Employment Rights Bill

The Employment Rights Act (ERA) is one of the most significant reforms to UK employment law in decades. With phased implementation progressing in April 2026, the clock is ticking for employers of all sizes. Time is short, so start planning before the deadlines hit.

Why take action now?

This legislation will reshape workplace rights, with much earlier unfair dismissal rights for employees and increased family leave rights from day 1 of employment, to restrictions on zero-hours contracts and new duties to prevent sexual harassment. Many changes will take effect in April and October 2026, with further significant reforms scheduled from early on in 2027.

Now is the time to move from awareness to action. Whether you employ five people or five hundred, early planning will help you stay compliant, protect your organisation, and build a fairer, more resilient workforce. These 10 practical steps will help you prepare for upcoming changes in April 2026 and beyond.

Why early action matters: Last-minute action risks claims and reputational damage. Early preparation allows time to budget for changes such as increased statutory sick pay and paid family leave entitlements, strengthen recruitment and probationary processes, update internal systems, train managers, and communicate clearly with staff. It also positions your organisation as proactive and fair, which are key factors for attracting and retaining talent in a competitive market.

1. Understand the Roadmap

The Government has recently published an updated timeline updating its original official roadmap, setting out phased implementation dates, see here.

Note there has been an important change to the Labour Government’s flagship policy proposal on unfair dismissal rights. In order for the Employment Rights Bill to become statutory law, Labour’s proposal to have day one unfair dismissal rights was changed to a compromise position in effect between the Government and House of Lords.

So, instead from 1 January 2027, most unfair dismissal rights will apply from six months of employment and the financial cap on the compensatory award will be removed (currently the lower of a year’s pay or £118,223).

The significant changes include:

  • April 2026: Statutory sick pay rights increased by removing the waiting period and lower earnings limit, day one rights for paternity leave and ability to take it after shared parental leave, day-one parental leave rights (although not shared parental leave), the maximum collective redundancy protective award for failing to properly inform and consult will double from 90 to 180 days. The new Fair Work Agency (FWA) will be established to protect worker’s rights and enforce employment law, including the minimum wage, holiday pay, statutory sick pay, although it’s unclear when the FWA’s enforcement powers will come into effect.
  • October 2026: Sexual harassment prevention duties increased including so employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent it and a new obligation to protect staff from harassment by third parties, employers required to inform staff of their right to join a union and union rights of access to workplaces. The extension of employment tribunal claim time limits to six months will come into force sometime from October 2026.
  • 2027: Unfair dismissal rights to apply from six months and the removal of the financial cap on compensatory awards for unfair dismissal claims , zero-hours contract restrictions and requirement to offer guaranteed hours, gender pay gap and menopause action plans mandatory after being voluntary in April 2026, fire-and-rehire restrictions implemented to limit employers’ scope to use this tactic to change terms flexible working rights increased so the refusal of a request must be reasonable (although the eight business reasons for refusing will still apply).

Employers should use the implementation dates set out in the updated Government timeline (keeping an eye on any subsequent amendments) to prioritise compliance activities, allocate resources, and schedule updates well ahead of deadlines. Plan early to avoid compliance risks and reputational harm.

Sector-specific considerations are also critical: for example, hospitality and retail businesses may need to focus on zero-hours contract changes.

2. Form an ERA Compliance Plan

Build a clear compliance plan to navigate ERA reforms. While this may feel daunting (particularly for smaller businesses), taking small steps and planning now will make compliance easier going forward. What matters most is clarity, accountability, and a phased approach.

For small organisations, a single HR or management lead could set priorities and create a simple plan. For larger organisations, consider forming a cross-functional working group that includes an HR team, payroll, legal and IT representatives to ensure all operational areas are covered.

Key steps for building a robust ERA Compliance Plan include:

  • Map the Reforms by Date and Impact: Identify which changes take effect first and assess their relevance to your business. This prioritisation helps allocate resources efficiently.
  • Assign Clear Responsibilities: Distribute tasks across your team to avoid bottlenecks and ensure accountability.
  • Schedule Regular Progress Reviews: Monitor implementation milestones and adjust plans as needed.

