The Employment Rights Act 2025 brings the most significant workplace law changes in a generation. This guide cuts through the complexity to give you the key dates, practical impacts, and actions you need to take.

Timeline at a Glance

February 2026 → Trade union and industrial action changes
April 2026 → Fair Work Agency launches, family leave reforms, SSP changes, union recognition rules
October 2026 → Sexual harassment duties, union workplace access rights, fire and rehire restrictions
January 2027 → Unfair dismissal qualifying period reduces to 6 months

ERA 2025 Timeline

FEBRUARY 2026: Industrial Action Changes

What’s Changing (Effective 18 February 2026)

Longer strike mandates
Union strike ballots will now be valid for 12 months instead of 6 months.

Simpler strike notices
Unions will give you less detail about who’s striking, and can start action with just 10 days’ notice (down from 14 days).

Extended dismissal protection
Workers can’t be fairly dismissed for striking for the entire duration of protected industrial action, not just the first 12 weeks.

What This Means for Your Business

If you face industrial action, disputes could run longer and feel more disruptive. Unions have more time to organise action after a vote, less administrative burden, and workers have stronger protection throughout.

Action: If you have union-recognised workers, review your industrial relations procedures and consider strengthening communication channels to resolve disputes early.

APRIL 2026: Multiple Major Changes

1. Easier Union Recognition

The change: Unions only need a simple majority of those voting to win recognition (the current 40% threshold of all eligible workers is being removed).

What this means: Recognition campaigns will become more common and easier to win. Expect more workplaces to become unionised.

Action for non-unionised businesses: Prepare clear consultation and information-sharing processes now so you can respond consistently if approached.

Action for unionised businesses: Review your recognition agreements, consultation mechanisms and communication channels to ensure they’re up to date.

2. The Fair Work Agency (FWA) – Aggressive New Enforcement

This is potentially the biggest shift for day-to-day compliance.

What it enforces:

  • National Minimum Wage
  • Holiday pay and leave (with new record-keeping requirements)
  • Statutory Sick Pay (never actively enforced before)
  • Employment agency rules
  • Modern slavery and labour exploitation

New powers:

  • Workplace inspections without warning
  • Demand to see records
  • Issue enforcement notices and fines
  • Bring tribunal claims on behalf of workers (including unfair dismissal and discrimination)

What This Means

Mistakes you might have got away with before—minor holiday pay errors, SSP calculation issues, NMW deductions—will now be actively hunted by inspectors. The FWA is expected to target high-profile employers in the first few years to set examples.

Critical actions:

  • Run a compliance audit on NMW (check salary sacrifice, uniform costs, unpaid time)
  • Review holiday pay calculations and ensure you’re keeping proper records
  • Get your SSP processes ready (see below)
  • If you use agency workers, review your compliance

3. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Expansion

Three major changes:

  1. Day-one payment – No more 3-day waiting period
  2. Lower earners now covered – The earnings threshold is being removed
  3. New rate – 80% of average weekly earnings OR the flat rate (around £118-123/week), whichever is lower

What This Means

More cost, more admin, more complexity. Payroll systems need updating. Some businesses expect more short-term absences as the financial barrier to reporting sickness is removed.

Critical: This is an area the Fair Work Agency will focus on heavily. Get it right from day one.

Actions:

  • Update payroll systems for new calculations
  • Train managers on the new rules
  • Review absence management policies
  • Budget for increased SSP costs

4. Day-One Family Leave Rights

What’s changing:

  • Paternity leave becomes a day-one right (currently requires 26 weeks’ service)
  • Unpaid parental leave becomes a day-one right (currently requires 1 year’s service)

What this means: New employees can take these leaves immediately. Update your family leave policies and manager training.

5. Collective Redundancy Risk Doubles

The maximum protective award for poor collective redundancy consultation is doubling from 90 to 180 days’ pay per affected employee.

What this means: If you’re making 20+ people redundant and mess up the consultation, the financial penalty just got twice as expensive.

Action: Review your redundancy consultation processes. Don’t rush. Get it right.

OCTOBER 2026: Sexual Harassment, Union Access & Fire and Rehire

1. Fire and Rehire Restrictions (Effective 1 October 2026)

The change: New protections prevent employers from dismissing employees to replace them with non-employees (contractors, agency workers, zero-hours workers) doing substantially the same work.

What this means: If you dismiss someone and the main reason is to bring in a contractor or agency worker to do their job, that dismissal will be automatically unfair—even if you follow a fair process.

Real-world impact: This targets the practice of replacing permanent staff with cheaper, more flexible labour. Common in sectors like facilities management, logistics, and professional services where businesses have increasingly shifted to contractor models.

What you can’t do:

  • Dismiss a permanent employee to bring in a contractor doing the same role
  • Replace staff with agency workers to avoid employment rights
  • Use “restructuring” as cover for shifting to a non-employee workforce

Actions:

  • Review any planned workforce changes involving contractors or agency workers
  • If you’re genuinely restructuring, document the business reasons clearly
  • Seek advice before dismissing anyone if you plan to backfill with non-employees

2. Sexual Harassment – New Legal Duties

Two major changes:

From April 2026: Sexual harassment complaints become protected whistleblowing disclosures, meaning employees who raise concerns can’t be dismissed or treated poorly for doing so.

