Employment Rights Act 2025: The Implementation Timeline to 2027

Last updated: 1 November 2026. This timeline is based on the Employment Rights Act 2025 on legislation.gov.uk, the government’s “Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update” (updated 22 October 2026), Acas guidance, GOV.UK and business.gov.uk announcements on the Fair Work Agency, and legal commentary on the Act’s final stages. It covers Great Britain unless stated. Future dates are the government’s targets and can still move.

Short answer: The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and is being phased in until the end of 2027. Day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave, day-one statutory sick pay, the Fair Work Agency, six-month tribunal time limits and the stronger sexual harassment duty are already in force. Six-month unfair dismissal protection starts on 1 January 2027.

Key takeaways

• Royal Assent was on 18 December 2025. The first wave of changes, mostly trade union law, took effect then and on 18 February 2026; the big April 2026 wave brought day-one family leave rights and statutory sick pay from the first day of sickness.
• In force since autumn 2026: six-month time limits for employment tribunal claims (1 October 2026) and the duty to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment, including by third parties (30 October 2026).
• From 1 January 2027, employees need six months’ service, not two years, to claim unfair dismissal, and the cap on the compensatory award goes. This was a late compromise: the government first planned day-one protection.
• Still to come in 2027: fire and rehire restrictions (March), bereavement leave and action plans (April), NDA limits (September), flexible working and pregnancy protection (October). Zero hours rights have no date yet.

When did the Employment Rights Act 2025 become law?

The Employment Rights Bill was introduced in October 2024 as the centrepiece of the government’s Plan to Make Work Pay. After a long exchange between the Commons and the Lords, it received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and became the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Most of the Act is not self-executing. It needs commencement regulations, codes of practice and, in many cases, consultation first. The government published an implementation roadmap in July 2025 and has updated it several times since. The latest GOV.UK timeline update, revised on 22 October 2026, is the source for the dates below. The main change at Royal Assent itself was the repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.

What changed late in the Bill’s passage?

The headline change came on 27 November 2025. Facing opposition in the House of Lords, the government dropped its plan to give unfair dismissal protection from day one of employment, subject to a statutory probation period. It accepted a six-month qualifying period instead and, as part of the package, agreed to remove the cap on unfair dismissal compensation. The final Act also removed the power to change the qualifying period by regulations, so any future change needs a new Act of Parliament.

Other late amendments, summarised by DLA Piper at Royal Assent, included:

• bereavement leave extended to pregnancy loss before 24 weeks;
• new limits on non-disclosure agreements that stop workers reporting harassment or discrimination (see our explainer on how NDAs work);
• the “at one establishment” test for collective redundancy kept, alongside a new alternative threshold to be set by regulations;
• guaranteed hours rights extended to agency workers, with an option to contract out through a collective agreement with an independent trade union;
• wider powers for the Fair Work Agency, including powers of entry.

Which Employment Rights Act changes are already in force?

By 1 November 2026, these changes have taken effect, according to the GOV.UK timeline and Acas:

• 18 February 2026: most of the Trade Union Act 2016 repealed. Dismissal for taking part in protected industrial action became automatically unfair, notice of industrial action fell from 14 to 10 days, and ballot mandates now last 12 months.
• 6 April 2026: paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights; statutory sick pay became payable from the first day of sickness, with the lower earnings limit removed (the rate is £123.25 a week or 80% of average earnings, whichever is lower); the maximum protective award for failing to consult on collective redundancies doubled from 90 to 180 days’ pay; reporting sexual harassment became a protected whistleblowing disclosure; employers must keep holiday records for six years; and voluntary gender equality and menopause action plans began.
• 7 April 2026: the Fair Work Agency launched, taking over minimum wage, employment agency and gangmaster enforcement.
• 25 August 2026: electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots.
• 1 October 2026: the time limit for most employment tribunal claims rose from three to six months. Acas warns that problems which started before that date may still be subject to the three-month limit.
• 30 October 2026: employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of employees and must not permit harassment by third parties such as customers. New union rights of access to workplaces, simpler recognition rules and new rights for union equality representatives started the same day.

The government’s 7 April 2026 announcement estimated that 32,000 fathers and partners would gain day-one paternity leave and 1.5 million parents would no longer wait a year for unpaid parental leave. For how harassment law works in practice, see our guide to a hostile work environment, which includes a note on UK law.

What is still to come, and when?

