On 1 July 2025, the Government published a roadmap to ‘Implementing the Employment Rights Bill’ (‘ERB’), which sets out the proposed initial timings for the policy measures contained in the ERB.
It is now more likely that the ERB will not pass into law until the Autumn, as timing is very tight for the remaining steps to be completed before Parliament adjourns for its Summer recess. However, this roadmap gives some much needed clarity on when changes are to be expected once the ERB passes. Indeed, the lack of certainty over timings was a key criticism of the ERB during debates in the House of Lords.
Employers will be pleased to see that some of the more complex reforms, including making the right not to be unfairly dismissed available from day 1 of employment, will be implemented during 2027, giving employers time to prepare.
We will be updating our Reform Hub to reflect these timings.
A phased approach
The roadmap indicates that policy measures in the ERB will take effect in phases. Employers will likely welcome some of the clarity on timings here, and there will be some time prior to some of the more complex reforms (such as to unfair dismissal and zero hours contracts) coming into effect – which are now set to be during 2027. Stakeholder concerns about having adequate time to prepare for the number of reforms being introduced is acknowledged, and the Government has committed to:
- Consult with stakeholders to make sure implementation works for employers, workers, trade unions and other stakeholders. It has also set out a roadmap for these consultations (see ‘Consultation plan’ below).
- Produce guidance (including any required Codes of Practice) to support all stakeholders and make sure people have time to familiarise themselves with such guidance.
- Make sure Acas and other delivery partners have time to prepare.
- Give time for stakeholders (including employers) to prepare, which goes beyond just becoming familiar with the legal changes and, for some employers, might include more complex preparation such as amending existing systems, including IT and payroll.
- Ensure that the enforcement landscape has the capacity to uphold the new laws, including Acas, employment tribunals, and the new Fair Work Agency.
The roadmap sets out the reforms in the ERB only. Details of when other reforms anticipated as part of the Government’s Plan to Make Work Pay, such as the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill and reviews of employment and worker status, will come into effect will be published in the future.
Roadmap for when measures will take effect
The roadmap set out is described as the Government’s ‘initial view’ of when key policy areas will take effect – so this may be subject to change depending on policy development and consultation outcomes. It also states that common commencement dates (6 April and 1 October) will be used to commence the majority of regulations under the ERB.
We’ve included below the full roadmap, highlighting in bold the key reforms employers should be aware of and including a brief explanation where needed to explain the change.
We note that it is uncertain if the Government has deliberately ordered the reforms expected in 2027 to give us an indication of timing for implementation during that year. For example, might day 1 unfair dismissal and reforms to zero hour contracts being listed at the very end of the roadmap for 2027 indicate those reforms are expected to come into effect on 1 October 2027? That is just speculation, but those are among the more complex changes in the ERB so building in plenty of time to allow employers to prepare would be a sensible approach.
| Timing | Reforms |
| When the Employment Rights Bill passes or soon afterwards | – Repeal of Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 – Repeal of the great majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 (some provisions will be repealed via commencement order at a later date) – Removing the 10 year ballot requirement for trade union political funds – Simplifying industrial action notices and industrial action ballot notices – Protections against dismissal for taking industrial action (to strengthen such protections) |
| April 2026 | – Collective redundancy protective award doubling the maximum period of the protective award (from 90 to 180 days’ gross pay) – ‘Day 1’ Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave (these leave rights become available from day 1 of employment, rights to pay during leave remain unchanged) – Whistleblowing protections (so that disclosures about sexual harassment will count as “protected disclosures”) – Fair Work Agency body established (creating the new single enforcement body) – Statutory Sick Pay – remove the Lower Earnings Limit and waiting period – Simplifying trade union recognition process – Electronic and workplace balloting |
| October 2026 | – Fire and rehire (significantly reducing the scope for making changes to contracts through fire and rehire or fire and replace) – Bringing forward regulations to establish the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body – Procurement – two-tier code (reintroducing rules around outsourcing in the public sector) – Tightening tipping law – Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union – Strengthen trade unions’ right of access (to give independent unions broad rights of physical and digital access to workplaces) – Requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees (the current law requires that “reasonable steps” are taken) – Introducing an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties – New rights and protections for trade union reps – Employment tribunal time limits (increasing time limits from 3 to 6 months) – Extending protections against detriment for taking industrial action |
| In 2027 | – Gender pay gap and menopause action plans (seemingly becoming mandatory, with the suggestion that these will be introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026) – Rights for pregnant workers (which will enhance protections from dismissal during the statutory protected period) – Introducing a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable”, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment – Blacklisting – Industrial relations framework – Regulation of umbrella companies – Collective redundancy – collective consultation threshold (adding a new additional test for when the requirement to collectively consult is triggered – with details to be set by regulations) – Flexible working (making changes to the current rules regarding the right to request flexible working) – Bereavement leave (introducing a new day 1 right to take unpaid leave) – Ending the exploitative use of zero hours contracts and applying those measures to agency workers (this does not ban zero hours contracts but will place new obligations on employers, including the requirement to make a ‘guaranteed hours offer’ in certain circumstances) – ‘Day 1’ right – protection from unfair dismissal (making unfair dismissal available from day 1 of employment for all) |
The roadmap also indicates that implementation of the gender pay gap outsourcing measures will be dependent on the broader changes anticipated as part of the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill – so these are likely to come later.
While not included in the roadmap, on 1 July 2025 the Government also announced an 18-month review into the parental leave system, looking at all types of parental leave. Any changes to the parental leave system flowing from that review are unlikely to come into force until 2028 at the earliest.
Consultation plan
The roadmap also sets out the plan for the consultations over the next few months, which we will be keeping an eye on. This includes:
| Timing | Consultation subject |
| Summer/Autumn 2025 | – Reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) – Fair Pay Agreement for the Adult Social Care sector – Giving employees protection from unfair dismissal from ‘day 1’, including on the dismissal process in the statutory probation period |
| Autumn 2025 | – A package of trade union measures including electronic balloting and workplace balloting; simplifying trade union recognition processes; duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union; and, right of access. – New rights and protections for trade union representatives will be covered by an Acas Code of Practice consultation. – Fire and rehire – Regulation of umbrella companies – Bereavement leave – Rights for pregnant workers – Ending the exploitative use of Zero Hours Contracts |
| Winter 2025/early 2026 | – A package of trade union measures including protection against detriments for taking industrial action and, blacklisting – Tightening tipping law – Collective redundancy – Flexible working |
