The Employment Rights Bill - roadmap to implementation

The Employment Rights Bill is currently going through the Report Stage in the House of Lords, one of the final stages in the legislative process. It is expected that the Bill will receive Royal Assent in Autumn 2025, a year since it was first introduced into Parliament.

The introduction of the Employment Rights Bill is a crucial step in Labour’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’, outlined in its party manifesto. It will introduce wide-ranging changes that look set to deliver the most substantial reform to employment law in a generation.

On 1 July 2025, the government published its implementation roadmap, which outlines when certain changes under the Bill will take effect. Recognising that the government will need time to engage and consult with businesses and that businesses will need time to prepare, the changes under the Bill will take effect in phases, continuing into 2027. The roadmap provides as follows:

Measures that will take effect at Royal Assent or soon afterwards include:

Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and major parts of the Trade Union Act 2016
Removing the 10-year ballot requirement for trade union political funds
Simplifying industrial action notices and industrial action ballot notices
Protections against dismissal for taking part in industrial action

Measures that will take effect in April 2026 include:

Collective redundancy protective award – doubling the maximum period of the protective award
'Day 1' Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave
Enhanced whistleblowing protections
Establishment of a Fair Work Agency
Statutory Sick Pay – removal of the Lower Earnings Limit and waiting period
Simplifying trade union recognition process
Electronic and workplace balloting systems

Measures that will take effect in October 2026 include:

Ban on ‘fire and rehire’
Establishment of the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body
Procurement – two-tier code
Tightening tipping laws
Expanded trade union rights – duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union; strengthening trade unions' right of access; new rights and protections for trade union reps
Requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees
Introducing an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties
Employment tribunal time limits - extended from 3 months to 6 months
Extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action

Measures that will take effect in 2027 include:

Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans (introduced on a voluntary basis from April 2026)
Rights for pregnant workers
Introducing a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable”, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
Blacklisting
Industrial relations framework
Regulation of umbrella companies
Collective redundancy – collective consultation threshold
Flexible working
Bereavement leave
Ending the exploitative use of zero-hour contracts and applying zero-hour contract measures to agency workers
‘Day 1’ unfair dismissal rights

Amendments to the Bill are currently being proposed, debated and voted on by the House of Lords, with those accepted implemented into the Bill. The Bill will then move to the Third Reading stage, which is the final opportunity for the House of Lords to consider and amend the Bill before it is passed.

Consultations on each part of the Bill will begin this summer and continue into early 2026.

If you would like any further information or advice in relation to employment law matters, please contact us on 01384 410410. We serve clients across the West Midlands and Birmingham. To be kept up to date with the latest developments in employment law, including the Employment Rights Bill, you can sign up to our monthly update bulletin here: https://www.georgegreen.co.uk/site/our-services/employment-law-solicitors/employment-newsletter-signup/