The Employment Rights Bill – When to expect change

On 10 October 2024, the Labour Government introduced The Employment Rights Bill (‘ERB’).

This was the Government’s first step in delivering its plan to ‘Make Work Pay’ and, as promised, it was introduced within 100 days of the new Government being formed.

Since its introduction, there has been much talk of the raft of new changes aimed at increasing worker protections and ‘cracking down’ on poor employment practices.

We understand that the changes have not been easy to keep up with and, with so many being proposed, employees and employers alike may feel overwhelmed and unsure of where they currently stand and what comes next.

At the time of writing, the ERB is simply a proposal, the matters set out within are not legally enforceable. However, over the next two years, we can expect to see those proposals coming into effect and there is no doubt that employers will have to make changes to their ways of working.

To help you get to grips with the lengthy proposals, we have put together some useful guidance on:

• Where we are now;
• What is set to happen next; and
• What this means for you.

Where are we now?

On a practical level, not much has changed.

At the time of writing, The Employment Rights Bill is not yet in force and is still subject to debate and voting. This means that many of the changes you may have heard about are not yet established in law.

Before a Bill can become law, it must pass through a number of stages within the House of Commons and the House of Lords before finally receiving Royal Assent.

The ERB has already been through all of the stages in the House of Commons and, on 3 September 2025, is set to undergo its final reading in the House of Lords.

There may be further amendments to the ERB as a result of this reading but usually these are aimed at clarifying what’s already there.

What is set to happen next?

After this 3rd reading, The Employment Rights Bill will be in its final stages before taking effect.

It may ‘ping pong’ back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Lords until they agree the final wording of the ERB for Royal Assent (the King formally agreeing to convert the ERB into law).

However, many of the proposed changes still won’t be implemented for some time. This is because, for some of the proposals, the ERB simply gives the Government further powers to set out the detail in regulations, secondary legislation, Codes of Practice and the like.

Before doing so, the Government will continue consulting with stakeholders such as employers, workers, and trade unions on many of the proposals to try and make the interventions work for everyone.

What does this mean for us?

Whilst the ERB is not yet finalised, we have enough information at this stage to gain a fair understanding of the key changes that we can expect to come into force.

This will allow employers to start thinking about how they may need to adapt to best suit their needs while ensuring legal compliance.

When you can expect to see changes in practice

In July 2025, the Government produced a ‘roadmap’ for delivering its plan to make work pay. This sets out its phased approach to consultation as well as when we can expect to see measures taking effect.

To assist you, we have produced a summary of the proposed timetable with details of the key changes and how they are expected to affect you in practice.

Implementing the Employment Rights Bill – The Government’s roadmap for delivering change

On 1 July 2025, the Government published a roadmap outlining its plan for implementing the highly anticipated measures contained within the Employment Rights Bill. The roadmap also provides details of the Government’s plan to engage and consult with employers, workers and trade unions, in line with ensuring business readiness ahead of the reforms coming into force.

The Government will adopt a phased approach to the commencement of measures to provide stakeholders with sufficient time and certainty to prepare for the changes coming into effect. Whilst many key measures will not be implemented until 2027, including ‘day 1’ protection from unfair dismissal, it is anticipated that other changes could be implemented as early as September or October 2025. Further updates will follow as the Government’s consultation and commencement period develops.

However, in the meantime, we have set out a summary of the estimated implementation timeframe below to assist with any preparatory measures you plan to take. We have also explained what we currently know about the key changes and how they may affect you in practice in each of the blogs (accessed by clicking on the relevant link below).

Timetable for implementation

Measures planned to take effect at Royal Assent or soon afterwards include:

• Immediate repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and the majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 to create a better relationship with unions/prevent the need for strikes
• Protections against dismissal for taking industrial action

Measures planned to take effect in April 2026 include:

• Doubling the maximum period of the protective award for collective redundancy
• Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave from ‘day 1’ of employment
• Whistleblowing protections
• Fair Work Agency established
• Reducing eligibility requirements for statutory sick pay
• Simplifying the trade union recognition process

Measures planned to take effect in October 2026 include:

• Fire and rehire amendments
• Strengthening rights of access to trade unions
• Tightening tipping law
• Duty on employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent (and not permit) sexual harassment of employees by third parties
• Extending employment tribunal time limits
• Extending protections against detriment for taking industrial action

Measures planned to take effect in 2027 include:

• ‘Day 1’ right of protection from unfair dismissal
• Gender pay gap and menopause action plans (introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026)
• Protection of pregnant workers
• Ending exploitative use of zero-hour contracts, in addition to applying zero-hour contract measures to agency workers
• Bereavement leave
• Collective redundancy and the consultation threshold
• Flexible working

As with the implementation of the measures contained in the Bill, the Government will also take a phased approach to consultation. The consultation period is currently due to take place between Summer 2025 and ‘early’ 2026. Following each consultation period, we can expect the Government to publish policy, regulations and guidance ahead of implementation deadlines.

To review the timetabling period for the measures and consultation in full read ‘The roadmap for delivering the Government’s Plan to Make Work Pay‘

To review the Government’s accompanying press release read ‘Roadmap unveiled to boost rights for half of all UK workers and provide certainty to employers‘

If you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this blog, please contact a member of the Employment team.

We are grateful for the contribution by Rebecca Paterson of Pump Court Chambers.

We publish blogs and social media posts to give a general overview of legal and commercial issues, relevant at the time of publication, which we hope you will find interesting. Please note that legal rules often change depending on the specific facts of a situation. The law also changes over time following changes in legislation or new court cases. We do not actively update our blogs or posts once they are published to reflect changes in the law.