last updated 14.07.2025

According to the Government’s implementation roadmap, the measures in the Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) will be implemented on a phased basis, broadly as follows:

  • A limited number of measures will take effect two months after the Bill receives Royal Assent (i.e. becomes law). We expect this to happen sometime in the Autumn 2025. These include the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016, the repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act 2023, and extended protections against dismissal for those taking industrial action.
  • Some changes to employment law will come into force from April 2026 including reforms to statutory sick pay, changes to the rules around the trade union statutory recognition process, and changes to make paternity leave and unpaid parental leave day one rights.
  • Further measures are expected to come into force from October 2026, such as changes to the rules around fire and rehire, strengthening of trade union rights of access, an increase to the employer’s duty to prevent sexual harassment and extension of employment tribunal time limits.
  • The introduction of other measures including gender equality action plans, changes to the rules on zero hours contracts and a day one right to claim unfair dismissal will come into effect in 2027 (April seems likely but has not been confirmed).

For a more detailed look at the proposed implementation dates, see pages 9 and 10 of the implementation roadmap. To read our earlier e-alert, see here.

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for further guidance. If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support on this topic. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.

In the recently published Statement of Changes, the UK government has announced a number of changes to the UK Immigration Rules, which will apply from 22 July 2025. These include:

  • raising the skills threshold for Skilled Worker visas to occupations at degree level (RQF Level 6) – it is likely that a number of manufacturing sector roles will no longer meet the higher level (for example welding trades or skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades supervisors); and
  • only allowing time-limited access to roles below degree level through a targeted Immigration Salary List and Temporary Shortage List, for critical roles only and with strict requirements for sectors.

Please join us on 22 July 2025 at our immigration webinar delivered in conjunction with Fragomen which will look at an employer’s obligations in relation to right to work checks as well as these recent immigration rules changes. Click here for further details and to book a place. 

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for guidance on immigration issues. If you are not a Make UK subscriber, our expert HR and legal advisors can offer guidance on a consultancy basis. For further information, click here. 

No, there is no statutory right for an employee to be accompanied at an investigatory meeting. Accordingly, unless your own disciplinary policy gives the employee the right to be accompanied to such a meeting, it is up to you to decide whether to allow an employee to be accompanied at an investigatory interview. There may be occasions, however, where it is appropriate to allow an employee to be accompanied, for example if they are particularly vulnerable due to age or a disability.

Remember that it is important not to take any disciplinary action following an investigatory interview without holding a proper disciplinary hearing – and the employee will have the statutory right to be accompanied to that meeting by a work colleague or trade union representative. 

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for further guidance on conducting investigations and disciplinary meetings and/or access information in the HR & Legal Resources section of our website.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us  for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.

The Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) will introduce significant changes to the rules relating to statutory collective consultation. These changes are likely to take effect in stages over 2026 and 2027.

The current law provides that if you are proposing 20 or more dismissals by reason of ‘redundancy’ at one establishment within a rolling 90-day period, you must consult about the proposals with appropriate representatives of the affected employees. In broad terms, ‘establishment’ means workplace or site.

‘Dismissals for redundancy’ for collective consultation purposes has a much wider meaning than the definition traditionally used for redundancy and also includes dismissals as part of a dismissal and re-engagement process to change employment terms. (Note, however, that the Bill will significantly restrict the use of dismissal and re-engagement to change terms.) Consultation must begin ‘in good time’ and at least 30 days before the first dismissal is proposed to take effect in the case of 20+ redundancies, or at least 45 days before the first dismissal is proposed to take effect in the case of 100+ redundancies.

The Bill will change the threshold at which statutory collective consultation is triggered, so that collective redundancy consultation will be required where either:

  • the employer proposes 20 or more redundancies at one establishment (which is the current threshold); or
  • the employer proposes a new threshold number of redundancies across the employer’s organisation as a whole, regardless of where they occur. The threshold number will be defined in regulations. It may be between 20 and 100 or involve a percentage test. 

The proposed change to the law means that statutory collective consultation in future may be triggered by small numbers of unconnected redundancies across different sites and workplaces, if they occur within a rolling 90-day period. The longer consultation period, which applies when 100+ redundancies are proposed within a rolling 90-day period, could also be triggered more often when redundancies across different sites and workplaces are taken into account.

The trigger for submitting an HR1 form – which currently also applies where you are proposing 20 or more dismissals by reason of ‘redundancy’ at one establishment within a rolling 90-day period – will be amended in a similar way.

In recognition of the fact redundancies may be unconnected, employers will not need to consult all employee representatives together or need to try to reach the same agreement with all of the representatives.

The maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult on redundancies will increase, from 90 to 180 days’ pay, significantly increasing the cost of any failure to comply with the rules. 

In addition, the Government has indicated that it will consult at the end of this year or beginning of next year on whether to double the minimum consultation period when an employer is proposing to dismiss 100 or more employees from 45 to 90 days.

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for further guidance on collective redundancies and/or access information in the HR & Legal Resources section of our website. To read about the Government’s implementation roadmap, see here.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.

Supporting change with confidence

Redundancies are challenging but, with the right support, they don’t have to be overwhelming. Launching August 2025, our two-level redundancy support package offers structured, compliant guidance tailored to your organisation’s needs. Stay tuned for full details.

Yes - although you cannot refuse an employee’s request for a period of carer’s leave outright, you can postpone that period of carer's leave for up to one month if you reasonably consider that the operation of your business would be unduly disrupted if you allowed the leave on the requested date(s).

The Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 set out the rules relating to postponement. Note that you must allow the employee to take a period of carer's leave of the same duration as they had requested, and you must consult with the employee as to the revised dates they can take that leave. Following such consultation, you must give the employee a written notice setting out your reason for postponing the leave and the agreed dates on which the employee can take their leave. (You must give this notice to the employee within seven days of their initial request to take carer’s leave or, if sooner, before the first day of leave the employee had requested.)

If you are a Make UK subscriber, you can speak to your regular adviser for further guidance on carer’s leave and/or access information in the HR & Legal Resources section of our website.

If you are not a Make UK subscriber, you can contact us  for further support on this topic or to access our resources. Please click here for information on how we can help your business.