The Employment Rights Act 2025: what has changed and what is coming, date by date

Why this matters to a small employer

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the biggest change to UK employment law in a generation, and it is arriving in stages. Most measures apply to every employer regardless of size. The government's timeline, last updated on 14 October 2026, sets out what has already taken effect and what is planned. Future dates can still move, so treat anything after today as planned, not certain.

In force: 6 April 2026

• Day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave. Employees no longer need 26 weeks' service to take paternity leave, or a year's service for unpaid parental leave. Paternity pay still has its own service and earnings conditions.
• Statutory Sick Pay from the first full day of sickness, with the Lower Earnings Limit removed. SSP is £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
• The maximum protective award for failing to consult on collective redundancies doubled.
• Stronger whistleblowing protection for people who report sexual harassment.
• Bereaved partners' paternity leave of up to 52 weeks where the mother or primary adopter dies in the child's first year.

In force: 7 April 2026

• The Fair Work Agency was established, bringing enforcement of things like holiday pay, minimum wage and SSP under one body.

In force: 1 October 2026

• The time limit for most employment tribunal claims doubled from 3 months to 6 months. Disputes can now surface much later than before, which makes good records even more valuable.

In force: 30 October 2026

• A duty to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of your staff, and a duty not to permit harassment by third parties such as customers or clients.
• New trade union rights of access and protections for union representatives.

Coming: by the end of 2026

• Strengthened rules on tips, building on the existing duty to pass tips to workers fairly.

Coming: 1 January 2027

• The qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal drops from 2 years to 6 months, for dismissals from that date.
• The cap on compensatory awards for unfair dismissal is removed.
• Protections against "fire and rehire", and a duty to tell workers of their right to join a union.

Coming: during 2027 (months not yet confirmed)

• Stronger dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers.
• Changes to flexible working, making it harder to refuse a request.
• Bereavement leave, including for pregnancy loss.
• A right to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts and payment for short-notice cancellations, for zero-hours and low-hours workers.
• Mandatory gender equality and menopause action plans for larger employers.
• Restrictions on using non-disclosure agreements in harassment and discrimination cases.

What to do now

• Update your family leave policy for day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave, if you have not already.
• Check your payroll pays SSP from day one and to low earners.
• Write or refresh a short anti-harassment policy, train managers on it, and record that you did. "All reasonable steps" is judged on what you actually did.
• Review your probation process before 1 January 2027. From then, someone with 6 months' service can claim unfair dismissal, so probation reviews need to be real, documented and done on time.
• Keep good records of absence, performance conversations and decisions. With 6-month time limits and uncapped awards, an undocumented decision is expensive.
• If you use zero-hours or variable-hours contracts, watch for the guaranteed hours regulations in 2027.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act, timeline update
• GOV.UK: Implementing the Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act