Financial planning is equally critical. Anticipate costs for statutory sick pay adjustments and paid family leave increases, manager training and system upgrades such as HR platforms or compliance tracking tools. Even small businesses may find it helpful to model potential cost increases to avoid unexpected financial strain and compliance risks.

3. Audit Contracts and Policies

A thorough review of employment contracts, handbooks, and HR policies is essential to ensure compliance with the ERA. This process should be systematic and forward-looking, addressing both immediate changes and those scheduled for later phases of implementation.

Key areas to prioritise include:

  • Dismissal and Probation Processes: Ensure that probation and termination clauses, policies and processes are legally robust and clearly communicated to employees. Bear in mind with unfair dismissal rights applying once an individual has accrued six months of employment from 1 January 2026, employers should be taking particular care over recruitment and probation processes from July/August 2026.
  • Family Leave Entitlements: Amend policies to incorporate new family leave entitlements, including paid paternity and unpaid parental leave from day 1, which will apply from April 2026. Confirm that systems for tracking and approving leave requests are aligned with these changes.
  • Flexible Working: Review your flexible working policy to ensure compliance with updated statutory requirements. Document refusal reasons thoroughly and confirm they are legally defensible to mitigate the risk of disputes.
  • Unions – Requirement to let employees know of their joining rights: Prepare for new duties requiring employers to inform staff of their right to join a trade union. Update onboarding materials and internal communications to reflect these obligations.
  • Equality and Inclusion Measures: Work on gender pay gap reporting and menopause action plans well ahead of deadlines – required for employers with 250 plus employees, but smaller employers may also choose to do so. Embed sexual harassment prevention strategies into organisational culture through training, clear reporting channels, and proactive communication.

This audit should not be treated as a one-off exercise. Establish a review cycle to ensure policies remain current as further ERA provisions go through consultations and come into force. Where necessary, seek legal advice to confirm that contractual language and policy frameworks meet statutory requirements and minimise liability risk.

4. Plan Systems or Process Updates

Updating internal systems and processes is a critical step in preparing for the ERA. Compliance will not only depend on policy changes but also on the operational infrastructure that supports them. Ensure your technology, workflows and reporting mechanisms are aligned with the new legal requirements.

Key considerations include:

  • HR and Payroll Systems: Review existing platforms to confirm they can accommodate changes such as revised statutory sick pay entitlement (removal of lower earnings limit and waiting period). Where necessary, plan for upgrades or integrations to avoid manual errors and ensure accurate compliance tracking.
  • Family Leave Management Processes: Implement or enhance systems for recording and approving leave, incorporating the new regulations introduced by the ERA. Automated systems can help reduce administrative burden and improve transparency for employees.
  • Consider Monitoring Tools: Consider adopting tools that provide alerts for upcoming deadlines, track policy updates, and generate compliance reports. This is particularly important for larger organisations managing multiple sites or diverse workforce arrangements.
  • Data Security and Confidentiality: Ensure that any new systems comply with data protection regulations when handling sensitive employee information, such as health-related data for menopause action plans or flexible working requests.
  • Communication Channels: Update internal communication processes to ensure employees are informed about changes promptly and clearly. This may include revising intranet content, creating FAQs and implementing digital noticeboards for policy updates.

By addressing these issues early, organisations can minimise disruption, reduce compliance risks, and create a smoother transition to the new regulatory framework. A phased implementation plan, starting with high-impact changes will help maintain business continuity while meeting statutory obligations.

5. Update Recruitment and Retention Strategies

The ERA will significantly influence how organisations attract and retain talent. Employers must review their recruitment and retention strategies to ensure they align with the new legal framework and reflect a commitment to fairness and compliance.

