Employment Rights Act Watch: May 2026 Edition

• 5 May 2026
• News
• Employment

Welcome to the first edition of Employment Rights Act Watch – a rolling update on the Employment Rights Act 2025, tracking key developments, implementation milestones and practical steps for employers.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the biggest overhaul of employment rights in decades. Changes span the breadth of the employment law world, and the sheer volume can be overwhelming. You can access an overview of the changes in our recently updated factsheet here.

Going forward, Employment Rights Act Watch will guide you through the implementation process step by step as you prepare for the coming implementation milestones.

Where are we on implementation?

The April 2026 implementation dates have passed, bringing in changes to statutory sick pay, family leave, whistleblowing and collective redundancy, introducing new record-keeping obligations and establishing the Fair Work Agency.

The next implementation date will be 1 October 2026, with changes expected in a number of areas, including:

• The legal framework relating to harassment;
• Rules governing tips and gratuities;
• Trade union laws, including new access rights;
• Tribunal time limits (to be confirmed).

We will be providing further detail and practical guidance on these changes in the next edition.

What should you be focusing on?

In response to the April 2026 changes, if you have not already done so, you should:

• Update contract templates and policies to reflect the changes to sick pay, family leave and whistleblowing.
• If necessary, adjust sick pay procedures to reflect the removal of the waiting period and lower earnings limit.
• Audit your record-keeping to ensure you are compliant with new rules to maintain records evidencing holiday and holiday pay compliance.
• Consider a wider compliance audit if you have complex arrangements in relation to holiday pay or National Minimum Wage.

Looking forward, your priority should be the unfair dismissal changes, which will see the removal of the compensation cap and the shortening of the qualifying service period from two years to six months. While these changes do not take effect until 1 January 2027, the key date to work towards is 2 July 2026 (click here to add a reminder to your diary). That is because hires starting work on that date will have 6 months’ service on 1 January 2027 and are therefore the first to benefit fully from the new regime (though of course hires beginning before that date will also see their qualifying service reduced). Preparing for these changes, and specifically reviewing and updating hiring and probation procedures, should therefore be your next priority. Any changes to hiring and probation procedures should be operational by 2 July at the latest.

We will be issuing more detailed information on the changes and what you can do to prepare very shortly, and we would encourage you to reach out to a member of the team to discuss your plan of action.

What is the very latest on the Employment Rights Act?

There have been two notable developments on the Employment Rights Act over the last month – a consultation on the misuse of NDAs and the government’s publication of a draft Code of Practice relating to new trade union access rights.

NDAs

Under the Employment Rights Act, broadly speaking, NDAs relating to discrimination or harassment will be void unless they meet certain criteria. A recent government consultation now gives us some insight into what those criteria will be. The key takeaway is that, if the proposals are implemented in substantially their current form, it will remain possible to use NDAs in discrimination and harassment matters as long as certain procedural conditions (not unlike existing conditions for valid settlement agreements) are met. We will, however, have to wait and see whether proposals change as a result of the consultation.

Trade union access rights

The government has also published its response to the consultation on trade union access rights, together with a draft Code of Practice setting out how the new rights will work. Trade union access rights will be introduced as part of the October 2026 wave of changes. Under the new rights, any independent trade union will be able to request physical or digital access to a workplace or workforce, even if it has no members among the workforce. The practical impact of the new rights outside traditionally unionised sectors remains to be seen. The crucial point to take away is that you should take advice immediately if you are approached by a trade union. Strict timelines apply to access negotiations and a failure to respond to an access request within an initial 15 working day window may result in statutory access arrangements being imposed.