The Employment Rights Bill - 365 days on

The Employment Rights Bill (ERB) was published 365 days ago.  It has been billed as the biggest shake-up to employment law rights in this country in over 30 years and a fundamental re-balancing, in favour of the worker.  Employers must start planning now. 

When will the ERB come into force?

As it has passed through Parliament, the ERB has grown from 158 pages to over 300 pages, although we do not have the final form yet. The ERB is back in the House of Lords for consideration on 28 October 2025, where it seems likely they will adopt the Commons' latest amendments to the Bill.  Royal Assent is anticipated in early November 2025, with limited provisions coming into force 2 months thereafter.

In the ERB Roadmap published in July 2025, the Government explained that it would take a "phased approach" to implementation and consultation with stakeholders.  Big sighs of relief all round. 

Further regulations will be required to implement many of the changes.  These regulations will provide some much needed meat on the bare bones of the ERB.  For example it is still unclear what the “day 1 right” to unfair dismissal protection and the “light touch” dismissal process during the “initial period of employment” will look like in practice.  Only after this can we assess the real impact of the ERB. 

The timeline

Measures that will take effect soon after Royal Assent are mainly based around Trade Union activity, such as repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and much of the Trade Union Act 2016.   Industrial action is likely to become easier with the simplification of industrial action notices and industrial action ballot notices, together with greater protections against dismissal for taking industrial action. 

Big changes are planned for April 2026 (subject to receiving Royal Assent):

• Collective redundancy protective award – doubling the maximum period of the protective award from 90 to 180 days actual pay. 

• 'Day 1' Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave rights.  

• Removal of the SSP lower earnings level and waiting days, meaning more people will be entitled to SSP from day 1 of sickness.

• Simplification of the trade union recognition process and electronic balloting.

• The Fair Work Agency will be established. 

Further changes are planned for October 2026:

• Near abolition of Fire & Rehire.

• Extending ET time limits.

• Extending harassment and sexual harassment obligations.

For 2027, the following changes are anticipated:

• Collective redundancy consultation threshold will change.

• Ending the exploitative use of Zero Hour Contracts and applying Zero Hour Contracts measures to agency workers. 

• ‘Day 1’ right – protection from unfair dismissal.

• Regulation of umbrella companies.

How to get ERB ready

 Here are a few of the steps your business should consider over the coming months:

• Consider whether a new employment strategy is required in light of the changes to unfair dismissal, redundancy and the additional regulation surrounding agency/zero hour workers and umbrella companies. 

• Review and update contracts and handbooks/policies now, particularly if you need to make unpopular changes to terms – it will become harder to make changes in the future.

• Start monitoring the use of umbrella company, zero hours and agency workers, looking in particular at shift patterns and the number of hours worked each week. This information will become crucial from 2027.   

• Consider your sick leave and performance management processes (especially in terms of new joiners) to ensure that they are fit for purpose and are sufficiently robust. 

• Ensure that sufficient managers are trained to deal with sick leave, performance management, flexible working requests and preventing harassment (including sexual harassment and third party).

• The ERB is likely to result in greater unionisation of the workplace and collective consultation will increase.  Larger employers may wish to consider introducing an employees’ forum/works council as an alternative. 

• Get involved with Government consultations, so you can shape how the ERB is implemented. 

Constantine Law can help you with each of the above.  We can provide practical guidance in respect of strategy, contract and policy review, plus workplace training, to ensure that your business is ERB ready.  You can keep up to date by joining our mailing list below. 

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Each quarter we issue the Constantine Law Quarterly Employment Bulletin - our workplace law update on legislation and case law changes.  You can join here.

Webinars

We also host free webinars aimed at business owners, senior managers and HR professionals, on a wide range of subjects, including the Employment Rights Bill, the new laws on preventing sexual harassment, menopause in the workplace etc.. 

Our next webinar:

UK Immigration Overhaul - Employer Essentials

14 October 2025

12pm via Teams

Join using the link here.

A bit about Constantine Law

We strive to protect our client’s work – their businesses, their ideas, their jobs and their futures, so that they can prosper.  

 Our team consists of employment, business immigration, regulatory and business crime specialists.  

Eleanor Rogers is a Senior Associate at Constantine Law.