Employment Rights Act 2025 Employer Checklist

The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. Its first major wave came into force on 6 April 2026. This checklist covers the statutory minimums — your contracts or handbooks may impose higher obligations. For specific situations, consult ACAS or a qualified employment solicitor. Updated June 2026.

Source: Employment Rights Act 2025; SI 2026/3 (Commencement No.1 Regulations); acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025.

What the law says

The Employment Rights Act 2025 amends more than 20 existing Acts. The April 2026 changes are brought into force by the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No.1 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/3). The 2027 changes require further commencement orders — dates are not yet fully confirmed. Source: legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/3/contents/made.

Changes in force from April 2026 — employer actions required now

Statutory sick pay

What must change:

• Pay SSP from the first qualifying day of illness. No three-day waiting period applies from 6 April 2026. Update your absence management policy to reflect this.
• Remove the lower earnings limit from your SSP eligibility checks. All employees qualify regardless of their weekly earnings level.
• Apply the lower-earner formula: if an employee's average weekly earnings are below approximately £154.06, SSP is 80% of their average weekly earnings rather than the flat £123.25 weekly rate (2026/27). Update any payroll calculations accordingly.
• Transitional protection: do not reduce SSP for employees who were already receiving it before 6 April 2026 and who earned between the old lower earnings limit (£125/week) and approximately £154.06/week.

Legislation: Employment Rights Act 2025, ss.1–10; SSCBA 1992, s.157 (as amended). Source: gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay; acas.org.uk/checking-sick-pay.

Use the SSP calculator to verify correct amounts.

Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave

What must change:

• Allow employees to take statutory paternity leave from their first day of employment. You cannot require employees to have served for any qualifying period before taking paternity leave.
• Allow employees to take unpaid parental leave (up to 18 weeks per child) from their first day of employment. The one-year qualifying service requirement no longer applies.
• Review and update your parental leave policy to reflect both day-one rights. Employees may not be aware their rights have changed.
• Important: statutory paternity pay still requires 26 weeks' qualifying service. Your policy should clearly distinguish leave entitlement (day one) from pay entitlement (26 weeks).

Legislation: Employment Rights Act 2025, ss.16–17; ERA 1996, ss.76, 80A–80B (as amended). Source: gov.uk/paternity-pay-leave; acas.org.uk/paternity-rights-leave-and-pay.

Collective redundancy

What must change:

• The maximum protective award for failure to comply with collective redundancy consultation obligations is now 180 days' gross pay per affected employee, doubled from the previous 90-day maximum.
• Your collective redundancy consultation process itself is unchanged — you must still consult for a minimum of 45 days (for 100+ redundancies) or 30 days (for 20–99). The change increases the cost of non-compliance, not the process.
• Conduct a risk review if you are planning or considering any collective redundancy exercises. The financial exposure from inadequate consultation has doubled.

Legislation: Employment Rights Act 2025 (amending ERA 1996, s.189). Source: acas.org.uk/collective-redundancy; gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights.

Use the statutory redundancy pay calculator to check individual entitlements.

Working time records

What must change:

• Retain working time and holiday records for six years. Records must cover: annual leave taken, amounts of leave carried forward to the next leave year, holiday pay amounts paid (including holiday pay included in wages for irregular-hours workers), and any payments made in lieu of accrued but untaken leave.
• Review your record-keeping systems. Many employers retain records for only two or three years — the new six-year requirement is a material increase.
• Note: this does not change the annual leave entitlement formula (5.6 weeks) or the 52-week holiday pay reference period. Only the retention period changes.

Legislation: Employment Rights Act 2025 (amending Working Time Regulations 1998). Source: acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025.

Whistleblowing: sexual harassment disclosures

What must change:

• Treat any report that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur as a qualifying protected disclosure if the worker believes it to be in the public interest. Workers making such disclosures are protected from detriment and automatically unfair dismissal.
• Review your whistleblowing policy to ensure it expressly covers sexual harassment disclosures and that managers understand the implications.
• Note: this is separate from the Equality Act 2010 duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, which has been in force since October 2023.

Legislation: Employment Rights Act 2025 (amending ERA 1996, s.43B). Source: acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025.

Prepare for 2027 — employer actions required before 1 January 2027

The following provisions are enacted but not yet in force. Dates are subject to commencement orders. Check GOV.UK for confirmed dates. Implementation dates are subject to confirmation — do not treat these as finalised until commencement orders are published.

Unfair dismissal: six-month qualifying period

Expected in force: 1 January 2027

The qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal will reduce from two years to six months. Additionally, the cap on compensatory awards for ordinary unfair dismissal will be removed entirely.

What to prepare:

• Review and update your disciplinary and dismissal procedures to ensure they can withstand scrutiny from month six of employment, not just year two. The ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures already sets a high standard — ensure it is being followed from the outset of employment.
• Review probationary period policies. The Act introduces a concept of "initial period of employment" (broadly equivalent to a probationary period) during which different, lighter-touch rules apply. Details will be set out in secondary legislation — monitor for guidance.
• Prepare managers: more employees will be able to bring unfair dismissal claims sooner. Training on fair process from day one of employment is essential.

Legislation: Employment Rights Act 2025, ss.20–22; ERA 1996 (as amended). Source: gov.uk/government/collections/employment-rights-bill.

Fire and rehire: automatic unfair dismissal

Expected in force: 1 January 2027

Dismissing an employee and re-engaging them on worse terms and conditions will become automatically unfair dismissal in most cases. A limited exception exists where the employer faces genuine financial difficulty of sufficient severity and has followed a defined statutory process.

What to prepare:

• If you are considering any contractual variation programmes, seek specialist employment law advice before 1 January 2027. The current law (following the Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement) will be replaced by a statutory automatic unfairness provision.
• Review any planned restructurings involving changes to terms and conditions.

Zero-hours and low-hours contracts

Expected in force: 2027 (exact date subject to secondary legislation)

Workers on zero-hours and low-hours contracts will be entitled to be offered guaranteed hours reflecting the hours they regularly work over a reference period. Additional rights will include reasonable shift notice, compensation for short-notice cancellations, and protection against detriment for exercising these rights. The provisions will extend to agency workers.

What to prepare:

• Audit your use of zero-hours and low-hours contracts.
• Consider whether workers on these contracts have a stable working pattern that may trigger the guaranteed hours obligation.
• Monitor secondary legislation for the reference period, calculation method, and commencement date.

Flexible working by default

Expected in force: 2027

Employers will only be able to refuse flexible working requests on specified reasonable grounds. Employment tribunal powers to review the reasonableness of refusals will be enhanced.

What to prepare:

• Update your flexible working policy to reflect the changing legal position.
• Train managers on the enhanced obligations and the requirement to cite specific grounds for refusal.

Notice period — no ERA 2025 change

The statutory notice period rules under ERA 1996, s.86 are not affected by the Employment Rights Act 2025. The formula (1 week per complete year of service, capped at 12 weeks, minimum 1 week after 1 month's service) remains unchanged. Use the notice period calculator to check statutory minimums.

Policy checklist summary

Key calculators for ERA 2025 compliance

• SSP calculator — verify SSP amounts under the new day-one rules
• Statutory redundancy pay calculator — check individual entitlements at the 2026/27 weekly pay cap of £751
• Notice period calculator — statutory notice minimums (unchanged by ERA 2025)

Back to Employment Rights Act 2025 hub.