Plan for the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes

Guide summary

Pay SSP from the first full day off sick, with no minimum earnings requirement
Update payroll systems and sickness absence policies to remove waiting days and the lower earnings limit
For problems on or after 1 October 2026, most tribunal claims can be brought within 6 months, not 3
Keep employment records for longer, because a claim can arrive later
Take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of your employees, and harassment by third parties
A dismissal with an end date on or after 1 January 2027 needs 6 months of employment to claim unfair dismissal
Put each date in a diary against the policy, contract or process it affects
The government has not yet set a date for zero-hours rights, because it is still consulting

The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. It changes pay, leave, dismissal, harassment, enforcement and trade union law, and the government is commencing it in stages through regulations. Dates for later stages can move.

What has already taken effect

18 Dec 2025: Royal Assent; Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 repealed
6 Apr 2026: SSP from day one with no earnings floor
6 Apr 2026: Day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave
6 Apr 2026: Collective redundancy protective award doubled
6 Apr 2026: Whistleblowing protection extended to sexual harassment
7 Apr 2026: Fair Work Agency established
1 Oct 2026: Tribunal claim time limit extended to 6 months
30 Oct 2026: Duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
30 Oct 2026: Employer duty not to permit third-party harassment
30 Oct 2026: Stronger trade union access and recognition rights

Statutory Sick Pay

From 6 April 2026 SSP is paid from the first full day of sickness. The three waiting days and the lower earnings limit are gone, and the weekly rate is the flat rate or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

SSP day-one eligibility (ERA 2025)

Statutory Sick Pay is payable from the first full day of sickness under the Employment Rights Act 2025, with no waiting days and no lower earnings limit.

Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay has had no waiting days and no minimum earnings requirement.

Waiting days (from April 2026): REMOVED - SSP payable from the first full day of sickness
Lower Earnings Limit (from April 2026): REMOVED - No minimum earnings threshold for SSP eligibility
Previous waiting days: 3 days (first 3 days of sickness were unpaid)
Previous LEL: £125/week - employees earning less were not eligible
Effective date: 6 April 2026
Who gains eligibility: Approximately 1.3 million low-paid workers previously excluded

What these changes mean

No waiting days: SSP is paid from the first full day of sickness
No earnings test: The lower earnings limit is abolished
Extended coverage: Part-time workers, casual workers, and low-paid employees who previously fell below the LEL now receive SSP

Employer impact

Higher SSP costs: SSP is paid for more days and to more employees
More employees eligible: Workers previously excluded by the LEL must now be paid SSP
Payroll system updates: Systems must be updated to remove waiting day and LEL calculations
Policy updates: Sickness absence policies need revision

Statutory Sick Pay guidance (opens in a new tab)

Family leave

Since 6 April 2026 employees can take paternity leave and unpaid parental leave from their first day, without the earlier qualifying service. Bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss, is due in April 2027.

Enforcement

The Fair Work Agency took on labour market enforcement on 7 April 2026. It is the body that will check pay, holiday pay, SSP and agency compliance.

Fair Work Agency enforcement powers

The Fair Work Agency is a unified enforcement body for specified labour market legislation, launched 7 April 2026.

The Fair Work Agency is a unified enforcement body for specified labour market legislation, created by the Employment Rights Act 2025. The Act's enforcement part extends to the whole UK, but the Agency can only enforce rules that apply where you employ people. It regulates employment agencies and businesses in England, Scotland and Wales only, not Northern Ireland.

Launch date: 7 April 2026
Chair: Matthew Taylor
Nations covered: UK-wide Act; agency regulation in Great Britain only
Replaces: Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate
Replaces (labour market): Director of Labour Market Enforcement
Replaces (gangmasters): Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority
National Minimum Wage: FWA responsibility; HMRC enforces under contract until staff transfer in April 2027
Holiday pay: Enforcement expected to begin in 2027
Employment agency rules: Enforced by the Agency (England, Scotland, Wales)
Gangmaster licensing: Enforced by the Agency
Umbrella company practices: ERA 2025 s36 (GB); commenced 6 January 2026 for regulation-making only
Unpaid tribunal awards: Can issue non-payment penalties; does not collect the award
Enforcement tools: Notices, financial penalties, inspections, public naming

Tribunal time limits

For problems that happened on or after 1 October 2026 you usually have 6 months, not 3, to bring most employment tribunal claims. Older problems keep the 3-month limit. Scottish breach of contract claims move to 6 months on 9 November 2026. Keep employment records for longer, because a claim can arrive later.

