Work in Progress: What the Employment Rights Bill Means for You

Employment law and labour rights are, as areas of law, known for their ability to develop and change over relatively short periods of time. They can cover a vast range of matters including: statutory sick pay, national minimum wage, protections from unfair dismissal and protections from unlawful discrimination. The landscape within employment law is set to for a seismic change over the coming years. This will arrive in the form of the Employment Rights Bill (‘the Bill’). The Bill has the potential to fundamentally alter the employment dynamic within companies both large and small, and reset the power imbalance between employers and their employees.

In this article, I wanted to provide an in-depth breakdown of the most important components of the Bill (the version of the Bill from the House of Commons can be found here and the most recent version of the Bill (currently in the House of Lords) can be found here). At the time of writing, the Bill finds itself somewhat stuck in the middle of a stand-off between the House of Commons and the House of Lords; there have been amendments suggested between both Houses (I have previously written on potential legislative deadlocks, here). Most recently, on 17 November 2025, the House of Lords considered the amendments and/or reasons from the House of Commons. This means the stand-off between the Houses is likely to continue.

The proposed amendments do not appear to have a significant impact on the key reforms which this article will focus on (this is not an exhaustive list of proposed amendments under the Bill, nor will it cover every single detail due to length, therefore professional legal advice should always be sought for your own case):

• Enhanced protections for workers on zero or low hour contracts;

• Protection from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment, but employers will be able to use a probation period (during this time, a modified unfair dismissal test will apply);

• New and further protections from harassment at work, including a stronger duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment;

• Fewer grounds for employers to refuse requests for flexible working;

• The "fire and rehire" practice will be significantly restricted;

• Enhanced rights for parental leave, a new right to bereavement leave and protection from dismissal during or shortly after pregnancy/maternity/adoption/shared parental leave ('Family Rights'); and

• Changes to the statutory sick pay available to workers, a new and improved minimum wage for workers over 18 years old and an employer's duty to keep holiday records

Due to the sheer size of the Bill and the need for brevity, other reforms such as enforcement, collective redundancy, equality reporting and trade union rights fall outside the scope of this article.

Zero Hour Contracts

• Zero and low hours workers will have a right to be offered a contract reflecting the regular hours which they work. In practice, this means that workers on a zero hour contract/arrangement or a contract will have a new right to a contract with minimum guaranteed hours.

• Zero and irregular hours workers will also be given a right to notice of shifts and compensation for cancellation of those shifts. In reality, employers will be required to give zero hour workers reasonable notice of the shifts which the worker is either required or requested to work.

• If a shift is cancelled, changed or curtailed, at short notice then the worker in question will be entitled to receive a set payment of compensation.

• On top of that, if a worker's hours regularly exceed the zero/minimum hours over a 12 week period, they must be offered a new contract reflecting regular hours. Employers will be obligated to do this.

• Two questions immediately arise following the above: first, what are the limits for minimum hours and notice periods? Second, what amount of money will a worker be entitled to as a cancellation payment? At present, these are not defined and will be subject to future consultation. It may be that no official definition is given, but guidance is. In those circumstances, it is possible to see matters of interpretation being determined by the courts.

  
  

• It should also be noted that this will also cover agency workers: the hirer will have the responsibility for offering regular hour contracts, and the agency that a worker is attached to will be liable to pay for shift cancellations.

  
  

• These provisions are to come into force in 2027, which means that there is, at most, a two year delay for their enforcement on current reading of the Bill.

Unfair Dismissal

• The two-year qualifying service requirement for unfair dismissal claims will be removed; this means that in practice, all workers will have protection from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment. However, it should be stressed that this does not apply where the contract has been signed but the employee has not started yet. The yardstick for "first day of employment" does very much seem to be the first day on the job.

• However, employers will be able to operate a "probation period". During this time, an employer can terminate the employee's employment or serve up to three months' notice to terminate the employment for performance or conduct reasons. A modified and lighter version of the dismissal process will apply. The length of this "probation period" and the modified version of the dismissal process are unknown; both will be subject to future consultation. That said, the Government has indicated that it would like a nine month period, along with at least one meeting with the employee, as requirements.

