The Employment Rights Act 2025: every change and when it happens

A dismissal in September and one in October 2026 can have different tribunal deadlines. That is the trouble with a law arriving in instalments. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has already changed sick pay and parental leave; today it extends many claim limits. Harassment rules change later this month. The shorter qualifying period for unfair dismissal does not arrive until January 2027.

What is law now, and what is still ahead?

The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. That made it an Act of Parliament. It did not bring every new rule into force that day. Commencement orders bring provisions into force at different times. The government’s timeline, updated 25 September 2026, separates changes already in force from its plans. The government warns that future dates can change.

The rollout, in date order

The diagram draws the dividing line at today. Check the date that matters for your claim. The date of the conduct matters for tribunal limits, while the effective date of termination matters for the January dismissal change.

1. 18 Dec 2025Royal Assent

   The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was repealed. On 18 February 2026 most of the Trade Union Act 2016 was repealed. That simplified industrial-action notices and ended the ten-year political-fund ballot rule.

2. 6 Apr 2026Sick pay, leave and consultation awards

   The sick-pay waiting period and earnings floor went; paternity and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights in Great Britain. The maximum collective redundancy protective award doubled. Sexual-harassment disclosures gained express whistleblowing protection and union recognition became easier.

3. 7 Apr 2026Fair Work Agency established

   The new enforcement body brought existing minimum-wage, gangmaster and agency-standards enforcement together, with powers covering holiday pay and sick pay.

4. 25 Aug 2026Trade union ballots

   Electronic and workplace voting became available for statutory industrial-action ballots.

5. 1 Oct 2026Tribunal claim limits change

   Many three-month limits became six months where the relevant date is on or after today. Earlier events do not acquire extra time.

6. 30 Oct 2026Harassment and trade union rights scheduled

   Stronger harassment prevention and third-party protections, union access and representative rights are due to start.

7. 1 Jan 2027Unfair dismissal reforms scheduled

   The qualifying period falls to six months and the ordinary compensatory-award cap disappears for dismissals with an effective termination date from this day. Fire-and-rehire protections and the union-rights statement duty are also in the government’s January timetable.

8. 2027 · date to be setHours, bereavement and other reforms

   Guaranteed hours, shift-notice rights, pregnancy-loss bereavement leave and mandatory equality plans have no precise start date yet.

Already in force: sick pay from the first qualifying day

Since 6 April 2026, eligible employees no longer have to serve three unpaid waiting days or earn above a lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). The weekly amount is the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25 in 2026/27, payable for up to 28 weeks. It starts on the first full qualifying day of sickness, not necessarily the first calendar day you feel ill. Agency workers may qualify. Self-employment alone does not give you SSP. The GOV.UK eligibility guide sets out the other conditions.

Check the transitional rules for absences spanning 6 April. An employee previously excluded solely by low earnings does not automatically qualify under the new rule if they went off sick on or before 21 September 2025 and remained continuously ill through 5 April 2026. Someone already receiving SSP at the changeover with weekly earnings between £125 and £154.05 can temporarily retain the flat rate instead of dropping to 80%. Both exceptions are easy to miss.

Already in force: new parents can take leave sooner

The 26-week service condition for paternity leave and one-year condition for unpaid parental leave ended on 6 April. These are employee rights, not an entitlement for every self-employed parent. Unpaid parental leave still totals up to 18 weeks per child, normally no more than four weeks in a year for each child. Paternity leave and pay can now follow shared parental leave and pay. Notice rules still apply. For a birth parent the usual advance notice of the due date is 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, with 28 days’ notice of the intended leave start. See the official leave guidance.

Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave is a separate measure that also took effect in April. Where the mother or primary adopter dies within the child’s first year, an eligible bereaved partner can take up to 52 weeks’ leave. This is not the new general bereavement right planned for 2027.

Already in force: redundancy, whistleblowing and enforcement

Collective consultation is normally required if an employer proposes 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within 90 days. For dismissals taking effect on or after 6 April 2026, the maximum protective award for failing to consult rose from 90 to 180 days’ gross pay per affected employee, not 180 days of the capped statutory redundancy calculation. A tribunal decides the actual award. The separate proposal to count redundancies across an entire organisation has not taken effect. See the government’s employer guidance.

Disclosures of sexual harassment have had express whistleblowing protection since April, subject to the ordinary protected-disclosure rules. Union recognition rules lost the ‘likely majority’ application test and 40% ballot-support threshold; gender-equality and menopause action plans remain voluntary until a later mandatory phase. The Fair Work Agency was established on 7 April and can enforce rights including the minimum wage, SSP and holiday pay. These are changes to enforcement, not a guarantee that every complaint will be upheld.

From today: six months for many tribunal claims

The change applies to many Employment Tribunal complaints, including unfair dismissal, discrimination and unlawful deductions from wages. The commencement instrument gives the new six-month period only where the legally defined relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026. For an unfair-dismissal claim that is normally the effective date of termination. For a series of wage deductions it may be the last deduction. Acas early conciliation affects the calculation, so do not use these examples as your filing deadline.

