Employment Rights Act

Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: Contract change update and action points

Following the Employment Rights Act (ERA) receiving royal assent late last year, early 2026 has already seen some further activity in relation to the Act’s provisions on contractual change. The Government’s revised timetable for ERA implementation has moved commencement of the so-called ‘fire and rehire’ provisions from October 2026 to 1 January 2027, tying in […]

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Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: The impact of changes to unfair dismissal

6 March 2026 / compensation, employment law reform, Employment Rights Act, unfair dismissal / Employment

When the Employment Rights Bill was published in October 2024, the headline measure was the proposal to make unfair dismissal a ‘day 1 right’ by removing the qualifying period. At the 11th hour a series of defeats in the House of Lords forced the government to U-turn on that proposal. Instead, the qualifying period for

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Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: Government launches gender pay gap and menopause action plans

5 March 2026 / Employment Rights Act, gender pay transparency, menopause, pay equality / Employment

The government has taken another step forward in implementing key provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 with the publication of employer guidance on creating action plans for both gender pay gaps and the menopause. From April 2026, large employers with 250 or more employees will be encouraged to publish the steps that they are

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Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: Consultations on the trigger for collective redundancy consultation and detriments for taking industrial action

26 February 2026 / collective consultation, collective redundancies, detriment, employment law reform, Employment Rights Act, industrial action / Employment

On 26 February the government published two further consultation papers on the implementation of aspects of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA): Make Work Pay: threshold for triggering collective redundancy obligations consultation and Make Work Pay: protection from detriments for taking industrial action. Collective consultation threshold In addition to retaining the existing trigger for collective

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Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: First major Employment Rights Act measures come into force

17 February 2026 / collective consultation, employment law reform, Employment Rights Act, redundancies / Employment

On 18 February, the first major measures of the Employment Rights Act (ERA) come into force. The ERA repeals the majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 and significantly relaxes the requirements of the process for organising industrial action. For industrial action ballots opening on or after 18 February, the ERA simplifies requirements on trade unions in

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Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: Consultations on implementation of measures on flexible working, fire and rehire and tipping

5 February 2026 / employment law reform, employment law reforms, Employment Rights Act, fire and rehire, flexible working, tipping / Employment

The government has published three further consultation papers on implementation of aspects of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA), covering flexible working, fire and rehire and tipping. Flexible working Currently, all employees have the right to make a flexible working request . Employers can refuse an application for any of these reasons: Extra costs that

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Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: Revised timetable for implementation

3 February 2026 / employment law reform, employment law reforms, Employment Rights Act / Employment

On 3 February the government published a revised timetable for implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA). Whilst most of the timing remains unchanged from the roadmap published in July 2025, there are some notable changes, particularly in relation to the restrictions on fire and rehire, which move to January 2027. We set out

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Be Aware UK

News and views from DLA Piper's Employment team