Employment Rights Act 2025: Implementation timeline

The Employment Rights Act (ERA) 2025 is now law and the government have updated their implementation timeline. This will help you understand when the changes are coming into force over the next few years. 

What’s changing and when? 

2025 

• Repeal of Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 – rolling back restrictions on minimum service requirements during strikes. 

 

February 2026 

• Repeal most provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 – removing hurdles introduced over the last decade, making it easier for unions to organise. 

• Scrapping the 10-year ballot renewal requirement for union political funds – ending the need for unions to run costly ballots every decade to keep political funds active. 

• New protections against dismissal for taking industrial action – stronger safeguards for workers who strike. 

• Simplifying industrial action notices – reducing red tape for unions when planning industrial action. 

 

April 2026 

6 April 

• Statutory Sick Pay reforms – removing waiting days and the requirement to earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit. 

• Doubling collective redundancy protective award – doubling the maximum protective award period for breaches of collective consultation rules (from 90 to 180 days) 

• Day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave rights – removing service requirements so employees can access these rights immediately. 

• Whistleblowing protections strengthened – complaints of sexual harassment at work to be treated as whistleblowing protected disclosures. 

• Simplified trade union recognition processes – making it easier for unions to be recognised by employers. 

• Voluntary Equality Actions Plans including measures to address gender pay gaps and support employees through the menopause for employers with 250+ employees. 

• New bereaved partner paternity leave rights introduced enabling bereaved fathers and partners to take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of the child’s life. 

 

7 April 

• Fair Work Agency established – a new enforcement body which will bring all state enforcement of workers’ rights under one agency with new powers, penalties and an extended remit to include SSP and holiday rights enforcement.  

 

August 2026 

• Electronic and workplace balloting – modernising how union votes are carried out. 

 

October 2026 

• Employers’ duty to prevent sexual harassment – requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of workers. 

• New powers to make regulations defining “reasonable steps” on harassment 

• New obligation to prevent third-party harassment – extending employers’ potential liability for harassment by customers, suppliers or other third parties. 

• Tribunal claim time limits extended to six months – giving employees more time to bring claims. 

• Regulations for the Fair Pay Agreement for Adult Social Care Negotiating Body. 

• Duty to inform workers about union rights – obliging employers to notify employees about their rights to join a union. 

• Increasing Trade Union rights to access workplaces. 

• Extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action. 

• New rights and protections for trade union representatives. 

• Unfair practices in the trade union recognition process. 

• Tighter tipping laws. 

 

2027 

• Right to claim unfair dismissal from six months’ service – employees will have protection from unfair dismissal from six months of their employment – 1 January 2027. 

• Fire and rehire restrictions come into force – introducing stricter restrictions and penalties for misuse – January. 

• Zero hours contract reforms – introducing rights to a guaranteed hours contract and rights to reasonable notice of shifts and of the cancellation, moving or shortening of shifts. 

• Mandatory Equality Action Plans (covering gender pay gap and menopause support measures) for employers with 250 plus employees. 

• Increased protections for pregnant workers and new mothers. 

• Industrial relations framework overhaul – modernising laws on collective bargaining and strikes. 

• Collective redundancy consultation threshold changes – revising rules on when businesses need to consult collectively. 

• Regulation of umbrella companies – introducing several new obligations for umbrella companies. 

• Flexible working reforms implemented requiring decisions to be reached on a reasonable basis. 

• New bereavement leave rights introduced.