If the date or type of claim is disputed, work to the earliest possible deadline. Start Acas early conciliation promptly. An extension is not automatic. In a continuing discrimination case the legally relevant date can differ from the first incident. Get advice on that date rather than count from a headline.

Scheduled for 30 October 2026: harassment and unions

The present duty is to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From 30 October, the Act is scheduled to require all reasonable steps. It will also make an employer liable for permitting harassment of its employees by customers or other third parties if it failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. This concerns harassment under the Equality Act, not only sexual harassment. The Act also gives a power to specify further preventative steps by regulations. That does not mean a prescribed checklist is already in force.

The same date is set for stronger trade union access, remaining recognition and derecognition changes, new representative rights and protection against detriment for industrial action. Regulations for an adult social care negotiating body in England are expected during October. The government places seafarer protection in December and stronger tipping requirements by year-end; it has not specified exact dates for those two measures in the September timeline.

Scheduled for January 2027: dismissal, awards, contract changes

The commencement regulations already made for 1 January 2027 reduce the ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months and remove the ordinary compensatory-award cap. They apply when the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027, even if notice of dismissal was given earlier. If you began work on 1 July 2026, you will generally reach six months on 1 January. If you were hired after 1 July, you have not automatically reached six months by that date. This is not a day-one unfair-dismissal right. Existing exceptions such as discrimination or certain automatically unfair dismissals do not need the ordinary service period.

Until the change, the ordinary compensatory award is normally limited to the lower of 52 weeks’ gross pay or £123,543 for a qualifying dismissal on or after 6 April 2026. Removing that cap does not remove the need to prove loss, seek replacement work where reasonable or account for other reductions. The separate basic award remains subject to a week’s-pay cap, currently £751; its 2026/27 overall maximum is £22,530. The 2026 limits order gives the current figures.

The government’s January timetable also includes fire-and-rehire protections. The Act treats dismissal for refusal of a restricted variation, such as a pay cut or change in required hours, as automatically unfair, subject to a tightly framed financial-difficulty exception. Not every contract change is restricted, and the law does not prohibit all dismissals or all renegotiation. Employers are also due to give workers a written statement of their right to join a trade union. Those other January dates are the government’s published plan. The January commencement instrument cited here confirms the unfair-dismissal qualifying-period change, not those other dates.

2027: promised changes without a precise start date

The government timetable lists mandatory gender-equality and menopause action plans; stronger protection against dismissal during or after pregnancy and family leave; blacklisting measures; flexible-working reform; regulation of umbrella companies; further union-ballot rules; and restrictions on misuse of non-disclosure agreements in harassment and discrimination cases. It also lists a new collective-redundancy consultation threshold, but its details remain subject to implementation. None is a right to rely on today merely because it appears in the Act.

If you work shifts, watch the proposed right to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts and payments for short-notice changes. These are aimed at workers on zero- or low-hours patterns, including some agency workers. The government says it will update their timing after consultation. General bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss, is also listed for 2027 without a commencement day. Employers should not promise January as the start of either reform.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland are not identical

The core employment-rights provisions largely apply in England, Wales and Scotland. Scottish employment law follows the same main dismissal, sick-pay and leave changes, but the six-month tribunal limit for employment-contract claims there starts on 9 November rather than today. Work status, claim type and place of employment matter more than a generic ‘UK-wide’ label.

Northern Ireland does share the April 2026 sick-pay reform. Sections 12 and 13 of the Act and the 6 April commencement order expressly change Northern Ireland’s waiting days and lower earnings limit. But do not assume the Act’s Great Britain day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave, six-month ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period and general tribunal time-limit extension apply in Northern Ireland. The Schedule 12 amendments affecting NI preserve a distinct three-month route for a narrow class of claims. They do not give NI employees the general six-month extension. Northern Ireland’s Good Jobs proposals have a separate legislative path; check nidirect and the Labour Relations Agency for local advice.

What to check before the next change

1. Put a date on your claim. Identify the effective termination date, last wage deduction or relevant discriminatory conduct. If it falls near 1 October, use the shorter limit until you have checked the legislation and Acas clock.
2. Separate time off from pay. If you are expecting a child, give the required leave notice and check separately whether you meet the 26-week paternity-pay test.
3. Count redundancies by establishment. Employers planning 20 or more dismissals within 90 days need collective consultation. Keep consultation notices and representative records. A new organisation-wide test is not in force.
4. Prepare for 30 October. Employers should examine risks from customers and clients, reporting routes and responses to complaints before the stronger harassment duties start.
5. Review January terminations carefully. Check both the employee’s start date and effective termination date. A person starting on 1 July 2026 reaches six months on 1 January 2027; later starters reach it later.