Unpacking the current status of the Employment Rights Bill: What Schools and Trusts need to know

Unpacking the current status of the Employment Rights Bill:

What Schools and Trusts need to know

It is hard to believe we have just passed the first anniversary since the Employment Rights Bill was introduced. The Bill has seen massive changes since it was originally published; in fact the original version was 158 pages long, and the latest version is now 330 pages long.

Whilst there was hope the Bill would have become law on 28th October following the latest debate in the House of Lords, instead, the House of Lords has sent the Bill back to the House of Commons for further debate.  So, we are now in a period of ‘ping-pong’, and it is hopeful the Bill will become law imminently.

In the meantime we can look to the Employment Rights Bill Roadmap which was published by the Government on 1^st July 2025. The roadmap is the first time the Government has provided more detailed timescales for commencement. The timescales allow for a staggered approach, with measures being implemented in 6 monthly intervals, and which will provide Schools and Trusts with a little bit more time to prepare for the changes.

The roadmap also sets out an anticipated timetable for any necessary consultations on the detail of the measures to come. Following these consultations the Government will produce clear and comprehensive guidance to help navigate the changes. This guidance will be made available in advance of implementation deadlines to allow time for familiarisation and preparation - which is a welcomed position. 

We have recently seen the publication of 4 of these consultations, that is in relation to:

• Bereavement leave;
• Right of Trade Unions to access workplaces;
• Duty to inform workers of their right to join a union;
• Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers.

What measures are coming into force on each implementation date?

Measures that will take effect at Royal Assent or soon afterwards

Whilst the majority of reforms have been staggered over 2026 and into 2027, some reforms will take effect shortly after the Bill is passed into law, and they are as follows:

• Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023
• (Reversing rules that compel unions to maintain essential services during industrial action)
• Repeal of the great majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 (which sets out quite stringent thresholds and heavy notice requirements)
• Removing the 10-year ballot requirement for trade union political fund
• Simplifying industrial action notices and industrial action ballot notices
• Protections against dismissal for taking industrial action

Measures that will come into force in April 2026

These implementations focus on day-one entitlements and broader workplace protections:

• The maximum compensation for a collective redundancy protective award will double from 90 days’ gross pay to 180 days’ gross pay (the changes to collective consultation thresholds will not come in until later)
• This will also apply for failing to consult during a fire and rehire situation where the protective awards will also double from 90 to 180 days pay per affected employee.
• Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave– currently employees have to be employed for 26 weeks before they are entitled to paternity leave and employed for 1 year to be eligible for parental leave, the entitlement to paternity and parental leave will become what we call day one rights, and that length of service will be completely removed
• Whistleblowing– Employees who disclose a breach of health and safety obligation or other breach of the law are protected as whistle blowers if they reasonably believe the disclosure is in the public interest – disclosing sexual harassment will be added to the list of what counts as a qualifying disclosure.
• Trade unions: The trade union recognition process will be simplified (including the ability for the government to lower the required percentage of trade union members in the bargaining unit to a figure between 2% and 10% (currently 10%). - Electronic and workplace balloting will be introduced
• Fair Work Agency to be established: this is an enforcement body to police compliance with laws such as national minimum wage, modern slavery and holiday pay, in the latest amendments to the bill it is proposed the Agency will have some extensive new powers including enforcing failure to pay certain statutory payments to workers, and also bringing employment tribunal proceedings on behalf of a worker, even if that workers was not going to. - Whilst is will be established in April 2026, its likely to take some time before the practical arrangements are fully up and running.

• Statutory Sick Pay–so currently an employee needs to earn £123 per week which is the lower earnings limit before they are entitled to sick pay. This limit will be removed. - So, under the changes employees will either receive 80% of their normal weekly earnings or the current rate of SSP whichever is lower. - Currently employees also receive SSP from the fourth day of absence, this will also be removed and employees will have the right to SSP from the first day of sickness absence

It is estimated around 1.3 million employees will benefit from these changes. The Government is of the view the changes will reduce the amount of people going to work when they are ill which will reduce the spread of infections at work boosting productivity and benefitting employers - this remains to be seen.

