19 May 2026
It has come to our attention that there is a lot of misinformation around the upcoming changes within the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) as part of the Government's Plan to Make Work Pay initiative.
Please be aware that the timeline for implementation for the fire and rehire changes expected in October 2026, stated in the original roadmap document, has now been postponed to 2027. This will mean dismissing someone then rehiring them on worse terms and conditions will become an automatically unfair dismissal in most cases.
An updated code of practice will be provided in 2027 to support these changes. The updated timeline of reforms can be found here.
What is changing in October?
As a reminder here is a round-up of the changes expected to come into force from October 2026:
Harassment
- employers will be responsible for third-party harassment (such as customers or clients) unless they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent it.
- employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, current law states reasonable steps
- a new power to enable regulations to specify what counts as reasonable steps.
Tipping
- employers will need to consult with workers or their representatives before creating their tipping policy
- employers must then update their policy every three years.
Employment Tribunal time limits
- the time limits for bringing any employment tribunal claim will increase to six months
- most claims currently have a three-month deadline.
Trade union rule changes
- employer duty to inform workers about their right to join a trade union
- updated workplace access rights for trade unions
- right to reasonable facilities for trade union representatives
- time off for equality representatives to carry out their duties
- updated code of practice on trade union recognition
- workers taking part in industrial action will be protected against detriment (unfavourable treatment) from their employer, in addition to unfair dismissal.
Public sector two tier code
- new measures have been introduced to prevent disparities in terms and conditions between private sector employees working on outsourced public sector contracts and employees who were transferred from the public sector to deliver those services.
- a code of practice will be published to set out minimum requirements that all contracting authorities must take all reasonable steps to address and implement.
New Adult Social Care Negotiating Body
- there will be a new negotiating body for adult social care in England Scotland and Wales
- this will bring together trade unions and employer representatives to negotiate legally binding pay and conditions for adult social care workers
- these Fair Pay agreements will be enforceable and eventually backed by the new Fair Work Agency.
Please note, that in most cases, how these changes will be implemented is subject to government consultations. We will keep you informed of the ongoing changes as they are confirmed. For more information, businesses, employers and employees can use these factsheets to understand the measures within the ERA and how it affects them.
Information provided in this news article may be subject to change. Please make note of the date of publication to ensure that you are viewing up to date information.