Key considerations include:

  • Tighten Recruitment and Pre-Employment Processes: Due to unfair dismissal rights mostly applying from six months of employment, it will be harder to terminate new hires quickly. This makes robust recruitment processes and careful candidate selection more critical. Consider introducing more structured assessments and competency-based interviews to reduce hiring risks.
  • Adapt Onboarding Processes: From October 2026 it will be mandatory to issue employees with a written statement advising they have the right to join a trade union. With the new upcoming obligation for employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, all new starters should receive anti-harassment training and onboarding materials explaining behaviour standards and reporting channels. Early clarity helps new hires feel informed and supported and ensures compliance.
  • Retention Through Flexibility: Review retention strategies to accommodate evolving employee expectations. Enhanced family leave, flexible working arrangements, and inclusive policies on menopause and gender equality will become key differentiators in a competitive market.

By embedding these changes into recruitment and retention strategies, organisations can not only meet legal requirements but also create a workplace culture that attracts and retains top talent.

6. Review Dismissal and Probation Processes

It’s essential for employers to review and update dismissal and probation processes well in advance of the implementation of new unfair dismissal rights. From 1 January 2027, the ERA will introduce unfair dismissal rights that apply from six months of employment, which will significantly increase the legal risk for early-stage terminations. To mirror this reduction in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal, the right to a written statement for the reasons for dismissal will also apply from six months of employment. The changes will mean that soon, early dismissal decisions will require stronger justification and clearer documentation from a much earlier stage of employment.

Employers must therefore take the following steps:

  • Probationary Periods: Given that under the ERA earlier unfair dismissal rights will apply from six months of employment employers should review the progress of new employees early and make related decisions well before the six months mark to allow time for taking required steps if issues arise.
  • Revise Termination Procedures: Align dismissal processes with the new legal standards by incorporating objective criteria for dismissals, transparent decision-making, written reasons being provided to dismissed employees and thorough record-keeping. This will help mitigate the risk of tribunal claims under the expanded unfair dismissal protections.
  • Train Managers: Equip line managers and HR teams with practical guidance on handling performance issues during probation and beyond. Training should cover legal obligations, documentation standards, and alternative measures such as redeployment or additional support before termination.
  • Embed Consistency: Apply recruitment, probation and dismissal policies and procedures uniformly across the organisation to avoid claims of discrimination or unfair treatment. Consistency is critical for compliance and for maintaining trust within the workforce.

By addressing these areas early, employers can reduce legal risk, protect reputation, and ensure fair treatment of employees under the new legal framework.

7. Prepare Workforce Communications

Communicate clearly and consistently to ensure employees understand the changes introduced by the ERA and how these forms will affect them. A well-structured communication strategy will help build trust, reduce uncertainty and support compliance.

Key actions to consider:

  • Create Accessible Resources: Create simple, clear resources—like short guides or FAQs—to explain the changes. Make sure they’re easy for everyone to access and understand.
  • Use Multiple Channels: Combine digital and face-to-face methods to reach all employees effectively. This may include intranet updates. Email bulletins, FAQs, and team briefings.

By preparing internal communications early, organisations can manage expectations, minimise confusion, and reinforce a culture of compliance and respect.

8. Engage with Consultations and Guidance

Employers can engage in Government consultations to stay ahead when preparing for the ERA. These consultations often shape the final details of legislation and provide valuable insight into how new obligations will be interpreted and enforced. Employers who engage early can influence outcomes and help anticipate changes for their own organisations.

The Government recently launched, during February 2026, a range of consultations on the legislative changes due to come into force under the ERA. This includes proposed reforms on tipping practices, updating the legal framework for engaging agency workers and bringing umbrella companies within this scope, a new employer process for handling flexible working requests, strengthened protections against fire and rehire, and revisions to a revised code of practice during union recognition and de-recognition processes and proposals on unfair practices in electronic balloting. A continuing range of further consultations is expected as the ERA is implemented. You can access the consultations here.

The Government is also anticipated to issue a substantial body of statutory and non-statutory guidance for employers on the new changes and to update existing guidance materials, along with ACAS and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Such as on revised unfair dismissal rights, changes to fire and rehire protections, protection against sexual harassment and trade union recognition and industrial action processes, and guidance on tipping and service charges.