Measures that will come into place from 1^st October 2026

These relate to:

From October 2026 it will become automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for not agreeing to a variation to their contract, save only in circumstances where employers can prove serious financial difficulties affecting the business as a going concern, the variation was unavoidable and the process was handled fairly, including proper consultations.

The existing Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement (which was effective from 2024) will be revised in Autumn 2025 to reflect these changes.

Whilst that Code is awaited Schools and Trusts can look to:

• planning ahead and considering whether you are needing to adjust working hours/job roles or pay, as you will need to be looking to achieve those changes by consulting and reaching agreement as opposed to enforcing the changes and considering dismissal in the event the changes are not accepted.
  
  
  

For decades, the deadline has been a 3 month time limit; the Employment Rights Bill extends the limitation period for nearly every employment claim from three months to six months.

This will apply to all types of claims, including discrimination and unfair dismissal.

In preparation for this change, Schools and Trusts should be considering:

• Reviewing and extending document retention policies. You may need to hold on to records for at least nine months after any incident – longer if litigation seems possible.
• Strengthen internal grievance and appeal processes. With more time to raise and resolve issues before claim deadlines, early resolution is likely to become more viable
  
  

• Employers will be required to inform new employees of their right to join a trade union

This change is subject to one of the recent published consultations. The consultation is seeking views on issues such as:

What exactly should the employer’s statement say? Should it be a separate document or part of the written particulars of employment? Should it be paper-based, digital, or both? When and how should the employer deliver the statement?

• Trade Union representatives will gain strengthened legal rights to access the workplace, both in person and via virtual platforms

This is also subject to one of the recent consultations:

The consultation is seeking views on issues such as what form the union’s request for access should take, how it should be submitted, and what information it must include to show legitimacy and purpose.

• Strengthened safeguards for those engaged in union activities, including prohibiting of detriments, for example disciplinary action or pay cuts related to industrial action;
• New rights to paid time off for union equality representatives, with reasonable facilities granted to union reps.

- Harassment

The current duty on employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace which came into force in October 2024 will be extended so that employers are required to take “all” reasonable steps. The upshot is that failing to take just one further step which the tribunal considers to be reasonable will leave the employer in breach of the duty. The Government is issuing further regulations on what those steps should be, but they are not coming into force until 2027.

Significantly there will also be a new obligation on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment of employees by third parties.

Currently under the Equality Act 2010, harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination, and an employer is only what we, call vicariously liable, for the actions of their employee’s, so if a colleague harasses another colleague, with or without the employer’s knowledge, the employer will be vicariously liable for their actions.

As it currently stands an employer is not currently liable for a third party’s actions, so a third party can be:

parents, volunteers, visitors such as nurses to the school – anyone that is not employed by the employer

However, the new Bill imposes direct liability for employers, no matter their size, if they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment by third parties on their workforce. That’s ‘all’ reasonable steps, not just reasonable steps, and significantly this is in relation to all harassment so not just sexual harassment.

At the moment we do not have any further guidance as to what these steps should look like, so we need to look at previous caselaw, and this includes:

• Having in place a clear Anti-Harassment Policy
• Undertaking Training for Employees and Managers: Provide training on how to identify, report, and handle third-party harassment. Ensure managers are aware of their responsibility to protect employees from such behaviour.
• Adopting a Zero-Tolerance Approach
• Considering Contractual Clauses with Third Parties
• Carrying out Regular Review and Risk Assessments

Measures coming into force during 2027

The last set of changes will be coming into force during 2027, although the exact dates of implementation are not yet known.

• Bereavement leave

Currently if an employee loses a child under 18, or suffers a stillbirth after 24 weeks, they can take up to 2 weeks leave.  

