The Employment Rights Act 2025 is here

The Employment Rights Bill has today received Royal Assent, marking the most significant overhaul of employment law in decades.

The new Act strengthens existing worker protections, tightens compliance requirements for employers and creates a new regulator with far-reaching investigation and enforcement powers.

It introduces major reforms across a wide range of areas, including:

• Increased unfair dismissal protections
• Trade union rights
• Restructures and fire and rehire
• Family-friendly and flexible working entitlements
• Anti-harassment protections
• An overhaul of zero-hours and the gig economy.

While some provisions take effect today, most of the changes will be phased in from early 2026, through 2027 and beyond.

Changes taking effect today include the repeal of provisions introduced by the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. This won’t have a practical impact on most organisations immediately, but further repeals will follow in two months.

How we can help

To help businesses prepare for these developments, we’ll soon be launching our Employment Rights Act Hub on our website. This key resource will include a breakdown of the changes, roadmaps for implementation and practical steps businesses need to take now and in the future.

The Hub will provide updates on the latest changes and developments – you don’t want to miss out!

We’re ready to support organisations in getting to grips with these changes through bespoke training and surgery sessions:

• Navigating the Employment Rights Bill – support packages
• Employment Rights Bill training

The remaining changes will come into force in stages – 2026 will be a busy year, so make sure you’re ready.