Employment Rights Bill – How Employers Will be Affected

The Employment Rights Bill is currently proceeding through Parliament brought in by the Labour Government. In this blog the implications for employers and employees are explained. It was introduced in October 2024 after the Labour Government came to power and seeks to secure job security, working conditions and pay as well modernise employment legislation. The majority of today’s employment law was implemented in the mid 1990s. The Employment Rights Bill is part of the Plan to Make Work Pay and will come into force in August 2026 with substantial consultation in the meantime. The aim as listed on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-rights-bill-factsheets is to address one sided flexibility, support family friendly rights, prioritise fairness, equality and wellbeing of workers, ensure workers get fair pay, modernise the union laws and improve enforcement of employment rights.

The provisions of the Employment Rights Bill are as follows:

Right to unfair dismissal from day one of employment removing the requirement for two years continuous service before being able to make a claim.

Statutory sick pay from day one of sickness and the lower earnings threshold removed. Currently employees begin to receive SSP on day four of sickness with the first three days referred to as “waiting days” where nothing is paid.

Paternity and parental leave rights from day one of employment. Eligibility currently for paternity leave is 26 weeks continuous employment in the qualifying week. With parental leave employees must have worked continuously for a company for a year.

Bereavement leave will be extended to a wider range of relatives and must be taken within 56 days of the death. Currently there is no legal entitlement to bereavement leave.

The prohibition of zero hours contracts

Enhanced protection for pregnant and new mothers from dismissal and for six months on returning to work. This includes redundancy.

The right for employees to join a union and greater access for trade unions in the workplace

Between now and 2026 employers will have to keep an eye on how the Employment Bill progresses. As implementation looms employers will have to review their policies, procedures and employment contracts to ensure they comply with the new law.