Employment Rights Bill UK
What Is In the Employment Rights Bill?
The new Employment Rights Bill was introduced in October 2024 and has undergone significant amendments as it progressed through the House of Lords.
While plans are in place to offer enhanced protections for employees, which will require serious proactive consideration from employers, the Employment Rights Bill’s new provisions will commence in stages, with most expected to take effect in Autumn 2026.
What Is In the Employment Rights Bill?
Among the several Day 1 rights proposed in the employment rights bill, such as sick pay, flexible working, and unfair dismissal, the bill seeks to extend the protections available to agency workers with possible enforcement consequences, as well as increase the employment tribunal time limits to six months along with an increase in compensation levels.
The bill also proposes to introduce regulations for the right to have guaranteed hours for zero-hour workers and to those who have their shifts cancelled last minute, along with restrictions on the application of fire and re-hire by businesses.
In addition to strengthening several employment protections arising out of collective redundancies, pregnancy and maternity rights and sexual harassment, the new employment rights bill includes provisions to ‘modernise’ the collective organising rights of trade unions.
When Can We Expect Changes to the Employment Rights Bill?
As we come to the end of the committee stage, on 1 July 2025, the government published its ‘roadmap for delivering change’, confirming that it is taking a staggered approach to implementing several of the most significant reforms along with further consultations.
The strengthening of trade union rights is due to come into force first by reducing the thresholds previously required within the Trade Union Act 2016 and repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
From the beginning of April 2026, the measures proposed to take effect are: the doubling of awards for ‘protective awards’ in connection to redundancies; the implementation of Day 1 rights such as sick pay and parental leave; the creation of a Fair Work Agency body; enhanced whistleblowing protections and a further simplification of trade union recognition protocols.
Employment Rights Advice from Newtons Solicitors
The extent of the proposed provisions to the new employment rights bill remains unclear, but you can count on Newtons to continue monitoring its progress. Whilst the phasing of several other key enhancements is expected in October 2026, the consultations planned are likely to lead to variation, so we will hold off listing the measures for October 2026 and 2027 in this release.
While we expect to see changes to the employment rights bill in due course, our team of employment specialist solicitors are prepared to adapt to the new legal landscape to ensure that our clients receive the latest and most relevant counsel. At Newtons, we provide bespoke employment law legal advice to managers and senior executives, offering our assistance with negotiated exits, termination arrangements, and negotiating restrictive covenants, severance payments and bonus disputes.
If you are seeking employment law legal advice or you have any concerns about the changes proposed in the new employment rights bill, our experienced team of employment law solicitors is here to help you with whatever you need. Please contact us to arrange a phone call, video call or to meet us at our offices.