Employment Rights Act 2025: what’s in force?

If you are off sick, your first qualifying day can now be paid, even if you earn very little. If you have been dismissed or short-paid, write down the dates, hours and amounts today. Tribunal deadlines keep ticking while you try to resolve things at work. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has changed some rights, but others start later. Here is what you can use now, what is still coming, and who can help you act.

What is actually in force today?

The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. Commencement regulations bring its provisions into force, sometimes first to allow ministers to make regulations rather than to give you an enforceable right. We use those regulations alongside the government’s official timetable, updated on 22 October 2026.

Unless we say otherwise, the employment reforms below apply in Great Britain, meaning England, Wales and Scotland. SSP changes apply across the UK. A government target date is not the same as a commencement date fixed in regulations.

Since 6 April 2026, employers in GB must keep records adequate to show compliance with statutory annual leave and holiday pay rules, including the irregular-hours, part-year and rolled-up holiday pay provisions. Section 35 added regulation 16B to the Working Time Regulations 1998. Records must be kept for six years from creation in any reasonably suitable format. Failure to comply is a criminal offence; the Secretary of State can bring prosecutions in England and Wales. The commencement provision is SI 2026/323, regulation 3(1), read with regulation 3(8). Acas explains the holiday-record duty.

Commencement timeline

The transition can turn on a single day. A GB dismissal on 30 September 2026 normally carries a three-month tribunal deadline; one on 1 October carries six months. Neither date gives you the shorter service threshold. That starts on 1 January 2027.

Union reforms need their own checks. Since 18 February 2026, dismissal principally for taking protected industrial action is automatically unfair without the old 12-week cut-off. The action must still satisfy section 238A; a union calling a strike does not by itself settle that question. Electronic and workplace balloting started on 25 August; e-balloting for recognition and derecognition ballots is scheduled for August 2027. The Fair Work Agency’s establishment on 7 April does not replace your tribunal claim or extend its deadline.

Sick pay: what changed in April 2026

From 6 April 2026, the Act removed SSP’s three waiting days and lower earnings limit. Eligible employees can receive it from the first full qualifying day of sickness. The maximum entitlement remains 28 weeks; linked absences can count towards that total.

Your weekly SSP is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of your average weekly earnings. Check HMRC’s 2026 to 2027 rates and its average-earnings calculation, especially if your hours vary. SSP also covers agency workers treated as employed for National Insurance. Genuinely self-employed people do not qualify; you may instead qualify for Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit.

Dismissal changes in January. Redundancy’s service rule stays

For ordinary unfair dismissal in GB, you generally still need two years’ continuous service. The Act has not made it a day-one right. Claims for discrimination and many automatically unfair reasons, such as whistleblowing or pregnancy, do not need that service.

The threshold falls to six months where your effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027. SI 2026/559 expressly covers notice given before January where employment ends on or after that date. Northern Ireland’s ordinary qualifying period remains one year. Statutory redundancy pay still needs two years’ service in GB after January.

What happens to compensation?

For ordinary GB unfair dismissals with an effective termination date from 6 April to 31 December 2026, the compensatory award is normally capped at the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay. Exceptions already include whistleblowing and specified health-and-safety dismissals. For terminations from 1 January 2027, the statutory compensatory cap goes. That is not a promise of a large payout: the tribunal assesses compensable loss and any applicable reductions.

The basic award and statutory redundancy pay still use a capped week’s pay of £751 for relevant dates from 6 April 2026, under SI 2026/310. Up to 20 years count, giving a maximum of £22,530 if every year attracts 1.5 weeks. A £9,157 minimum basic award before reductions applies to specified reasons, including certain representative and trade-union dismissals, not every automatically unfair dismissal.

Discrimination compensation is already uncapped. For injury to feelings, the Vento bands for GB claims presented from 6 April 2026 are £1,300 to £12,600, £12,600 to £37,700 and £37,700 to £62,900. Exceptional cases can exceed the upper band. These are not an extra award for distress in an ordinary unfair-dismissal claim.

The protective award is different from redundancy pay

Since 6 April 2026, a GB employer’s failure to carry out collective redundancy consultation can attract a protective award of up to 180 days’ full pay per affected employee, twice the old maximum. Acas confirms that you do not need two years’ service. Unlike statutory redundancy pay, this award does not use the £751 weekly cap.

