The Employment Rights Act became law in December 2025 and it will change the employment rights framework in the UK.
Whilst many British employers already offer their employees benefits and protections that far exceed what is covered in the legislation, for many others it will mean change.
The changes are being introduced gradually over a two-year period, with some of the new measures including trade union and protection from sexual harassment measures, which came into effect on 30 October 2026 and a new duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union and changes to the Unfair Dismissal qualifying period taking effect on 1 January 2027. This means that anybody with 6 months’ service on 1 January will be protected from unfair dismissal.
The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade has outlined some useful links:
- To find out more about the reforms and access free guidance, visit business.gov.uk and sign up for updates, and access the timeline to review when measures will go live.
- Acas provides employers and employees with free, impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice. They also run training courses.
- Acas has delivered a new webinar on the Employment Rights Act 2025 through the Business Academy. The video is available to watch on demand here.
- Employers need to seek their own advice regarding which changes are most relevant to them and ensure they take steps to be compliant. Further detail on some of the recent and forthcoming measures include:
- Sexual Harassment prevention: The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published an 8-step guide for employers and technical guidance on how to comply with measures which went live on 30 October requiring employers to take ‘all’ reasonable steps to prevent harassment and prevent third party harassment. Additional guidance is available here.
- Unfair Dismissal: Acas have published updated guidance on probation periods in preparation for forthcoming changes on 1 January to the unfair dismissal qualifying period.
- Duty to inform: From 1 January, employers will have a duty to provide a written statement to workers informing them of their right to join a trade union. Further information is available here with guidance to follow this month.
- The government has published factsheets across all policies in the Act.