From October 2026:

  • You must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment (not just respond to it)
  • You’re liable for third-party harassment (e.g., by customers, clients, suppliers) if you fail to take reasonable steps

What This Means

This isn’t just about having a policy. You need to demonstrate active prevention through training, visible management action, and proper reporting channels. If a customer harasses your staff and you did nothing preventative, you’re liable.

Actions:

  • Update policies to cover third-party harassment
  • Roll out prevention training (not just awareness)
  • Create clear reporting processes
  • Show you’re taking “all reasonable steps” – document everything

3. Union Access to Workplaces

The big change: Recognised unions (and those seeking recognition) will have statutory rights to physical and digital access to your workplace to recruit members and discuss representation.

The process:

  • Union makes written access request
  • You have 5 working days to respond
  • 15 working days to negotiate an access agreement
  • If no agreement after 25 days, either side can refer to the CAC (Central Arbitration Committee)
  • CAC can impose binding terms and penalties

Applies to: All employers except possibly those with under 21 workers (still being consulted on)

What This Means

You can’t just say no. If you don’t agree reasonable access, it will be imposed on you—potentially on less favourable terms than if you’d negotiated.

Action: If approached, engage constructively and agree reasonable terms quickly.

4. Duty to Inform About Union Rights

New requirement: You must inform workers of their right to join a union:

  • When they start work (alongside their contract)
  • At regular intervals (likely annually)

The government will provide standard wording you must use or closely follow.

Action: Update your onboarding documents and create an annual communication process.

JANUARY 2027: Unfair Dismissal Rights Expansion

Unfair Dismissal Qualifying Period Reduced (Effective 1 January 2027)

The change: The qualifying period to claim unfair dismissal drops from 2 years’ service to just 6 months.

What this means: This is a game-changer for managing performance and behaviour issues. Currently, employees need 2 years’ service before they can bring unfair dismissal claims (with some exceptions). From January 2027, they only need 6 months.

Real-world impact:

Current situation: You have roughly 2 years to assess whether someone is working out, address performance issues, and part ways if needed—all with relatively low legal risk.

From January 2027: That window shrinks to 6 months. Any dismissal after that point must be for a fair reason, following a fair process, or you face an uncapped tribunal claim.

What becomes riskier:

  • Dismissing underperformers without proper performance management procedures
  • Letting people go during probation periods longer than 6 months
  • Informal “it’s not working out” conversations that lead to dismissal
  • Restructuring decisions that aren’t properly documented

Critical actions:

  1. Review probation periods: If yours are 6+ months, consider shortening them or ensuring you make final decisions before the 6-month mark
  2. Tighten first 6 months management:
    • Set clear expectations from day one
    • Document performance issues early
    • Address problems quickly—don’t wait
    • If someone isn’t working out, act before month 6
  3. Strengthen dismissal processes:
    • Even for employees under 2 years, start using proper procedures now
    • Ensure all dismissals have clear, documented reasons
    • Follow a fair process every time (warnings, meetings, right to appeal)
  4. Manager training: Your managers need to understand this change and how to handle performance issues properly from day one of employment

Combined with fire and rehire restrictions: You can’t just dismiss someone and replace them with a contractor to avoid unfair dismissal risk. The two changes work together to significantly strengthen employee protections.

Your Priority Action Plan

Do Now (Q1 2025)

  1. Compliance audit: NMW, holiday pay, SSP readiness
  2. Update policies: Family leave, sexual harassment (including third-party), whistleblowing
  3. Manager training: Flexible working, family leave, sexual harassment prevention
  4. Budget planning: Factor in NIC increases, potential SSP costs, higher pay rates

Do by February 2026

  1. Review industrial relations procedures if you recognise unions
  2. Prepare union response framework if you don’t

Do by April 2026

  1. SSP system overhaul: Payroll configuration, manager training, cost modelling
  2. Fair Work Agency prep: Audit all areas the FWA will enforce
  3. Update recognition agreements if you have union relationships
  4. Review redundancy processes for new protective award levels

Do by October 2026

  1. Sexual harassment prevention programme: Training, reporting, third-party protocols
  2. Union access policy: How you’ll respond to access requests
  3. Union rights communications: Update onboarding and create annual reminder
  4. Fire and rehire audit: Review any plans to replace employees with contractors or agency workers

Do by January 2027

  1. Probation period review: Assess if current probation lengths are still appropriate
  2. Performance management overhaul: Ensure robust processes are in place from day one of employment
  3. Manager training update: Brief all managers on reduced qualifying period and fair dismissal requirements
  4. Dismissal process documentation: Update procedures to ensure every dismissal is defensible

Summary

The next 18 months will reshape how you manage people. The enforcement environment is becoming significantly tougher, unions are being empowered, and employee protections are expanding.

The good news: You have time to prepare. The businesses that will struggle are those that wait until changes take effect before acting.

The key: Don’t try to do everything at once. Use the timeline above to prioritise what matters most for your business, and build compliance into your normal operations rather than treating it as a one-off project.

For support adapting your business to these changes, contact: https://www.apexhr.co.uk/contact/