The Employment Rights Act 2025: What Changes This October and How to Prepare

The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, and with it began the most significant reshaping of workplace law in a generation. Parliament sensibly declined to bring the whole Act into force at once. Instead, its provisions are arriving in carefully staged phases, and the next phase lands this October. Employers have two months to prepare, and they would be wise to use them well. Employees, for their part, should know that some very familiar rules, including the time limit for bringing a tribunal claim, are about to change in their favour.

What has already changed

The first substantial tranche took effect on 6 April 2026. Statutory sick pay became payable from the first day of absence, and the lower earnings limit was removed, so that workers on modest wages no longer fall outside the scheme altogether. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became rights from the first day of employment. The maximum protective award for a failure to consult on collective redundancies doubled from 90 to 180 days' gross pay per affected employee, a figure that should concentrate minds in any restructuring exercise. Reporting sexual harassment now qualifies as a protected disclosure for whistleblowing purposes. The Fair Work Agency, a single enforcement body for employment rights, opened its doors on 7 April 2026.

Nor has the pace slackened since. This very month, August 2026, sees electronic and workplace balloting introduced for statutory trade union ballots. The machinery of the Act is moving, and October brings the changes most likely to touch everyday employment relationships.

From 1 October 2026: six months to bring a claim

The change with the widest reach is procedural. From 1 October 2026, the standard time limit for most employment tribunal claims, including unfair dismissal, discrimination and, in England and Wales, breach of contract, doubles from three months to six.

The new limit applies where the act or omission complained of takes place on or after 1 October 2026. Where a claim concerns a series of acts, the six month period applies if the last act in the series falls on or after that date. Anything arising wholly before then remains subject to the familiar three month rule. It is also worth remembering that Acas early conciliation, the mandatory first step before most claims, was extended some time ago: for notifications made on or after 1 December 2025, the conciliation window is twelve weeks rather than six.

For employers, the practical consequence is a considerably longer period of exposure after any dismissal, disciplinary process or grievance. Decisions taken this autumn may be examined by a tribunal well into next year. Contemporaneous notes, fair procedures and properly documented reasons have never mattered more.

From 30 October 2026: harassment and trade union duties

At the end of the month, the Act turns to conduct and culture. The employer's duty to prevent sexual harassment is strengthened from taking reasonable steps to taking all reasonable steps, a deliberately demanding standard, and the government takes power to specify in regulations what those steps should include. Employers also become liable for harassment of their staff by third parties, such as customers, clients and suppliers, and that protection extends to all forms of harassment, not only sexual harassment. Any business with public facing staff, whether in hospitality, retail, care or professional services, should be reviewing its risk assessments, training and complaint routes now.

The same date brings new collective rights. Workers must be informed of their right to join a trade union, unions gain a right to request access to workplaces for meeting and recruiting members, and protections against detriment for taking industrial action are extended. Hospitality businesses should also note that strengthened tipping obligations, including a duty to consult staff on how tips are allocated, are expected to follow by December 2026.

Looking ahead to January 2027

October is not the end of the story. From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months, and the statutory cap on the compensatory award is removed altogether. The practice commonly called fire and rehire, dismissing employees in order to re-engage them on inferior terms, becomes automatically unfair save in cases of genuine and severe financial distress. Recruitment, probation and dismissal practices designed around the old two year rule will need rethinking well before the new year arrives.

What employers should do now

Preparation need not be daunting if it is methodical. Review your handbook, your equal opportunities and anti harassment policies, and your disciplinary and grievance procedures against the new standards. Carry out and record a harassment risk assessment, train your managers, and look carefully at contracts with third parties whose conduct could now engage your liability. Tighten record keeping in readiness for the longer claim window, and plan any restructuring with the doubled protective award and the January dismissal reforms firmly in mind.

What this means for employees

If you believe you have been treated unlawfully at work, the reforms give you greater protection and, from October, more time to act. Do not let that extra time lull you into delay. Acts occurring before 1 October 2026 remain subject to the three month limit, and early advice almost always improves your position, whatever the deadline.

A period of adjustment

The Act represents the most substantial recalibration of the employment relationship in many years, and it is being introduced deliberately, in stages, so that both sides have time to adjust. The measures arriving in October matter in their own right, but they also indicate the direction of travel. Those who treat the coming months as a period of preparation, rather than a deadline to be met, will find the transition a good deal more comfortable.

About the author: Dr Aamir Nawaz, LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD, Solicitor, Barrister (np) and Notary Public.