The UK Employment Rights Bill: Are you ready for a new era for Workers and Workplaces?

Autumn2025

Reshaping Trade Unions

The Employment Rights Bill will be implemented in phases beginning with sweeping amendments to the Trade Unions. The first phase of which is planned to take effect in Autumn 2025 and aims to strengthen workers representation, simplify union processes and foster more collaborative industrial relations.

Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023

This will affect employees who are part of a union and work in key sectors (health, education, transport, fire and border security). If a strike is called organisations will not be able to issue work notices mandating which employees must work during a strike due to maintaining service levels anymore. It has also removed the risk of strikers being dismissed and will enhance collective bargaining when negotiations are being held.

Repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016

The first phase of the repeal will see new protections put in place for employees to prevent them from being dismissed for taking part in industrial action. Ballot thresholds are changing and will see the removal of the 50% turnout requirement for strike ballots and will scrap the 40% support threshold in important public services. There will also be a reduction in the strike notice from 14 to 10 days.  Industrial action mandates will see ballot validity extended from 6 months to 12 months and picketing rules will remove the requirement for picket supervisors and authorisation letters.

April 2025

Further amendments to the Employment Rights Bill are scheduled to take effect from April 2025, and these include:

Day One Rightsfor all Employees

Day one employment rights will be introduced, enabling workers to access protections such as unfair dismissal safeguards and family leave immediately. This marks a departure from the former system, which required months of continuous employment for eligibility to these benefits.

Zero-hours Contracts

Under the proposed new rules, organisations must offer guaranteed hours if a worker’s schedule proves consistent over a set period. Agency workers, who frequently fall outside traditional protections, are also included, ensuring a broader safety net for flexible labour.

No More Fire and Rehire

Organisations will no longer be allowed to dismiss workers and then re-employ them on worse terms, unless they are facing financial collapse. Replacing employees with contractors or agency labour in these scenarios will also be deemed automatically unfair.

Changes to Trade Union Rights

Parts of the Trade Union Act 2016 and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 are repealed. This includes the scrapping of minimum turnout thresholds for ballots, making it easier for workers to take strike action.

Fair Work Agency

A new watchdog agency tasked with enforcing labour laws on pay, holiday entitlements, and modern slavery. Organisations will also be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent workplace harassment, including incidents involving third parties.

Other significant changes will include removing the lower earnings limit and the three-day waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay, establishing bereavement leave for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, making sexual harassment a protected whistleblowing disclosure, banning Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) that silence victims of discrimination or abuse and extending employment tribunal time limits from three to six months.

April 2026

The second phase of the trade union reforms is scheduled to be implemented.  These include a simplified recognition of unions in the workplace, electronic and workplace balloting to ensure all union members have a chance to vote.  It will also see the launch of the Fair Work Agency who will work closely with the unions as part of its enforcement and advisory role.

October 2026

The third phase of the trade union reforms will see organisations having to legally inform employees of their rights to join a union, more protections for union representatives including reasonable paid time off to perform union duties and attend training,

How can organisations ensure they are ready for the forthcoming changes?

Staying ahead of the curve is essential, and the time to start preparing for upcoming changes to the Employment Rights Bill is now. Our outsourced HR Services team are here to support your organisation through this period of change.

Our HR Health Check service offering is designed to review your internal HR processes and policies to ensure they are still valid and fit for purpose in light of these forthcoming amendments.  Our outsourced HR team will engage with key personnel within your business to understand the effectiveness of your HR processes.  Following our review, you will be given a bespoke report, highlighting any risks and areas of concern.  We can also work with you to mitigate any risks and safeguard your business. 

For further information on the HR Health Check or any other HR requirements you may have, then please contact us below.

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