The Bill introduces the right to 1 week of unpaid bereavement leave from day one of employment following the death of a ‘loved one’

It also extends parental bereavement leave to include any pregnancy loss before 24 weeks – so granting at least 1 week of unpaid leave to both mothers and partners

Again, this is currently subject to one of the consultations, which is considering issues such as: 

Which relationships should qualify – immediate family, extended family, or close friends. For pregnancy loss, it asks whether leave should be limited to the person who was pregnant or include others such as partners, intended parents, and those in surrogacy arrangements. It also considers which types of pregnancy loss should qualify, including miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy, IVF embryo transfer loss, and medical terminations.

• Sexual harassment prevention

Whilst the duty to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment will kick in from October 2026, detailed regulations specifying what those steps should include will not come into force until 2027 – this will provide some clear guidance on what steps must be carried out, although hopefully this should not extend beyond those suggested under the Equality Human Commission Rights guidance.

• Rights for pregnant workers and new mothers 

The government proposes legislation making it unlawful to dismiss pregnant women, women on maternity leave and those returning to work for at least six months post-return, except in specified circumstances.

This area is also subject to one of the recent consultations, and the key issues being explored are:

Which grounds (conduct, capability, redundancy, statutory prohibition, “some other substantial reason”) should continue to apply to pregnant women and new mothers, and whether a new, stricter test should apply.

The government is considering whether protections should extend to other parents (e.g. those taking adoption leave or shared parental leave) and how to support awareness of the rights.

• Collective redundancy

Under the Bill it is proposed that the collective redundancy obligations will be triggered where:

• Either 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment
• Or at least the “threshold number of employees” proposed to be made redundant across the employer’s organization is met

Regulations will set out what that additional threshold will look like, so whether it will be a flat number or a percentage like 10% of total headcount across the whole of the organisation.

• Flexible working rights

In addition to needing one of the eight statutory grounds to refuse a flexible working request, any refusal must also be reasonable.

• Trade unions and Industrial Actions:

• A comprehensive industrial relations framework will be introduced setting out clear rules for union-employer collective interactions, possibly including a mandated negotiation forum, joint working groups, or sector-level fair pay agreements.
• Will strengthen prohibitions and penalties against employers maintaining or using lists to blacklist individuals for trade union involvement
• Protection of trade union rights is also being extended to agency workers
  
  

• Gender pay gap and menopause 

Employers with at least 250 employees will as well as publishing yearly gender pay gap figures, will also be required to create and publish ‘equality action plans’ addressing how they intend to reduce their gender pay gap, and how they are supporting employees going through menopause (for example flexible working, workplace adjustments and signposting health resources).

The plans must be updated at least annually, with details being defined in upcoming regulations.

Enforcement will be via the EHRC potentially with penalties or public naming for non-compliance.

• Zero-hours and low-hours contracts

The obligation to offer guaranteed hours to zero-hours (and low-hours) workers if they have worked, on average, a certain number of hours over a reference period. Including mandatory reasonable notice for shifts and changes. Compensation for short-notice cancellations.   The protection will extend to agency workers (with responsibility for offering the guaranteed hours likely falling on the end-hirer as opposed to the agency).

• Day 1 protection from Unfair Dismissal

So we are aware as far that the 2 year qualifying period for bringing unfair dismissal claims will be abolished, so individuals will have immediate protection from their first day of work

A statutory ‘initial period of employment’ (effectively a probationary period, expected to last around 9 months) will apply during which employers can use a “lighter-touch” dismissal procedure

The ‘light touch’ process will only apply if the reason for dismissal is related to one of the fair reasons for dismissal under the current Employment Rights Act 1996, that being the employee’s conduct or capability, because the employee is subject to a statutory ban (e.g. not entitled to work in the UK, or disbarred from the profession) or there is ‘some other substantial reason related to the employee’.

Due to these changes the government estimates 9 million employees will have unfair dismissal rights.