The Employment Rights Act 2025 was passed in December 2025. It introduces a number of changes to your employment rights. The changes are being  phased  in from early 2026 through to 2027. Below we set out the timetable for the proposed changes to individual employment rights. However, these will be subject to changes. 

Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave

These things will change on 6 April 2026:

• paternity leave will become a ‘day one right’, allowing someone to give notice of leave from the first day of employment – currently someone must have worked for their employer for 26 weeks
• ordinary parental leave will also become a day one right – currently someone must have worked for their employer for 1 year to be eligible
• the restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave will be removed

Sick pay

These changes will happen on 6 April 2026:

• statutory sick pay (SSP) will be paid from the first day of illness, instead of the fourth day
• the lower earnings limit will be removed – currently, workers must earn a minimum amount to be eligible for statutory sick pay

Collective redundancy protective award

The maximum ‘protective award’ for failure to consult in collective redundancy will double from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay. This will change on 6 April 2026.

Whistleblowing protections for sexual harassment

Sexual harassment will become a ‘qualifying disclosure’ under whistleblowing law. This will mean protection from detriment and unfair dismissal for whistleblowers making a sexual harassment disclosure. This will change on 6 April 2026.

Gender pay gap and menopause action plans

Employers will need to create action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps. These will be voluntary from 6 April 2026. They will become mandatory sometime in 2027.

Fair Work Agency

The Fair Work Agency will be established on 6 April 2026, to:

• bring together existing enforcement bodies
• take on enforcement of other employment rights, such as holiday pay and statutory sick pay

Harassment

These changes will happen in October 2026:

• employers will be liable for harassment from third parties, for example customers or clients, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it happening – this will apply to all types of harassment
• employers will need to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment – current law says ‘reasonable steps’

A change to the law around non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) is also expected. This will void clauses that would prevent workers from alleging or disclosing work-related harassment or discrimination. The date of this change is not known yet.

Tipping

Tipping law will change in October 2026. Employers will need to:

• consult with workers or their representatives before creating a tipping policy
• update their tipping policy every 3 years

Employment tribunal time limits

Time limits for making a claim to an employment tribunal will increase to 6 months for all claims. The current time limit for most claims is 3 months. This will change in October 2026.

Dismissal and rehire

Dismissing someone then rehiring them on worse terms and conditions will become an automatically unfair dismissal in most cases. This is sometimes known as ‘fire and rehire’. This will change in October 2026.

Unfair dismissal

Protection from unfair dismissal will become a right after 6 months of being in a job. Currently, someone must have worked for their employer for 2 years before claiming unfair dismissal. This will happen in January 2027.

Protection from unfair dismissal was previously expected to become a right from the first day of employment. The government changed this before the Bill became law.

Increased pregnancy and maternity rights

The Act will strengthen protections against dismissal for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. This will happen in 2027.

Bereavement leave

There will be a new right to statutory bereavement leave. It’s not known yet whether this will be paid or unpaid leave. This will happen in 2027.

Zero-hours contracts

Workers on zero-hours contracts will get the right to guaranteed working hours, if they want them. This will happen in 2027.

Compensation for cancelled shifts

Workers will have the right to be paid if a shift is cancelled, moved to another date, or cut short by an employer. This will happen in 2027.

Flexible working

There will be an amendment to flexible working law in 2027. If an employer rejects a flexible working request because of a genuine business reason, they will have to:

• state the reasons
• explain why they believe their refusal is reasonable

Doing this is already good practice. But it will become a legal requirement.

Further harassment change

The law will specify what ‘reasonable steps’ means when preventing sexual harassment, following earlier changes in October 2026. This change will happen in 2027.

Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans

Action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps will become mandatory, following their voluntary introduction on 6 April 2026. This change will happen in 2027.

Collective redundancy

These collective redundancy changes will happen in 2027:

• employers will need to consider the total number of redundancies across their whole organisation, not just individual workplaces – currently, collective redundancy rules only apply to individual workplaces
• increased collective redundancy protection for workers on ships that regularly operate from British ports but are registered outside Great Britain

Dismissal and rehire

Dismissing someone then rehiring them on worse terms and conditions will become an automatically unfair dismissal in most cases. This is sometimes known as ‘fire and rehire’. This will change in October 2026.