The current consultation trigger remains proposals for 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within 90 days. The proposed organisation-wide threshold is scheduled for April 2027. See our collective redundancy and redundancy pay guides.

Fire and rehire is restricted, not wholly banned

The official timetable schedules the new protections for March 2027, with regulations still to be made. Section 28 provides for automatic unfairness where dismissal is used to impose specified contract changes, including pay reductions, pension changes, altered contractual hours or reduced time off. It contains narrow financial-difficulty exceptions, with separate public-sector rules. The government’s 22 October response confirms that most expenses and benefits in kind are excluded, except travel expenses (including mileage), accommodation expenses and long-term accommodation provided as a benefit in kind, and that the shift-pattern limb covers day/night or weekday/weekend changes, not small daytime moves. Until commencement, existing contract and dismissal law applies; do not assume an employer can change your terms freely now.

Six months, minus a day. Older claims keep the old deadline

From 1 October 2026, SI 2026/954 extends most GB tribunal time limits from three to six months. The claim’s relevant date must be on or after 1 October. For unfair dismissal, that is the effective date of termination. The change does not give an older dismissal a new six-month deadline.

Not every claim changed. Equal pay and statutory redundancy pay already had six-month periods. In Scotland, tribunal breach-of-contract claims move to six months on 9 November 2026. Northern Ireland’s ordinary unfair-dismissal limit remains three months minus one day under article 145; do not apply the GB change to your NI claim.

Acas early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks for notifications from 1 December 2025. If you notify Acas in time, the statutory rules pause the clock and normally leave at least one month after you receive the certificate to submit your claim. That does not mean you can simply add 12 weeks. Use Acas’s process guide and our tribunal claims guide.

1. Identify each claim and its relevant date. Dismissal, discrimination and unpaid wages can have different dates. Get help if events are continuing or span the changeover.
2. Notify the right conciliation body in time. Use Acas in GB or the Labour Relations Agency in NI. A grievance or internal appeal does not stop the clock.
3. Recalculate after your certificate arrives. Record when you notified Acas and when you received its certificate. File the ET1 with the certificate number unless an exemption applies.
4. Do not rely on an extension for lateness. Ordinary unfair-dismissal claims use the “not reasonably practicable” test; discrimination uses the different “just and equitable” test. A tribunal decides. Some interim-relief applications have a seven-day deadline, so seek urgent advice.

Your status decides which rights you can use

Employees also have workers’ rights. A contract calling you “self-employed” or “casual” does not settle your legal status.

If you are genuinely self-employed, you do not normally have these employment rights, although discrimination protection can cover some contracts to do work personally. Agency workers have day-one access to relevant vacancies and shared facilities. After 12 qualifying weeks in the same job with the same hirer, you normally have equal basic working and employment conditions. Holiday pay and SSP eligibility depend on the applicable rules and your arrangement. See employment status and agency worker rights.

For unsafe work, report the hazard to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). If you suspect labour exploitation in a GLAA-regulated sector, report it to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). These routes do not stop a tribunal deadline.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

In Scotland, the main GB rules apply. The exception in this tracker is the later 9 November 2026 change to the tribunal deadline for breach-of-contract claims. That is not a delay to Scotland’s unfair-dismissal or discrimination deadline changes.

Northern Ireland has its own employment legislation, industrial tribunals and the Labour Relations Agency rather than Acas. SSP reform applies there and minimum wage rates are UK-wide. But the ordinary unfair-dismissal service threshold remains one year, and its tribunal deadline is normally three months minus one day. The Act’s NI amendments in Schedule 12 do not create a general six-month deadline; paragraph 9 expressly preserves a three-month period for NI European Works Council time-off claims.

NI flexible-working requests still require 26 weeks’ service. The GB day-one paternity and parental leave changes, protective-award doubling and January dismissal changes do not automatically extend there. Check our Northern Ireland guide before relying on a GB rule. The separate Good Jobs proposals need their own legislation and commencement.