• Like the zero hour contract provisions discussed above, the provisions governing unfair dismissal are to commence in 2027.

Harassment At Work

• Previously, employers have been under a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. This will be tightened under the Bill to include all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. At the time of writing, there is no set definition of which steps need to be taken, but there will be regulations passed by the Government which will enlighten employers as to what practices are expected.

• A complaint of sexual harassment will be treated as a protected disclosure under the whistleblowing legislation (see: Employment Rights Act 1996 and Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998). This will provide a higher level of protection to complainants and it is hoped that this protection will eradicate both any fears of disclosing sexual harassment, and sexual harassment in the workplace altogether.

  
  

• There will be a ban on confidentiality provisions with contracts and Non-Disclosure Agreements ('NDAs') preventing employees discussing instances and/or allegations of discrimination or harassment. Currently, NDAs are a hot topic; there is currently a bill before Parliament in relation to the content and use of NDAs, which is due to have its Second Reading in January 2026. You can visit that bill, here. The proposed ban on these types of provisions may mean that employers and employees will be reluctant to enter into settlement agreements, although this remains to be seen.

• Employees will also have a new protection: it appears on the face of the Bill, employers could be vicariously liable for harassment by third parties. Indeed, this extends to any kind of harassment by third parties such as clients or suppliers. However, it is not strict liability: an employer will be liable for harassment by a third party unless they take reasonable steps to prevent it. This is likely to turn on a case by case basis. It is likely that we will see strong wording in contracts with clients and suppliers in order to protect employees.

  
  

• The provisions in relation to harassment at work are due to come into effect in October 2026.

Flexible Working

• The Bill is designed to strengthen flexible working by making it harder for employers to refuse requests. However, it should be noted that employers will still be able to refuse flexible working requests. This can be done on specified business grounds (including: increase to cost to accommodate the request, a detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand and inability to re-organise work among existing staff), but, there will be a new requirement for any refusal to be "reasonable". It is likely that reasonableness will be decided on a case by case basis and is likely to fall for determination by the courts.

• There will be an obligation on an employer to tell the employee on the basis for the refusal and also explain why the rejection is reasonable. It is hoped that such a provision will prevent blanket bans under the guise of another reason, without substance or merit, being utilised. On top of this, an employer must speak to the employee before they refuse a flexible working request.

• These provisions are expected to come into force in 2027.

Fire and Rehire Practices

• The following practices will automatically be deemed to be unfair:

  
  

  • Dismissing an employee for refusing to agree changes to their employment contract. The change in question will need to be over, amongst other things, matters such as pay, pension, hours of work and holiday entitlement.

    
    

  • Dismissing an employee where the main reason is to replace them with someone else (or re-hiring them later) on new terms relating to, amongst other things, pay, pension, hours of work and holiday entitlement.

    
    

  • Dismissing an employee to replace them with someone who is not an employee (this would be things such as self-employed contractors, agency workers or other status of worker). This is subject to a caveat: the employer must show that there is a reduced need for the employees that they are dismissing.

  
  

• The above rights are not, however, absolute. There will be a limited exception to each of them: this is where the change is in response to financial difficulties which are likely to affect the ability of the business to continue as a going concern, and the change could not reasonably have been avoided. This very much seems to be a policy decision to ensure that existing businesses do not crumble and have some level of autonomy to ensure their survival. This is particularly important given the advent of AI and the numerous industries which stand to be affected.

  
  

• These provisions are expected to come into force in October 2026.

Family Rights

• The biggest amendment is in relation to the qualifying periods for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave. Currently, in order to qualify for paternity leave, an employee must be in their role for 26 weeks. In order to quality for unpaid parental leave, this is one year. Both of these periods will be scrapped: employees will be able to take leave from their first day of employment.

• It will be unlawful to dismiss employees during pregnancy, or maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, or within six months of their return to work. There are going to be exceptions in certain circumstances to this, although they will be prescribed by future regulations and are not currently known.

