Support@Work will be hosting an event in Edinburgh in 2026 on the ERA 2025
The new Employment Rights Act will come into force in 2026 – 2027 and will introduce a raft of new rights and responsibilities for workers and employers.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 became law in December 2025. Here is a summary of the Employment Law changes that will affect individual workers and employees. Some of the changes are outlined here in principle with the details still to be decided through secondary regulations, after consultation by the UK Government.
Increased dismissal protection for industrial action
Dismissal for taking part in industrial action will become ‘automatically unfair’. This will remove the current 12-week limit for claiming unfair dismissal. This will change on 18 February 2026.
April 2026 changes
More employment law changes will happen in April 2026.
Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave
These things will change on 6 April 2026:
- 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 – currently someone must have worked for their employer for 1 year to be eligible
- the restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave will be removed
Sick pay
These changes will happen on 6 April 2026:
- statutory sick pay (SSP) will be paid from the first day of illness, instead of the fourth day
- the lower earnings limit will be removed – currently, workers must 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 will double from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay. This will change on 6 April 2026.
Whistleblowing protections for sexual harassment
Sexual harassment will become a ‘qualifying disclosure’ under whistleblowing law. This will mean protection from detriment and unfair dismissal for whistleblowers making a sexual harassment disclosure. This will change on 6 April 2026.
Gender pay gap and menopause action plans
Employers will need to create action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps. These will be voluntary from 6 April 2026. They will become mandatory sometime in 2027.
October 2026 changes
Important: In most cases, how these changes will be implemented is subject to government consultations.
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’. This will change in October 2026.
Harassment
These changes will happen in October 2026:
- employers will be liable for harassment from third parties, for example customers or clients, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it happening – this will apply to all types of harassment
- employers will need to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment – current law says ‘reasonable steps’
Non-Disclosure Agreements
A change to the law around non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) is also expected. This will make clauses that would prevent workers from alleging or disclosing work-related harassment or discrimination unenforceable. The date of this change is not known yet.
Tipping
Tipping law will change in October 2026. 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.
Increased protection against detriment for industrial action
Workers taking part in industrial action will be protected against detriment, in addition to unfair dismissal. ‘Detriment’ is when someone is treated less favourably by their employer. This will change in October 2026.
Public sector outsourcing ‘two-tier code’
There will be new measures for public sector outsourcing. This is to avoid having different terms and conditions for ex-public sector employees and private sector employees. This will change in October 2026.
New Adult Social Care Negotiating Body
There will be new negotiating bodies for adult social care. This will start in October 2026.
- England: The negotiating body being proposed by the UK government (through the Employment Rights Act) will apply to adult social care in England. The current government consultation and draft rules focus specifically on England’s negotiating body and fair pay agreement process.
- Scotland and Wales: The legislation allows (and intends) separate social care negotiating bodies to be established by the Scottish Government and Welsh Government respectively. Those bodies would negotiate fair pay agreements in their own nations under powers in the same Act, but they are distinct from the England body.
December 2026 change
One change will happen in December 2026. It’s specific to the seafarer industry.
Mandatory Seafarer’s Charter
There will be a new mandatory charter for seafarers, with higher standards around health and safety, pay, job security and rest breaks. This will happen in December 2026.
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.
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. This will happen in January 2027.
Protection from unfair dismissal was previously expected to become a right from the first day of employment. The government changed this before the Bill became law.
Increased pregnancy and maternity rights
The Act will strengthen protections against dismissal for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. This will happen in 2027.
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. This will happen in 2027.
Zero-hours contracts
Workers on zero-hours contracts will get the right to guaranteed working hours, if they want them. This will happen in 2027.
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. This will happen in 2027.
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
Doing this is already good practice. But it will become a legal requirement.
Further harassment change
The law will specify what ‘reasonable steps’ means when preventing sexual harassment, following earlier changes in October 2026. This change will happen in 2027.
Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans
Action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps will become mandatory, following their voluntary introduction on 6 April 2026. This change will happen in 2027.