Employment Law Digest August 2025 – Employment Rights Bill 2025 Roadmap: Current Status and Key Developments
19th August, 2025
This month's Employment Law Digest
Employment Law Digest
19th August 2025
Employment Law Digest August 2025 – Bereavement Leave and Parental Bereavement Leave
Find out more
19th August 2025
Employment Law Digest August 2025 – Case Law Update
Find out more
19th August 2025
Employment Law Digest August 2025 – Employment Rights Bill 2025 Roadmap: Current Status and Key Developments
Find out more
In October 2024 the Labour Government announced its's plans for an overhaul of Employment Legislation intended to improve workers' rights in the UK through the Employment Rights Bill 2025 (the ERB).
The ERB has been hailed as the most significant overhaul of employment legislation in over a decade. The Bill has been considered by the House of Commons and is now under consideration by the House of Lords and is expected to receive Royal Assent in September/October 2025. We are therefore expecting some of the changes could come into effect later this year.
There are a number of provisions in the ERB setting out major reforms to Employment Law which are intended to modernise the workplace whilst strengthening protection for workers.
By way of reminder, some of the key provisions in the ERB are:
Day-One Rights: Employees to gain immediate protection from unfair dismissal* and be entitled to statutory sick pay and parental leave from the first day of employment.
*during the consultation of the ERB in the House of Lords passed an amendment to the ERB to retain the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims but reduce it from 2 years to 6 months rather than removing the qualifying period and unfair dismissal becoming a day one right with a “simplified” dismissal process during the first 9 months of employment. Following discussion in the House of Lords the ERB will go back to the House of Commons for further consultation and approval. It is not yet confirmed whether this will remain a day one right or whether the proposed amend from the House of Lords will be accepted.
Harassment: In October 2024 a duty was imposed on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The ERB strengthens this duty and requires employers to take ALL reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. Employers will also be liable for harassment by third parties if they have not taken steps to prevent it.
Zero-Hours Contracts: to reduce the use of exploitive zero-hours contracts the ERB will require employers to offer contracts which include guaranteed minimum hours of work and provide compensation for shifts which are cancelled at short notice (protection to be extended to agency workers).
Fire and Rehire: an introduction of the right to claim Automatic Unfair Dismissal where an employee is dismissed for refusing to accept contract changes imposed on them under the fire and re-hire practice. Employers will only be able to rely on fire and re-hire practices in cases of extreme financial hardship or when making non-material changes only.
Collective Consultation in Redundancies: Penalties for failing to collectively consult where you are proposing redundancies of 20 or more employees are set to increase from 90 days to 180 days gross pay per affected employee.
Statutory Sick Pay: to become a day one right and proposal to remove the minimum earnings threshold meaning all eligible employees will be entitled to SSP from day one.
Trade Union Rights: the ERB includes provisions to make the process of recognising a trade union more simple and to enhance the rights for collective bargaining. It also proposes to make accessing a union easier and allowing permission to unions to access employees who they do not currently represent.
Fair Work Agency: the FWA will be established and is intended to oversee and enforce employment rights.
The proposed changes under the ERB are going to bring with it a huge amount of cultural change for organisations. The Government have committed to introducing the amendments on a phased basis to try and assist organisations and give them time to adapt to the new set of legislation. It is vital that employers start to think about the impact these changes will have and where possible start considering practices and policies which can be put in place now so that they ensure they are prepared for the changes.
When will the proposed changes take effect?
The Government’s “roadmap” published on 1 July 2025 outlines when the proposed changes are expected to take effect. This is subject to change, and delays are likely given the scale of the reforms.
The PDF below summarises some of the key changes.
Employment-Rights-Bill-2025-Roadmap-August-2025
If you have any queries please contact your usual legal advisor, or for further information contact our Employment Team.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
This page may contain links that direct you to third party websites. We have no control over and are not responsible for the content, use by you or availability of those third party websites, for any products or services you buy through those sites or for the treatment of any personal information you provide to the third party.
