The Employment Rights Act 2025 Timeline: Every Measure, the Date It Takes Effect and What HR Must Do

Key Takeaways

• Only part of the Employment Rights Act 2025 is in force, so check a measure's status before you change a policy. The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. Six sets of commencement regulations have been made since, the latest (SI 2026/1065) on 1 October 2026. Everything below was checked on legislation.gov.uk on 14 October 2026 and sorted into three groups: in force, confirmed but not yet live, and announced with no commencement regulations.
• Since 1 October 2026, most employment tribunal claims can be brought within six months instead of three. Section 152 and Schedule 12, commenced by SI 2026/954, apply where the act, failure or dismissal happened on or after 1 October 2026. Breach of contract claims in England and Wales moved on the same date for terminations from 1 October 2026; the government says Scotland follows on 9 November 2026.
• From 30 October 2026, you must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by customers and clients. SI 2026/1065 commences sections 20 to 22 on that date with no transitional rule, so the duty applies to conduct from 30 October onwards. No regulations defining "reasonable steps" have been made yet.
• Unfair dismissal protection starts at six months' service, with no cap on the compensatory award, for any dismissal whose effective date of termination falls on or after 1 January 2027. SI 2026/559 confirms the date. A dismissal in December 2026 with notice running into January 2027 is caught, and employees who joined before July 2026 will already qualify on 1 January.
• Fire and rehire is announced for January 2027 but has no commencement date in law yet. Section 28 is in force only for making regulations. Until a commencement SI appears, a dismissal for refusing a contract change is judged under the existing unfair dismissal rules.
• The April 2026 pay and leave changes are already law and belong in payroll and policy now. Statutory Sick Pay has been payable from the first qualifying day with no lower earnings limit since 6 April 2026 (SI 2026/373), and paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are day-one rights. Paternity pay is not: it still needs 26 weeks' service and average earnings of at least £129 a week. The maximum collective redundancy protective award also doubled, to 180 days' pay per employee, for dismissals taking effect from 6 April 2026 (SI 2026/323).
• Holiday records must be kept for six years, and the Fair Work Agency can now ask to see them. Section 35 added regulation 16B to the Working Time Regulations 1998 from 6 April 2026, and failing to keep the records is a criminal offence. The Fair Work Agency took on enforcement on 7 April 2026.
• Most of the 2027 measures still have no commencement regulations. Guaranteed hours, flexible working changes, bereavement leave, new pregnancy dismissal protection, mandatory equality action plans for employers with 250 or more staff, umbrella company regulation and the non-disclosure agreement rules are all planned for 2027 with no date set in law.
• Sponsor licence holders have a second reason to track every date. Paragraph C1.53 of the sponsor guidance makes compliance with UK employment law, and making sure workers are aware of their employment rights, part of your sponsor duties, so a missed change is also a licence risk.
• WPC HR keeps the records each of these dates depends on. Our HR compliance software holds absence, leave, holiday, probation and dismissal records in one audit-ready place, and our sponsor licence compliance audit checks whether your policies and files have caught up with the Act.

Introduction

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the largest change to UK employment law in a generation, and it is arriving in pieces. Some of it became law the day it received Royal Assent. Some arrived two months later automatically. The rest only takes effect when the government makes commencement regulations, and those have so far come in six separate statutory instruments, each with its own transitional rules.

That is why most timelines in circulation are already out of date. A date in a government roadmap is a plan. A date in a commencement SI is law. The two are not the same, and on at least one measure (fire and rehire) the difference matters right now.

This page settles where every measure stands as of 14 October 2026. Each one sits in one of three groups. Group 1 is in force, with the date and the instrument that commenced it. Group 2 has been commenced by regulations or confirmed in an SI but is not live yet. Group 3 has been announced or planned, but no commencement regulations exist. For each measure we set out what your HR team must do and what records you should keep.

This is the hub for our Employment Rights Act guides. The strengthened sexual harassment duty already has its own post, and dedicated guides to the six-month tribunal time limit, unfair dismissal at six months and the adult social care Fair Pay Agreement are in production. We review this page every quarter and whenever a new commencement SI is made.

How the Act Comes Into Force

Section 159 of the Act sets three routes. A short list of provisions came into force on Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, including the repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. A second list, mostly trade union and industrial action changes, came into force automatically two months later, on 18 February 2026. Everything else needs commencement regulations made by the Secretary of State, and those regulations can switch on a section for one purpose and not another.

That last point catches people out. Several sections, including fire and rehire and the new pregnancy dismissal protection, are technically "in force" today, but only so that ministers can make regulations or consult. The rights themselves do not exist yet. Throughout this guide we treat a measure as in force only when the right or duty itself applies to employers.

These are the instruments that have commenced the Act so far.

Two of the official titles carry the word "(Amendment)" (SI 2026/323 and SI 2026/954) because each also corrects an earlier instrument. They are still commencement regulations. Breach of contract claims in England and Wales were moved to six months by a separate order, SI 2026/759, made under different powers.

