The Employment Rights Act 2025 is moving from statute book to shop floor, with a significant group of measures taking effect in October 2026 and a major change to unfair dismissal rules following in January 2027. This article sets out what the government’s own timeline says, and what it means for how UK companies hire, manage and let people go.
Why does October 2026 matter for UK companies?
The government describes the reforms as being delivered in phases so that employers have time to plan. April 2026 saw the first group, including the removal of the waiting period and lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay, day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, a doubling of the protective award for collective redundancy failures, and simplified trade union recognition.
October is the second stage and the first that touches day-to-day management behaviour rather than payroll settings. According to the government’s timeline update, it brings a longer tribunal time limit, new harassment duties and enhanced trade union access and recognition rights. The government has said the wider programme affects around 15 million workers, roughly half of the UK workforce.
For boards, the point is less any single rule than the cumulative direction. As we noted in our look at why UK boardrooms are talking about resilience, risk management has moved up the agenda. Employment compliance is now part of that conversation.
What changes in October 2026?
According to the government’s timeline update, the October 2026 phase includes:
- Employment tribunal time limit: the window for bringing a claim extends from three months to six months.
- Harassment: employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, and must not permit harassment of employees by third parties such as customers or clients.
- Trade unions: enhanced access and recognition rights, and wider protection against detriment for industrial action.
- Social care: regulations establishing the negotiating body for fair pay agreements in adult social care.
The August 2026 government Employer Bulletin adds that independent trade unions gain a right of access to workplaces, physically or digitally, backed by a statutory code of practice, and that organisations with fewer than 21 employees are exempt from the access provisions.
Sources differ on the precise timing of some other items, such as the rules on fire and rehire and on tipping consultation, so employers should check the current government timeline rather than rely on older roadmaps.
How does the longer tribunal window change the risk?
A claim that once had to be lodged within three months can now be brought within six. That does not make claims more likely to succeed. It does lengthen the period during which a decision, a dismissal or a grievance outcome can be challenged, and it means documentation needs to be kept for longer.
Illustrative arithmetic, ignoring early conciliation extensions: a dismissal on 15 December 2026 would previously have been open to a claim until about 15 March 2027. Under a six-month limit, the window runs to about 15 June 2027. That is three extra months in which an employer might receive a claim, and in which the relevant managers, emails and notes need to be retrievable.
What does the harassment duty require in practice?
The legal test is “all reasonable steps”. That is a standard, not a checklist, and what is reasonable will vary with the size and nature of the business. A ten-person consultancy and a hospitality group with thousands of customer-facing staff will not be expected to do the same things.
The duty also extends to third parties. Staff in hospitality, retail, healthcare and client-facing professional services may encounter harassment from people who are not employees, and the employer is now expected to take reasonable steps in respect of that risk too.
Practical areas that firms typically review include:
- Whether policies are current and written in plain language.
- How concerns can be raised, and whether people trust the route.
- Training for managers, who are usually the first to hear a concern.
- How incidents involving customers or clients are recorded and acted on.
The government has indicated that further harassment guidance on specified reasonable steps follows later, so this is an area where expectations will sharpen.
What is the bigger change in January 2027?
For many employers, the single most consequential item is the unfair dismissal reform. According to the August 2026 Employer Bulletin, the qualifying period for the right not to be unfairly dismissed falls from two years to six months from January 2027. The government’s timeline update also lists uncapped compensatory awards for unfair dismissal in the same phase, and the commencement regulations bring the remaining unfair dismissal provisions into force on 1 January 2027.
The transition rule matters. The regulations say the amendments apply where the effective date of termination falls on or after 1 January 2027, so what counts is when employment ends, not when it began.
A worked example
Take an employee who starts on 1 August 2026. Under the old two-year rule they would have qualified for unfair dismissal protection on 1 August 2028. Under a six-month qualifying period, they reach it on 1 February 2027, about 18 months sooner. Someone hired on 1 November 2026 would reach six months on 1 May 2027.
| Start date | Old qualifying date (2 years) | New qualifying date (6 months) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 August 2026 | 1 August 2028 | 1 February 2027 |
| 1 November 2026 | 1 November 2028 | 1 May 2027 |
This is illustrative arithmetic; individual cases can turn on how service is calculated.
Will probation periods still work?
Probation remains a legitimate way to assess a new hire, but it stops being a legal buffer. Under a two-year rule, many employers treated the first months as low-risk. With a six-month qualifying period, a probation period of three or six months runs almost entirely inside the window, and a poorly handled exit near the end can be tested at tribunal once the employee qualifies.
The Employer Bulletin points employers towards Acas guidance on probation periods. The common themes in such guidance are clear objectives, regular reviews and written feedback, none of which are new but all of which carry more weight once the qualifying period shortens.
What is still to come after 2027 begins?
The government’s timeline places further measures later in 2027, including mandatory action plans on gender equality and menopause support, enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers, extended blacklisting protections, flexible working changes and bereavement leave including pregnancy loss. The right to guaranteed hours, with reasonable notice and short-notice payments, is also listed for 2027.
Treating these as a single programme, rather than a series of separate compliance events, is probably the more efficient approach. Many of them depend on the same foundations: good records, trained managers and clear policies.
What does this mean for hiring, pay and cost?
Our reading, which is analysis rather than reported fact, is that the Act pushes employment risk toward the front of hiring decisions. When dismissal is easier to challenge, the cost of a bad hire rises and the value of careful selection rises with it.
That connects to wider workforce shifts. Firms already adjusting reward structures, as covered in our piece on how higher earners are rethinking pay structure, may find that terms, notice and probation clauses get the same attention. Smaller companies, particularly those described in our look at founders operating in a tougher funding market, have the least slack to absorb a tribunal process, even a successful defence of one.
Technology adds another layer. Automated screening and performance tools sit inside employment decisions more often than they used to, a theme in what AI is changing inside UK companies. A decision that a manager cannot explain is harder to defend if challenged.
Conclusion: compliance as a management habit
The October 2026 measures are modest individually and substantial together. A longer tribunal window, a harassment duty framed around reasonable steps and stronger trade union access all reward employers who already keep good records and handle concerns early. January 2027 then raises the stakes on every hire made from now on.
Firms that treat this as a management habit, rather than a one-off project, will be better placed as the 2027 measures arrive.
This article is general information, not personalised legal or financial advice. Rules, dates and rates change, so check current government guidance.
Sources: GOV.UK; Legislation.gov.uk