Key actions to strengthen engagement:

  • Avoid Premature Assumptions: Many details of the ERA changes are still subject to consultations. Employers must therefore remain flexible and avoid making definitive decisions until final guidance is published.
  • Monitor Official Updates: Regularly review guidance from the Department for Business and Trade, ACAS, GOV.UK, EHRC and other regulatory bodies. These sources provide authoritative interpretations and practical advice on compliance.
  • External Expertise: Engage employment law specialists to interpret draft guidance and advise on practical implementation. This ensures your organisation remains aligned with evolving requirements and avoids costly missteps.
  • Communicate Internally: Share updates with senior leadership and HR teams promptly. Early awareness supports informed decision-making and timely adjustments to compliance plans.
  • Engage With Government Consultations: By actively engaging with consultations and guidance, organisations can stay ahead of regulatory developments, reduce uncertainty, and demonstrate a proactive commitment to compliance and good governance.

9. Train Managers and HR Teams

Train managers and HR teams to implement ERA changes. Managers and HR professionals are on the front line of compliance, and their ability to implement the reforms will significantly reduce organisational risk.

Key training points include:

  • Earlier Dismissal Rights and Extended Tribunal Time Limits: Provide clear guidance on the implications of unfair dismissal protections applying from six months of employment. This is along with the upcoming extension of employment tribunal time limits from three months (most commonly) to six months. Managers must understand that termination decisions require robust justification and thorough documentation from the outset of employment.
  • Harassment Prevention Duties and Third-Party Risks: Train managers on their responsibilities to prevent workplace harassment. This should cover how to recognise inappropriate behaviour, responding promptly to complaints, and maintaining a safe working environment.
  • Flexible Working Requests: Ensure managers know how to assess flexible working applications fairly and consistently, particularly with new stronger rights for employees. Training should include the legal criteria for refusal and the importance of documenting decisions to avoid disputes.

Training does not need to be expensive or complex. Even directing managers to guidance on Gov.Uk, ACAS and EHRC websites is an excellent starting point. Organisations can access webinars or use internal workshops to build confidence and competence. These sessions could be supplemented with practical resources such as checklists and FAQs to reinforce learning.

10. Create a Compliance Timeline

The ERA introduces a phased implementation schedule that spans multiple years, making a clear compliance timeline essential for effective planning. A clear timeline prioritises tasks, allocates resources, and avoids last-minute pressure.

Key steps for building your compliance timeline:

  • Map Legislative Milestones: Begin by plotting the official implementation dates (most although not all changes take effect from early April 2026, October 2026, and 2027) alongside the specific reforms that apply at each stage. This provides a visual framework for planning and resource allocation.
  • Break Down Actions by Phase: For each milestone, identify the operational changes required.
  • Schedule Regular Checkpoints: To assess progress, address delays and adapt legislative updates or guidance issued following consultations.
  • Assign Responsibilities and Deadlines: Allocate responsibility for each task and set realistic deadlines well ahead of statutory dates. This ensures accountability.
  • Integrate Training and Communication: Include training sessions and system updates in the timeline. Such activities should run in parallel with policy changes to maintain compliance and workforce confidence.
  • Employer of Choice: By creating a detailed compliance timeline now, organisations demonstrate a proactive commitment to good governance. It positions you as a fair and responsible employer, strengthening both compliance and reputation.

Ready to help you navigate the changes

At Stephens Scown LLP, we will be launching a new ERA Audit in Spring 2026 to help employers assess their readiness, identify legal and operational gaps, and prioritise reforms. This will be supported by a series of training events, designed to equip HR teams, senior leaders, and operational managers with the tools and confidence to implement change effectively. We are also already providing bespoke training that can be requested.

We invite employers to engage with us early, so we can support you in building a legally compliant, inclusive, and resilient workforce — ready for the future of Employment Law.

This article reflects the current proposals and commentary surrounding the Employment Rights Bill as of 8 December 2025. Some provisions remain subject to consultation and final legislative approval. Employers should seek legal advice before making significant changes to policy or practice.