Employment Rights Bill: Key Announcement

HR Consultancy

December 1, 2025

The UK Government has now set out its roadmap for the Employment Rights Bill as part of the wider “Make Work Pay” plan. The reforms are expected to roll out from April 2026 and continue in stages through to 2027, bringing some of the biggest changes to employment law in years. These changes mainly affect HR, senior leaders and line managers across all sectors. Understanding the roadmap early means you can plan your policy updates, training and communication in good time. 

What has the Government announced?

The Employment Rights Bill was first introduced to Parliament in October 2024 as phase one of the Plan to Make Work Pay, aiming to boost job security, raise living standards and modernise employment protections. 

In July earlier this year, the Government published a roadmap setting out how the reforms are expected to be implemented between 2026 and 2027. According to GOV.UK the announcement highlights the following:

• Day one rights to sick pay for lower earners and day one rights to parental and paternity leave
• A staged approach to reforms on unfair dismissal, predictable hours and zero hour contracts 
• Stronger protections around equality, voice at work and enforcement

ACAS has also published a clear summary of the Bill, explaining that protection from unfair dismissal is now expected to become a right after six months’ service rather than day one, with implementation likely in 2027. 

For ongoing monitoring, you may find it useful to keep an eye on the following:

1. GOV.UK factsheets on the Employment Rights Bill
2. The House of Lords Library briefing on the Bill
3. CIPD’s overview “Tracking law changes: Employment Rights Bill and Make Work Pay”

Key Employment Law Changes

1. Unfair dismissal and probation

Under the current law, most employees need two years’ service before they can claim ordinary unfair dismissal. According to GOV.UK and ACAS summaries, the Employment Rights Bill will reduce this qualifying period to six months, following a Government compromise that moved away from an earlier “day one” proposal.

This is expected to take effect around 2027 and, according to parliamentary briefings, will be accompanied by a statutory framework for probationary periods, setting clearer expectations for how dismissals during probation should be handled.

For HR, this means:

• More people will gain unfair dismissal protection much earlier in their employment
• Probation processes, performance management and documentation will come under greater scrutiny
• You will need clear, fair procedures in place that line managers understand and follow

2. Day-one rights to sick pay and family leave

The roadmap confirms that day-one rights to statutory sick pay for many lower earners, and day-one parental and paternity leave, are planned from early 2026, according to GOV.UK.

This will require updates to:

• Contracts, handbooks and family leave policies
• HR guidance notes and line manager training
• Payroll and HR systems to ensure eligibility rules and processes are correctly applied

3. Zero-hours contracts and predictable work

The Bill aims to clamp down on “one-sided flexibility” by strengthening rights for workers on zero-hours and very low-hours contracts. According to GOV.UK, CIPD and legal commentators, current proposals include:

• A new right for workers with regular patterns over a set period to request guaranteed hours that reflect their actual working pattern
• Requirements to provide reasonable notice of shifts, with compensation for late cancellations
• Replacement of the unimplemented Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 with a more robust framework for predictable work

These changes are expected to be phased in from 2027, according to the published roadmap.

4. Flexible working, consultation and voice at work

The Make Work Pay programme and supporting commentary around the Employment Rights Bill point to:

• Further emphasis on flexible working and fair handling of requests
• Stronger protection for trade union activity and rights of access
• Tighter expectations around practices such as fire and rehire
• New or enhanced duties to prevent sexual harassment at work

According to CIPD and House of Lords Library analysis, many of these measures will build on recent changes to flexible working and existing equality legislation, rather than starting from scratch.

For many organisations, this will mean refreshing consultation processes, reviewing how organisational change is handled, and making sure people managers are confident navigating these conversations.

HR Responsibilities

Taken together, the Employment Rights Bill roadmap will reshape key parts of the employment relationship. From a practical HR perspective, this is a good opportunity to step back and review how you attract, manage and support people – and to put clear, confident processes in place.

Areas to focus on include:

Contracts and handbooks
Reviewing probation clauses, notice periods and dismissal provisions in light of the proposed six-month unfair dismissal qualifying period, building in day-one rights to sick pay, parental and paternity leave once timelines are confirmed, and clarifying how zero-hours and low-hours contracts are used.

HR policies and procedures
Refreshing dismissal, capability, disciplinary and redundancy procedures, as well as flexible working, family leave, absence management, wellbeing, anti-harassment, anti-bullying and complaints handling, so they are consistent, clear and joined up.

Line manager capability
Making sure managers feel confident running structured probation reviews, performance conversations and dismissal processes, handling flexible working and predictable hours requests fairly, and managing sensitive situations around pregnancy, caring responsibilities and health conditions.

Culture and “good work”
Using these changes as a catalyst to strengthen trust, fairness and transparency, and checking that your approach to good work, wellbeing and equality is reflected in everyday HR decisions – not just in policy documents.

How Critical Path can support you

We are already working with clients to turn these proposals into a structured plan of action. Our HR consultancy support can include:

Contract and handbook reviews – auditing existing documentation and drafting updated contracts and handbooks that are both compliant and practical.

Policy refresh and development – updating or creating policies on dismissal, probation, flexible working, zero-hours arrangements, family leave, absence, wellbeing and conduct.

Ongoing HR advisory support – acting as a sounding board as new guidance emerges, and helping you balance legal compliance with employee experience and operational needs.

Roadmap and planning – working with HR and leadership teams to create a clear, phased Employment Rights Bill implementation plan you can track and review.

The next two years will bring real change for employers, but with the right preparation the transition can be smooth. If you would like to explore how these employment law changes could affect your organisation, we would be happy to talk things through in more detail. You can get in touch with our team or send us an enquiry to discuss the support that would work best for you.