NI already has a separate miscarriage entitlement. The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Miscarriage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 were made on 25 March and came into operation on 26 March. They extend parental bereavement leave and statutory pay to qualifying miscarriages experienced or detected on or after 6 April 2026. The definition covers spontaneous loss before 24 weeks and specified medically necessary interventions; qualifying biological or intended parents and current partners are covered. Statutory pay remains subject to the existing pay eligibility conditions. This is already in force, unlike the forthcoming unpaid GB right.

Harassment duties get tougher on 30 October

In GB, employers have had to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment since 26 October 2024. The official timetable schedules a stronger duty to take all reasonable steps from 30 October 2026, alongside liability for permitting third-party harassment. Customers, clients and other outsiders can be the source of the risk.

The timetable also brings in a power to make regulations specifying preventive steps. That power is not itself a new list of mandatory training or policy requirements. Employers still need to assess the risks in their workplace and take the steps the law requires.

If you employ staff, review customer-facing and lone-working roles, complaint routes and managers’ responses to incidents. Record the risks, action taken and reasons for your decisions. Our sexual harassment duties and harassment policies guides explain the detail.

Since 6 April 2026, whistleblowing law expressly covers disclosures that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur. Protection is not automatic for every complaint: the disclosure must meet the statutory conditions, including reasonable belief in the public interest. See whistleblower protection.

If you face sexual harassment, keep a dated record and copies of messages or complaints. Get union support or advice from Citizens Advice or a law centre. Report discrimination to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) where its reporting routes apply. The tribunal deadline still matters.

A policy is not proof that you took the steps your workplace needed.

Family leave changed. Much of the pay system did not

Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights in GB on 6 April 2026. The previous service tests were different: 26 weeks for paternity leave and one year for unpaid parental leave. Newly eligible employees could give notice from 18 February. The remaining eligibility and notice conditions still apply.

Separately, the Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026 provide up to 52 weeks’ leave in GB where the mother or primary adopter dies in the child’s first year. Do not confuse that entitlement with 52 weeks of statutory paternity pay.

For 2026 to 2027, statutory maternity pay’s new rate applies from 5 April 2026; the other listed statutory family-pay rates apply from 6 April. Maternity and adoption pay start with six weeks at 90% of average earnings, followed by the lower of £194.32 or 90%. Paternity, shared parental, parental bereavement and neonatal care pay use that same lower-of formula. Their separate eligibility tests remain.

See paternity leave and pay, maternity leave and parental bereavement leave for the qualifying rules.

Earlier reforms you can already use

The day-one right to request flexible working has applied in GB since 6 April 2024. It is not a right to have your preferred arrangement approved. One week of unpaid carer’s leave a year also dates from 6 April 2024 for eligible employees. Neonatal care leave and pay started on 6 April 2025 in GB, with separate eligibility rules. These rights came from earlier legislation, not the 2025 Act.

The Act’s stronger flexible-working rules are scheduled for October 2027. See requesting flexible working.

Equality reporting is not all new law

Existing gender pay-gap reporting continues. Voluntary gender-equality and menopause action plans started in April 2026; mandatory plans are scheduled for March 2027 for public authorities and April 2027 for private and voluntary-sector employers. Proposed ethnicity and disability pay-gap reporting belongs to the separate Equality (Race and Disability) legislation programme, not an enforceable new duty under this Act. See gender pay-gap reporting and Equality Act protection.

April’s minimum wage rise is separate from the Act

From 1 April 2026, the UK hourly minimum is £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for those aged 18 to 20 and £8.00 for those under 18 but above compulsory school-leaving age. The £8.00 apprentice rate applies only if you are under 19 or in the first year of your apprenticeship. Otherwise your age rate applies.

What you still cannot rely on

Other 2027 measures now have months in the timetable: the business-wide collective consultation threshold in April, mandatory equality action plans in March for public authorities and April for private and voluntary-sector employers, stronger pregnancy and maternity dismissal protection and flexible-working changes in October, NDA misuse restrictions in September and umbrella-company regulation in December. These are planned additions to existing rights, not a reason to wait before challenging discrimination or an unlawful dismissal.

The official timetable also schedules seafarer protection regulations for 1 December 2026 and the strengthened tipping law for 1 January 2027. Adult social care negotiating-body regulations in England are planned for October. These timetable entries do not themselves establish a new pay rate or an individual entitlement today.

