not just individual workplaces .

Regulation of umbrella companies

The definition of agencies will be expanded to include 'umbrella companies'. This will allow enforcement by the relevant bodies.