Employment Rights Act 2025, for employers
Which employment law changes affect you?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 commences in stages, and most summaries blur three very different things: what is already law, what has a date, and what is still waiting on consultation. Statutory sick pay changed on 6 April 2026. The unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to six months on 1 January 2027. Guaranteed hours for zero hours workers has no date at all. Pick your topic and get the status, with the commencement order behind it.
Question 1
Which change are you checking?
Each answer tells you whether that change is in force today, dated, or still subject to consultation.
Scope of this checker
- Which provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 are actually in force, by commencement order
- Unfair dismissal: the six month qualifying period and the removal of the compensatory award cap
- Zero hours and casual work: guaranteed hours, shift notice, cancellation payments and exclusivity
- Statutory sick pay after the April 2026 changes
- Family leave, pregnancy dismissal protection and bereavement leave
- Fire and rehire, collective redundancy, trade unions and the duty to prevent harassment
- This site is written for employers. Workers checking their own rights are better served elsewhere.
New Employment Rules is an independent information site for employers, operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with the Department for Business and Trade, Acas, the Fair Work Agency or any government body, and nothing here is legal advice. Commencement dates for the Employment Rights Act 2025 are set by statutory instrument and future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes: confirm the position on legislation.gov.uk before acting.
Employment Rights Act 2025: what is in force and what is not
Last updated
Status of the main employer-facing measures as at 14 August 2026, taken from the commencement orders themselves and the government's published timeline rather than from commentary.
Compiled from the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) and its commencement orders S.I. 2026/3, S.I. 2026/323, S.I. 2026/373 and S.I. 2026/559 on legislation.gov.uk, and from the Department for Business and Trade timeline update 'Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act' on gov.uk, both checked on the updated date above. Where a section is in force only for the purpose of making regulations, this table says so rather than describing the measure as law. Future dates come from the government timeline, which states that all future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes and may change.
| Change | Status on 14 August 2026 | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 | In force | Royal Assent, December 2025 |
| Repeal of the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 | In force | 6 January 2026 |
| Repeal of most of the Trade Union Act 2016; protection from dismissal for industrial action | In force | 18 February 2026 |
| Statutory sick pay: waiting days and lower earnings limit removed | In force | 6 April 2026 |
| Day one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave | In force | 6 April 2026 |
| Collective redundancy protective award raised to 180 days' pay | In force | 6 April 2026 |
| Whistleblowing protection for disclosures about sexual harassment | In force | 6 April 2026 |
| Trade union recognition: likely majority test and 40% ballot threshold removed | In force | 6 April 2026 |
| Fair Work Agency established | In force | 7 April 2026 |
| Electronic and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots | Scheduled | 25 August 2026 |
| Tribunal claim time limit rises from 3 to 6 months | Scheduled | 1 October 2026 (9 November 2026 for Scottish contract claims) |
| Duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment; third party harassment | Scheduled | 30 October 2026 |
| Duty to inform workers of the right to join a union; union access and rep rights | Scheduled | 30 October 2026 |
| Unfair dismissal qualifying period cut to 6 months; compensatory award cap removed | Commenced, effect from that date | 1 January 2027 |
| Fire and rehire protections | Scheduled | January 2027 |
| Guaranteed hours, shift notice and short notice payments (including agency workers) | Passed, not commenced; regulations awaited | 2027, timings to follow consultation |
| Flexible working, bereavement leave, umbrella companies, collective redundancy threshold, NDA rules | Passed, not commenced | 2027 |
- The unfair dismissal qualifying period falls from two years to six months for dismissals where the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027, and the cap on the compensatory award is repealed at the same time.
- Statutory sick pay has been payable from the first qualifying day, with no lower earnings limit, since 6 April 2026, at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
- The maximum protective award for failing to consult on collective redundancies doubled from 90 days' pay to 180 days' pay per affected employee on 6 April 2026.
Cite this page
“Employment Rights Act 2025: what is in force and what is not”, New Employment Rules, https://newemploymentrules.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-14). Compiled from the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) and its commencement orders S.I. 2026/3, S.I. 2026/323, S.I. 2026/373 and S.I. 2026/559 on legislation.gov.uk, and from the Department for Business and Trade timeline update 'Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act' on gov.uk, both checked on the updated date above. Where a section is in force only for the purpose of making regulations, this table says so rather than describing the measure as law. Future dates come from the government timeline, which states that all future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes and may change.
Need this turned into an action plan?
We'll introduce you to an employment law adviser or HR consultant who can review your contracts, policies and processes against the changes that affect you.
Go deeper
Sourced, dated, kept current.
Unfair dismissal from January 2027: six months, and no compensation cap
From 1 January 2027 the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls to six months and the cap on the compensatory award goes. What employers should change now.
Zero hours contracts: guaranteed hours, shift notice and what is real today
Guaranteed hours and shift notice rights are passed but not commenced, with timings to follow consultation. Exclusivity clauses are already unenforceable.
Employment law changes 2026 and 2027: the employer timeline
Every dated employment law change for employers through 2026 and 2027, from the August 2026 balloting rules to the January 2027 unfair dismissal reforms.
Statutory sick pay for employers: day one, and no earnings limit
Since 6 April 2026 SSP is payable from the first qualifying day with no lower earnings limit, at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
Straight answers
What changes for employers under the Employment Rights Act 2025?
It changes employment law in stages. Already in force: day one statutory sick pay with no lower earnings limit, day one paternity and unpaid parental leave, a doubled collective redundancy protective award, and a large trade union package. Dated ahead: harassment prevention duties from 30 October 2026 and a six month unfair dismissal qualifying period from 1 January 2027. Undated: guaranteed hours, flexible working and bereavement leave.
When does the unfair dismissal qualifying period change?
1 January 2027. Section 25 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 was commenced on that date by S.I. 2026/559, cutting the qualifying period from two years to six months and repealing the cap on the compensatory award, for dismissals where the effective date of termination falls on or after 1 January 2027.
Do employers have to offer guaranteed hours yet?
No. Sections 1 to 4 of the Act are in force only so far as they confer a duty to consult or a power to make regulations. The substantive rights require regulations that have not been made, and the government's timeline lists them under 2027 with timings to be updated after consultation.
What must employers do about harassment from October 2026?
From 30 October 2026 the government's timeline sets out a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees, an obligation not to permit harassment of employees by third parties, and a power for ministers to specify particular preventative steps in regulations.
Has the tribunal time limit changed?
It is scheduled to. From 1 October 2026 the time limit for bringing a claim to the employment tribunal rises from three months to six months, with breach of employment contract claims in Scotland changing on 9 November 2026.
Is this site for employers or for employees?
Employers. It answers what an employer has to do and by when, using the commencement orders. Employees and workers checking their own entitlements need a different tool: this one deliberately does not give individual rights advice.
Know which rules are real today
One question narrows it, the verdict cites the commencement order. No guessed dates.
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