Harassment

From 30 October 2026 you must take all reasonable steps, not just reasonable steps, to prevent sexual harassment of your employees. The government can later set out specific steps in regulations.

Third-party harassment of employees

From 30 October 2026 an employer must not permit a third party, such as a customer or client, to harass its employees.

Since 30 October 2026, section 40(1A) to (1C) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that an employer must not permit a third party to harass an employee. A third party is anyone other than the employer or one of its employees, for example a customer, client, supplier or visitor.

An employer permits third-party harassment only if the harassment happens in the course of the employee's employment and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the third party from doing it. The same date also brought in the duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees (section 40A).

In force from: 30 October 2026
Who is a third party: Anyone other than the employer or an employee of the employer
Employer liable if: The harassment happens in the course of employment and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it
Earlier third-party provisions: Section 40(2) to (4) omitted from 1 October 2013
Related duty: Take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment (section 40A)

EHRC - sexual harassment and harassment at work technical guidance (opens in a new tab)

Acas - preventing sexual harassment at work (opens in a new tab)

What is still to come

1 Jan 2027: Unfair dismissal qualifying period cut to 6 months
1 Jan 2027: Unfair dismissal compensation cap removed
1 Jan 2027: Duty to tell workers of their right to join a union
Mar 2027: Fire and rehire protections
Apr 2027: Gender equality and menopause action plans for private sector
Apr 2027: Bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss
Apr 2027: Organisation-wide collective redundancy threshold
Sep 2027: Limits on non-disclosure agreements in harassment cases
Oct 2027: Stronger dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers
Oct 2027: Flexible working changes
Dec 2027: Umbrella company regulation
To be set: Guaranteed hours and notice of shifts for zero-hours workers

Unfair dismissal qualifying period

The continuous employment needed to claim ordinary unfair dismissal in Great Britain, and the change to six months for dismissals taking effect from 1 January 2027.

Employees need a minimum period of continuous employment to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim in Great Britain. The qualifying period does not apply to automatically unfair dismissals.

Effective date of termination before 1 January 2027: 2 years of continuous employment
Effective date of termination on or after 1 January 2027: 6 months of continuous employment
Automatically unfair dismissals: No qualifying period
Legal change: Employment Rights Act 2025, section 25 (Royal Assent 18 December 2025)
Commencement: 1 January 2027, by SI 2026/559

The new period applies by reference to the effective date of termination, not the date notice was given. A dismissal where notice is given before 1 January 2027 but the employment ends on or after that date has the 6-month period (SI 2026/559, regulation 4).

Unfair dismissal (opens in a new tab)

The zero-hours rights have no date yet, because the government is still consulting.

Put each date in a diary against the policy, contract or process it affects, and revisit it when the government publishes commencement regulations.

Legal basis

Primary legislation and key regulations

Employment Rights Act 2025 Primary 2025 · UK-wide Equality Act 2010 Primary 2010 · UK-wide Employment Rights Act 1996 Primary 1996 · UK-wide SSCBA 1992 Primary 1992 · UK-wide The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026 SI 2026 · UK-wide The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026 SI 2026 · UK-wide

Browse UK legislation legislation.gov.uk

Official guidance

Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update (opens in a new tab)

Publication · GOV.UK · Great Britain

Implementing the plan to make work pay and employment rights act (opens in a new tab)

Publication · GOV.UK · Great Britain

3737 (opens in a new tab)

bills.parliament.uk · Great Britain

Plan for the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes

What has already taken effect

Statutory Sick Pay

Family leave

Enforcement

Tribunal time limits

Harassment

What is still to come

Legal basis

Official guidance

Next steps

Growing your business

Start importing goods to the UK

Transfer ownership of your business

Related guides in Employment & HR

Statutory Sick Pay for employers

Prevent workplace harassment

Dismiss an employee fairly

Prepare for the new rules on zero-hours contracts

What employers can and cannot do in fire and rehire