Employment Rights Bill nears final stages

The new Employment Rights Bill is set to cause huge change in employment law (please see our earlier blog for further details on the changes). As the Bill speeds through Parliamentary stages, we are now beginning to get a clearer picture of the timescale for implementation.

On 24 June 2025, the Bill completed its Committee Stage in the House of Lords. The Bill is set to begin the Report Stage in the House of Lords on 14 July 2025, with the second sitting scheduled for 16 July 2025.

Following the Report Stage and the third reading of the Bill in the House of Lords, the Bill will return to the House of Commons for consideration of the Lord’s amendments. The members will undertake a detailed, line by line examination of the Bill. This will likely be little more than a formality given the amendments were proposed by the Government and the Government currently have a majority in the House of Commons.

Following this, the Bill will be ready for Royal Assent as the Employment Rights Act 2025.

In the meantime, the Government has now published its ‘implementation roadmap’ outlining when the measures in the Bill are likely to be implemented. The main measures are outlined below:

As soon as the Bill is passed and becomes law, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 will be repealed, as will a majority of the Trade Union Act 2016.

April 2026: Provisions to double the maximum period of protected award in collective redundancies will come into force, as will ‘day one’ paternity leave and unpaid parental leave. The Fair Work Agency body will also be established, and the Lower Earnings Limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay will be removed.

October 2026: The “Fire and Rehire” provisions (banning such practices in all but the most extreme cases) will come into force, as well as the new duty on employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. Employers will also be under a new obligation not to permit harassment of their employees of any kind by third parties. Employment tribunal time limits will be extended from 3 months to 6 months.

2027: The ‘day one’ right to protection from unfair dismissal will come into force. This is later than some employers will have feared, so there is plenty of time to prepare for this change. 2027 will also see the implementation of gender pay gap and menopause action plans, together with new rights for pregnant workers, new provisions around flexible working, extended bereavement leave and the ban on exploitative zero-hour contracts.

With the Bill set to receive Royal Assent before the end of this year, it is more important than ever to ensure your policies are up to date for the incoming changes. Should you require any assistance in preparing for this, please contact our Employment Law team.