• The existing right of parental bereavement leave will be broadened: it will now extend to other family bereavements. Under the new regime, employees will have the right to at least one week of bereavement leave following the death of a family member. This is also likely to cover pregnancy loss. Again, the finer details (such as which family members will be covered, and how far this right extends) are unknown: they again will be subject to further regulations.

• The commencement times for these rights are staggered. Some of these provisions are expected to come into force in April 2026 (such as paternity and unpaid parental leave) whereas others (such as bereavement leave and protection from dismissal) are expected later in 2027.

Holiday and Sickness Pay

• Statutory sick pay will be available to all workers and will be so from day one, meaning that the current waiting period of three days will be removed. The earnings threshold will also be removed, meaning that all workers will benefit from this. The rate at which statutory stick pay will be awarded is 80% of average earnings for workers who earn below the statutory rate of SSP.

• When the rates for the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage are set, the Low Pay Commission will be obliged to take into account the cost of living. The previous age bands will also be removed, meaning that all workers aged 18+ will have the same base.

  
  

• A new requirement will be imposed on employers: they will be required to keep records showing that they comply with both the rules on statutory holiday entitlement and pay. This will need to be done for a period of at least six years.

• These provisions are expected to come into force in April 2026, which is the earliest of the terms covered in this article.

Analysis

• The commencement of each of the provisions under the Bill will be staggered. This is likely to be for two reasons. First, it enables a smoother and gradual transition to the new employment law regime. Secondly, it gives business (particularly smaller ones) time to prepare themselves to ensure they comply with the law when it comes into effect. In particular, there may be costs in changing policies and/or structures within smaller businesses, which may not as easily be addressed due to lack of financial strength,

• Many of the details within each of the components of the Bill are an unknown. As above, areas such as: reduced compensation for unfair dismissal in the probation period, the steps an employer must take when consulting an employee on flexible working requests and the limits/benchmarks in zero hour contracts, will all be subject to consultation in the future. Those consultation dates have not been released, and it is difficult to predict the outcome of such consultations. This will, with no doubt, affect the preparation for businesses to meet these new legislative requirements going forward.

• There will also be a series of regulations to follow the Bill becoming law. These regulations will cover, amongst other things, harassment at work and bereavement leave.

  
  

• As to zero hours contracts; they will not be banned. However, the Bill does aim to ensure that workers on zero hour contracts who, in reality, work fairly regular hours, can have a contract which reflects that arrangement. This will enable all workers which fall into this category to have increased reliability and certainty around their working arrangements; they will no longer be stuck with getting notice the day before that they are working.

• The changes to unfair dismissal are significant. The reality is that the protection will be broader than in the past, resulting in more employees having protection from unfair dismissal than has been previously recognised. It would appear that employers could, however, ensure that all new starters have a probation period in their contracts. In practice, employers ought to ensure that there is a process in place to monitor and review an employee's performance regularly.

• Employers which have already implemented reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work in order to comply with the previous duty imposed in October 2024 should be in a strong position. It is always worth reviewing policies, however.

  
  

• The new whistleblowing protection for employees who complain of sexual harassment is incredibly strong. The new rights will mean that if an employee is dismissed (or even subjected to a form of detriment in connection with their complaint), that employee will likely have both a whistleblowing and victimisation claim.

• The Bill falls short of the previous pledges by the Government to ensure that flexible working is the default position; it gives a veto on employers. As above, the term "reasonable" is not defined and will be subject to further guidance and input, which makes it unclear as to how much of an impact that exception will have.

• This is a significant change as it means employers will have much less flexibility when seeking to change terms and conditions of an employee's employment. It means that there is a higher bar to show the need for the change. There is a practical point to keep in mind: the inability to change contract terms may also lead to redundancies (although this of itself may lead to an unfair dismissal claim if the conversation has already taken place and been refused). It will therefore be important to have flexibility built into employment contracts to avoid issues going forward.

  
  

• Given the amendments proposed to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, there will be an increase to wage bills.

• Further information can be found at the ACAS website, here.

Please note that our posts should not be intended to be legal advice and should not be construed as such; they are merely discussions and therefore readers are encouraged to seek professional legal advice for their own matters.