If you've been following our updates over the past six months, you'll know the Employment Rights Act 2025 has been dominating conversations in every boardroom and HR inbox across the country. Several waves of change have now landed, and another arrives on 30 October. It feels like the right moment to take stock: what's already in force, what's still ahead, and what we're learning as businesses start living with the new rules.
Where we are now
The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and is being brought in stages rather than all at once. That's deliberate: the government wanted to give employers time to prepare rather than facing a single cliff-edge of change.
Here's what's already live:
• Statutory Sick Pay from day one – since 6 April 2026, SSP has been payable from the first day of sickness, with the old three waiting days gone. The lower earnings limit has also been removed, so lower-paid staff who previously didn't qualify now do.
• Day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave – also from 6 April 2026.
• Holiday records – since 6 April 2026, employers must keep records of annual leave and holiday pay for at least six years. This one catches a lot of small businesses out.
• Sexual harassment whistleblowing – reporting sexual harassment is now a protected disclosure, so staff who raise it are protected from detriment and dismissal.
• Bigger penalties for getting collective redundancy consultation wrong – the maximum protective award doubled to 180 days' pay in April 2026.
• The Fair Work Agency – the new enforcement body was established on 7 April 2026, bringing several existing enforcement functions under one roof. It isn't sitting idle: in July it secured its first conviction, against an unlicensed gangmaster supplying workers. It's due to start enforcing holiday pay in 2027.
• Trade union changes – industrial action rules changed in February, union recognition was simplified in April, and electronic and workplace balloting became available from 25 August 2026.
• Longer tribunal time limits – since 1 October 2026, most employment tribunal claims can be brought within six months rather than three. This applies where the issue happened on or after 1 October; older issues may still fall under the three-month limit.
So the first waves have already reshaped some day-to-day realities for employers, even though some of the headline changes are still ahead of us.
What's coming up
This is where it gets urgent for a lot of the businesses we work with.
From 30 October 2026
• A stronger duty to prevent sexual harassment – employers must take "all" reasonable steps, not just "reasonable" ones.
• A brand new duty covering third-party harassment – employers will be liable for harassment of their staff by customers, clients and other third parties unless they've taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. For the first time, employers need to think proactively about risks from people who aren't even on the payroll.
• Trade union changes – new rules on union access to workplaces, new rights for some union reps around facilities and time off, and protection for workers from being treated less favourably for taking industrial action.
From 1 January 2027
• The unfair dismissal qualifying period drops from two years to six months. Anyone who started on or before 1 July 2026 will already have six months' service when the change lands, so they'll be protected straight away. Everyone hired since will be protected as soon as they reach six months.
• The cap on unfair dismissal compensation is removed entirely.
• A new duty to tell workers about their right to join a trade union.
• Fire and rehire becomes heavily restricted – dismissing someone and re-engaging them on worse terms will be automatically unfair in most cases. This was originally due in October 2026 but has been pushed back to land in January 2027, alongside the unfair dismissal changes. The government is consulting on a revised code of practice until 17 December 2026.
That January 2027 wave is the big one. Several major changes landing at once means the practical impact on probation processes, performance management and contract variations is going to be significant.
Later in 2027
Dates are still to be confirmed for a further batch, including guaranteed hours and shift-cancellation pay for zero-hours and low-hours workers, tighter rules on refusing flexible working requests, a new right to unpaid bereavement leave (including pregnancy loss), stronger protection from dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers, and limits on NDAs that stop staff speaking up about harassment or discrimination.
What we're learning from the rollout so far
A few themes have emerged as businesses start putting these changes into practice.
Probation and performance management need to tighten up now, not later. With six months' service becoming the trigger for unfair dismissal protection, businesses that haven't been rigorous about documenting performance during probation are having to build that discipline quickly. Waiting until January is too late: anyone hired since July is already on the clock.
"All reasonable steps" is a genuinely higher bar. The shift in the sexual harassment duty isn't just a wording tweak. A policy sitting in a drawer won't be enough; it needs risk assessment, training and action that actually happens. The same goes for third-party harassment, which asks you to think about risks from people who aren't your own staff. The government has also said it will set out in future what "reasonable steps" should include.
Six-month time limits mean longer memories. Claims can now arrive up to six months after the event, so notes, emails and meeting records need to be kept and findable for longer. Decisions made in a hurry in October can come back to bite in March.
Tribunals look closely at what an employer knew – or ought to have known – about disability. Knowledge isn't limited to a formal diagnosis on file. Occupational health reports, things an employee has told their manager, and what's widely understood about a condition can all count. Disability discrimination risk doesn't only come from what's written down.
Consultation season continues. Acas has consulted on the first full rewrite of its Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures since 2009, with much more emphasis on resolving concerns informally first. The consultation closed on 23 September and we're waiting for the final version. Government consultations on zero-hours reform, holiday pay enforcement and workplace monitoring have also closed. Still open are consultations on the revised fire and rehire code and Acas's flexible working code (both closing 17 December 2026), and on whistleblowing and employment status (both closing 8 January 2027). These will shape how the detail works in practice, so it's worth keeping an eye on the outcomes.
Why this matters for growing businesses
We know the temptation with legislation like this is to wait until it's actually in force before doing anything. But the businesses coming through this well are the ones treating each wave as advance notice rather than a deadline: reviewing contracts, refreshing probation processes, and training managers before the rules bite, not after.
Take stock of where we are. Tribunal time limits have already doubled. New harassment duties land on 30 October. The unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to six months in January, and the compensation cap disappears entirely. And Acas is rewriting the Disciplinary and Grievance Code for the first time since 2009.
None of that means you're heading for a tribunal.
It means the margin for getting the ordinary things wrong has narrowed considerably, and it's more important than ever to have great HR practices in place.
We'll be running some workshops over the next few months, so keep an eye out for the details. They'll be in-person, practical, jargon-free, and built for businesses without a full HR function.
Want to talk through what this means for your business specifically? Get in touch to start a conversation.
This article is general guidance based on the law as at 27 October 2026 and isn't legal advice. If you're dealing with a specific situation, get in touch.
Sources (checked 27 October 2026)
• Acas: Employment Rights Act 2025 (last updated 20 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Make Work Pay – holiday pay compliance and enforcement consultation
• Hansard: Plan to Make Work Pay implementation, 13 October 2026
• NHS Employers: open and closed Make Work Pay consultations
• DLA Piper: Acas consultation on revised disciplinary and grievance Code
