Employment Rights Act – what do you need to know?
March 31, 2026
The Employment Rights Act
What has changed and what does it mean for you?
| 18 February 2026 Reform of Trade Union Laws – Phase One: Simplifying the information of ballet papers and the notice of industrial action. Providing notice to employers from 14 days to 10 days and removes the obligations relating to the supervision of picketing. The mandate for industrial action has been increased from 6 to 12 months. Remove conditions that were introduced in May 2024 to the check-off process in the public sector.Extend protection against dismissal for taking industrial action to the length of the strike, which is currently 12 weeks. The removal of the 40% support threshold for industrial action. |
| 1 April 2026 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage Rates increased: The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage will increase on 1 April 2026. The new rates apply to everyone, including apprentices and are different based on the employees age. |
| 5 April 2026 Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Sick Rates: Maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, neonatal care and paternity bereavement pay will increase from £187.18 to £194.32 per week. The three-day waiting period and the Lower Earnings Limit for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be removed. SSP will therefore be payable from the first qualifying day of sickness and employees will be eligible regardless of their level of earnings. SSP will be calculated as the lower of 80% of the employee’s Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) or the statutory flat weekly SSP rate, which will increase from £118.75 to £123.25 from April 2026. For example, an employee with Average Weekly Earnings of £100 per week would receive £80 SSP (80% of earnings), while an employee whose 80% earnings exceed £123.25 would receive the capped amount of £123.25 per week. |
| April 2026 Reform of Trade Union Laws – Phase Two: Reduce the requirement of 10% membership at the application stage to a level not lower than 2%.Strengthened protections against unfair practices during the statutory recognised process. Statutory Paternity and Ordering Parental Leave to become day-one employment rights: From 6 April 2026, the qualifying periods for paternity leave (currently 26 weeks) and ordinary parental leave (currently one year), will be removed, making them both day-one rights. It will also remove the restriction on employees taking paternity leave and pay after they have taken shared parental leave and pay. Employees who are newly eligible for day-one paternity and parental leave can give notice from 18 February 2026. Extended eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): From 6 April 2026 statutory sick pay (SSP) will be extended so that it is payable from the first day of absence, removing the current three-day waiting period. The requirement for employees to earn at least the lower earnings limit will also be removed. Employees will be entitled to the standard SSP rate or 80% of their average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Collective Redundancy: Increased Protective Award: The maximum protective award for non-compliance with collective redundancy obligations will increase from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay per affected employee. This applies where an employer fails to properly consult appropriate employee representatives when proposing 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within a 90-day period. This change will apply to dismissals which happen on or after 6 April. Fair Work Agency to be established: A single, consolidated body to monitor and enforce core employment rights will be established: the Fair Work Agency (FWA). The FWA will incorporate certain existing agencies and will be responsible for enforcing rights including the national minimum wage, statutory sick pay and holiday pay. The Agency will have powers to investigate breaches, issue civil penalties and take action against labour exploitation. Sexual harassment added to whistleblowing legislation: The whistleblowing provisions will be amended so that complaints of sexual harassment will be treated as protected disclosures. |
| August 2026 Introduction of electronic and workplace balloting in connection with industrial action: The Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms trade union legislation. The Government has indicated that it plans to introduce electronic and workplace balloting in connection with industrial action in August 2026.It is also expected that the removal of the 50% turnout threshold for an industrial action ballot to be valid will be implemented at the same time as electronic balloting. |
| October 2026 Stronger Harassment Law: An employer will be obligated to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. The Act also introduces employer liability for third-party harassment. This liability is not limited to sexual harassment but extends to harassment on the grounds of age, disability, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Reform of Trade Union Laws – Phase Three: Introduce a right of union access to the workplace (both physical and virtual) to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers and to facilitate collective bargaining. Require employers to provide workers with a written statement that they have the right to join a trade union. Require employers to provide trade union representatives with reasonable accommodation and facilities. Introduce a right to time off for trade unition equality representatives. Strengthen protection from dismissal and detriment for union members and their representatives taking protected industrial action. Extension to employment tribunal time limits: The time limit to make a claim at an employment tribunal will increase from three to six months. Protection for workers engaged on outsourced public sector contracts: The Act enables regulations to be published that would seek to prevent a two-tier workforce between employees engaged on the same outsourced public sector service contract. These regulations are expected to outline specific terms that must be included in outsourcing agreement to ensure that private sector employees engaged on such contracts are treated no less favourably than those who transferred from the public sector under previous arrangements. The Act also provides for the publication of a code of practice containing guidance on outsourcing agreements. |
| January 2027 Unfair dismissal qualification period: The qualification period for protection from unfair dismissal will reduce from two years to six months. This will come into effect from 1 January 2027 (note: meaning that employees hired from 1 July 2026 would gain protection from unfair dismissal after six months). The compensation cap for unfair dismissal will be removed. Limits on use of fire and rehire: It will be automatically be unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a “restricted variation” to their contract, which includes changes relating to pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, pensions, clauses permitting unilateral changes and other terms that will be set out in regulations. It will automatically be unfair to an employee if the principal reason for the dismissal is to employ another person to do the same work as the dismissed employee or rehire the dismissed employer to carry out the same work but under new terms covering the restricted variations. |