The remaining measures are spread across the next 14 months:

• 9 November 2026: six-month time limit for breach of contract claims in Scotland.
• 1 December 2026: new seafarer protection regulations.
• 1 January 2027: six-month unfair dismissal qualifying period and no cap on compensatory awards; a duty to tell workers they have the right to join a union; and stronger tipping law, under which employers must consult workers on their tipping policy, share an anonymised summary of feedback and review the policy at least every three years.
• March 2027: fire and rehire restrictions, making dismissal to impose worse core terms automatically unfair in most cases; menopause and gender equality action plans become mandatory for public sector employers with 250 or more staff.
• April 2027: unpaid bereavement leave, including for pregnancy loss; the new organisation-wide collective redundancy threshold; wider blacklisting protection; mandatory action plans for private and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more staff. Holiday pay enforcement by the Fair Work Agency will not start before April 2027, according to business.gov.uk.
• August 2027: electronic balloting for union recognition and derecognition.
• September 2027: regulations to stop NDAs being used to silence harassment or discrimination complaints.
• October 2027: flexible working reforms, under which an employer refusing a request must rely on one of eight business reasons and explain why refusal is reasonable; stronger dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers.
• December 2027: umbrella companies brought into the regulation of employment agencies.
• No date: guaranteed hours, reasonable shift notice and pay for cancelled shifts for zero and low hours workers, pending consultation.

Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline at a glance

Which dates have moved since the first roadmap?

Several measures have slipped. Fire and rehire restrictions were first planned for October 2026, moved to January 2027 in the February 2026 update, and are now set for March 2027. The tipping consultation duty and the duty to tell workers about their right to join a union were also originally October 2026 measures and now start on 1 January 2027. The zero hours package, once expected in 2027, no longer has a date at all. Check the GOV.UK page again before relying on any future date.

How will the unfair dismissal change work on 1 January 2027?

From 1 January 2027, an employee dismissed after at least six months’ continuous service can bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. The GOV.UK timeline says the change applies to dismissals from that date, so the length of service on the dismissal date is what counts. In practice, anyone who started work by early July 2026 will already qualify when the rule changes. The compensatory award will also be uncapped, so a claim by a high earner who loses years of salary carries far more risk for employers than before.

Employers who intend to dismiss near the six-month point should remember that statutory minimum notice can extend the effective date of termination beyond it. Automatically unfair reasons, such as whistleblowing or asserting a statutory right, continue to need no qualifying service. If a stated reason looks like cover for a different one, our explainer on pretextual firings explains how tribunals and courts test that.

What should employers and workers do now?

Employers should check that harassment risk assessments and training are in place now that the “all reasonable steps” duty is live, update probation reviews ahead of 1 January 2027, and plan for tipping policies and union information statements. Workers should note the longer six-month window to bring most tribunal claims, but should still contact Acas early, because early conciliation is a required first step. Tribunals have been central to these rights since the Supreme Court struck down tribunal fees in 2017, a ruling we reported at the time.

Frequently asked questions

When did the Employment Rights Act 2025 receive Royal Assent?

It received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, ending a lengthy exchange between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was the main change that took effect that day. Most other measures need commencement regulations and are being phased in between February 2026 and December 2027, with zero hours rights still undated.

Is unfair dismissal now a day-one right in the UK?

No. The government originally planned day-one protection with a statutory probation period, but on 27 November 2025 it accepted the House of Lords’ proposal of a six-month qualifying period. That applies to dismissals from 1 January 2027. Until then, the two-year qualifying period still applies to ordinary unfair dismissal claims, though automatically unfair reasons need no service.

Is statutory sick pay paid from the first day of sickness?

Yes, since 6 April 2026. The three waiting days were abolished and the lower earnings limit was removed, so lower-paid employees now qualify. SSP is paid at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The government estimated the change would put around £400 million a year of extra sick pay into workers’ pockets.

What is the Fair Work Agency?

It is a new state enforcement body for employment rights, launched on 7 April 2026. It took over enforcement of the national minimum wage, employment agency standards and gangmaster licensing. According to business.gov.uk, it will not start enforcing holiday pay before April 2027, and it will take on statutory sick pay enforcement over time.

When do the fire and rehire restrictions start?

The government’s timeline, updated on 22 October 2026, puts them in March 2027. From then, dismissing an employee for refusing a “restricted variation” to core terms, or replacing them to impose one, will be automatically unfair in most cases. The date has already moved twice, from October 2026 and then January 2027, and an updated code of practice is expected.

Is the new sexual harassment duty in force?

Yes. Since 30 October 2026, employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, up from “reasonable steps”, and they must not permit harassment by third parties such as customers or clients. Ministers also have a power to set out later what counts as reasonable steps. Reporting sexual harassment has been a protected whistleblowing disclosure since 6 April 2026.

This article is general information about UK employment law as of 1 November 2026. It is not legal advice. Implementation dates are government targets and may change, so check the current GOV.UK timeline and take advice on your own situation.