What is changing under the Employment Rights Act 2025, and when?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is being brought in by phases. Day-one paternity and parental leave, sick pay changes and six-month tribunal time limits already apply. Next come the stronger harassment duties on 30 October 2026, a six-month unfair dismissal qualifying period from 1 January 2027 and fire and rehire protections in March 2027. Future dates remain subject to Parliament.
Already in force
The Act became law on 18 December 2025. GOV.UK's timeline, updated on 22 October 2026, lists the changes that have already taken effect.
- 18 February 2026: repeal of most of the Trade Union Act 2016 and protection against dismissal for taking industrial action
- 6 April 2026: day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, statutory sick pay from the first day of sickness with no lower earnings limit, a maximum protective award of 180 days' pay, and whistleblowing protection for disclosures about sexual harassment
- 7 April 2026: the Fair Work Agency was established
- 1 October 2026: the time limit for most employment tribunal claims rose from 3 to 6 months (for breach of contract claims in Scotland this happens on 9 November 2026)
Scheduled changes
The government says all future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes and may change.
- 30 October 2026: employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, a new duty not to permit harassment by third parties, and trade union access and recognition changes
- 1 January 2027: six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal, removal of the cap on compensatory awards, and a duty to tell workers of their right to join a trade union
- March 2027: fire and rehire protections
- April 2027: bereavement leave (including pregnancy loss), an organisation-wide collective redundancy threshold, and mandatory gender equality and menopause action plans for private and voluntary sector employers
- September 2027: regulations to stop the misuse of NDAs in harassment and discrimination cases
- October 2027: enhanced dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers, and flexible working changes
Zero hours reforms
The rights to be offered hours that reflect the hours regularly worked, reasonable notice of shifts and payment for shifts cancelled or changed at short notice have no start date yet. GOV.UK says the timings will be updated following the consultation process.
The law
“increasing time limits for making claims in employment tribunals in Great Britain…”
“The following provisions of the 2025 Act come into force on 30th October 2026…”
Sources
- Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update · GOV.UK
- Employment Rights Act 2025 · Acas
- Employment Rights Act 2025: factsheets · GOV.UK
General information for employers in Great Britain, not legal advice. Check the official sources for your situation.
- All reasonable steps duty on sexual harassment and third-party harassment duty begin
- Unfair dismissal qualifying period reduces to six months
- Fire and rehire protections expected
- Bereavement leave and collective redundancy threshold expected
- Flexible working and pregnancy dismissal protections expected
Future dates are expected dates and depend on Parliament.
What employers can do
- Map each change against your policies, contracts and HR systems, starting with those due in the next six months
- Update harassment policies, risk assessments and training ahead of 30 October 2026
- Review probation and early-service dismissal processes before 1 January 2027
- Brief managers on the new six-month tribunal time limit and keep records accordingly
- Check the GOV.UK timeline regularly, as future dates can move
Related answers
- When does the unfair dismissal qualifying period change to six months? The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims falls from two years to six months on 1 January 2027. The new rule applies wherever the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027, even if notice was given earlier. The cap on unfair dismissal compensatory awards is removed from the same date.
- What does the duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment mean for employers? From 30 October 2026, employers in Great Britain must take all reasonable steps, not just reasonable steps, to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. The same date brings a new duty not to permit harassment of employees by third parties such as customers. What counts as reasonable depends on the employer's size, sector, working environment and resources.
- What are the new rules on fire and rehire? From March 2027 (expected, subject to Parliament), dismissing an employee for refusing a change to core terms such as pay, hours, pensions, leave or certain shift patterns will be automatically unfair, unless the employer meets a narrow financial difficulties exemption. Dismissing employees to replace them with non-employees doing substantially the same work will also be automatically unfair in most cases.