The industrial-action ballot turnout reform in section 68 is not yet commenced. Electronic ballots do not by themselves remove the existing turnout requirement. The Act sets preconditions before that reform can start.

Questions people ask

Do I get sick pay from day one if I earn very little?

You can, for eligible absences from 6 April 2026. There is no minimum earnings floor. Weekly SSP is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of your average weekly earnings, so £90 gives £72. Other eligibility conditions and the 28-week limit still apply. Ongoing absences spanning April can have transitional rules.

Can I claim unfair dismissal after a year’s service?

For ordinary unfair dismissal in GB, generally not if your effective termination date is before 1 January 2027: you normally need two years. From that date, six months is enough. Many automatically unfair reasons and discrimination claims do not need two years. In Northern Ireland the ordinary qualifying period remains one year.

Is the unfair-dismissal payout cap really going?

The GB compensatory-award cap is removed for effective termination dates from 1 January 2027. The basic award stays subject to its own calculation and limits. Uncapped compensation still depends on the loss the law permits the tribunal to award; it is not a guaranteed sum.

When does the fire-and-rehire ban start?

The official timetable puts the new GB protections in March 2027. They restrict dismissal used to impose specified contract changes, but are not an absolute ban. SI 2026/559 fixes the 1 January start for ordinary unfair-dismissal eligibility and compensation, not the separate fire-and-rehire provisions.

Does a September dismissal now have a six-month deadline?

No. A GB unfair-dismissal claim with an effective termination date of 30 September 2026 normally keeps its deadline of 29 December 2026, before any early-conciliation extension. The new six-month period applies where the relevant date is on or after 1 October. Notify Acas promptly; an internal appeal does not stop time.

Does the Employment Rights Act apply in Northern Ireland?

Some provisions do, including the SSP changes. But Northern Ireland keeps its separate dismissal law and tribunal rules. The Act does not generally extend NI unfair-dismissal deadlines to six months. Use the Labour Relations Agency rather than Acas and check the rule for your particular claim.

Sources

1. Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update, GOV.UK, updated 22 October 2026
2. Employment Rights Act 2025, legislation.gov.uk, including sections 28, 77, 158 and Schedule 12
3. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 35: holiday records, legislation.gov.uk
4. Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement regulations, SI 2026/323, legislation.gov.uk, regulation 3(1), read with regulation 3(8)
5. Keeping records of holiday, Acas
6. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 14: tipping policies, legislation.gov.uk
7. Make Work Pay: revised tipping Code of Practice, GOV.UK, consultation closed 29 September 2026
8. Consultation on the revised tipping Code of Practice, Department for Business and Trade, page 17
9. Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement regulations, SI 2026/559, legislation.gov.uk, regulations 3 and 4
10. Tribunal time-limit commencement and transitional regulations, SI 2026/954, legislation.gov.uk
11. Employment tribunal time limits, Acas, updated 1 October 2026
12. Northern Ireland unfair-dismissal claim time limit, article 145, legislation.gov.uk
13. Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026, legislation.gov.uk
14. Failure to consult in collective redundancy, Acas
15. Protective award remuneration, section 190, legislation.gov.uk
16. Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026, legislation.gov.uk
17. Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, HMRC
18. Statutory Sick Pay: manual calculation, HMRC
19. Sickness absences spanning 6 April 2026, HMRC
20. National Minimum Wage rates, GOV.UK
21. Original one-year parental-leave qualifying rule, legislation.gov.uk
22. Vento bands: ninth addendum, Employment Tribunal Presidents, 30 March 2026
23. How early conciliation works, Acas
24. Dismissal for protected industrial action, section 238A, legislation.gov.uk
25. Make Work Pay: leave for bereavement, including pregnancy loss, government response, GOV.UK, 22 September 2026
26. No one should have to fight for time to grieve: new rights for family bereavement and pregnancy loss, GOV.UK
27. Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Miscarriage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026, SR 2026/63, legislation.gov.uk
28. National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage: government evidence on enforcement and compliance in 2024 to 2025, Department for Business and Trade and HMRC, November 2025
29. Making Bad Bosses Pay, Bureau of Investigative Journalism with BBC News, 2 October 2025
30. Pay and work rights complaints, GOV.UK