The Employment Rights Act Timeline at a Glance

Every measure, in date order. Status: 1 means in force; 2 means commenced or confirmed by regulations but not yet live; 3 means announced or planned with no commencement regulations. "s." refers to a section of the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Two further October 2026 changes affect HR but are not part of this Act. The right to work regime extended to contractors and platform workers on 1 October 2026 under immigration law, covered in our right to work readiness guide. National Minimum Wage rates change each April under separate legislation, and our sister firm WorkPermitCloud has an employer's guide to the 2026 minimum wage.

Group 1: Measures Already in Force

These measures apply now. If your policies, contracts or payroll still reflect the old rules, you are already out of step with the law.

Royal Assent and 18 February 2026: Trade Union Law

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was repealed when the Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. Most of the Trade Union Act 2016 went on 18 February 2026, along with the 10-year requirement for union political fund ballots, simpler industrial action and ballot notices, and wider protection against dismissal for taking industrial action. Electronic and workplace balloting for industrial action and other statutory union ballots followed on 25 August 2026, under Part 2 of SI 2026/881 (made 28 July 2026), as the government's implementation timeline confirms.

For most HR teams the practical task is narrow: make sure whoever receives a ballot or industrial action notice knows the current rules, and log the date it arrived. The same notice can also start a deadline for you.

6 April 2026: Leave, Sick Pay, Redundancy and Holiday Records

The largest single batch of changes took effect on 6 April 2026, spread across three instruments. The table shows what changed and the check your team should already have made.

On sick pay, the changes came in through SI 2026/373, made by the Department for Work and Pensions. Transitional rules covered people already off sick on 5 April 2026, including protection for some employees earning between £125 and £154.05 a week. GOV.UK's Statutory Sick Pay page now gives the rate as the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings.

On family leave, the common mistake is to treat leave and pay as one right. They are not. GOV.UK's paternity eligibility page confirms the leave is available from the first day of employment, but Statutory Paternity Pay still needs 26 weeks' continuous employment by the qualifying week and average earnings of at least £129 a week. A new starter can take the leave unpaid. For paternity leave, children born or placed for adoption before 6 April 2026 stay under the old rules; in birth cases, that exclusion does not apply where the expected week of birth began on or after 5 April 2026.

On collective redundancy, section 30 doubled the maximum protected period under section 189 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 from 90 to 180 days. It applies only to dismissals taking effect on or after 6 April 2026. Getting consultation wrong in a redundancy of 20 or more people at one establishment now costs up to six months' pay per affected employee.

On holiday records, the new regulation 16B of the Working Time Regulations 1998 requires records "adequate to show" that you have complied with annual leave entitlement, holiday pay and payment in lieu on termination. You choose the format, but the records must be kept for six years from the date they were made. That matches the six-year retention period for minimum wage records, which our modern slavery and sponsor licence guide explains in detail.

Two measures commenced on 6 April 2026 only as powers. Section 33 lets ministers require employers with 250 or more employees to publish equality action plans covering the gender pay gap and menopause support, but no regulations have been made; plans are voluntary until they are. Sections 39 to 55 give ministers the power to set up the Social Care Negotiating Body, but the body itself does not exist yet (see Group 3).

7 April 2026: The Fair Work Agency

Most of Part 5 of the Act came into force on 7 April 2026 under regulation 4 of SI 2026/323. It created a single state enforcer, the Fair Work Agency, and section 148 abolished the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. The Agency can require documents, enter premises, issue notices of underpayment with penalties, and seek labour market enforcement undertakings and orders. HMRC officers carry out minimum wage enforcement as the Agency's enforcement officers.

What this means for HR is simple. The body that turns up asking for pay, hours and holiday records now has one set of powers across several regimes, and those records are increasingly kept for six years. If you could not produce a worker's hours, pay and holiday history for one pay reference period quickly, fix that first.

1 October 2026: Six Months to Bring a Tribunal Claim

Section 152 and Schedule 12 came into force on 1 October 2026 under SI 2026/954. The usual three-month limit for unfair dismissal, unlawful deductions, discrimination, working time, minimum wage, TUPE, agency worker and many other claims is now six months. Statutory redundancy pay and equal pay claims already had six months. A separate instrument, SI 2026/758, made the same change from 1 October 2026 for claims under regulations such as the part-time worker and fixed-term employee rules.

The new limit applies only where the act, failure or dismissal happened on or after 1 October 2026. The SI names the relevant date for each type of claim; where none is named, it is the date of the act or failure, or for a series of similar acts, the last act in the series. Anything earlier keeps the three-month limit. Breach of contract claims in England and Wales moved to six months on the same date under SI 2026/759, for contracts terminated on or after 1 October 2026. The government's tribunal time limits page says the Scottish equivalent takes effect on 9 November 2026, but we found no Scottish instrument on legislation.gov.uk on 14 October 2026, so it sits in Group 3.

The practical effect is that a claim can now arrive up to six months after the event, plus any Acas early conciliation extension. Your grievance, disciplinary and dismissal records need to survive at least that long, and staff who handled a case may have left before a claim lands. Our dedicated guide to the six-month time limit will cover retention in detail.

Group 2: Confirmed by Regulations but Not Yet Live

These measures have a commencement SI and a fixed date. They are not law yet, but there is no longer any doubt about when they start.

30 October 2026: All Reasonable Steps and Third-Party Harassment

SI 2026/1065, made on 1 October 2026, brings sections 20, 21 and 22 into force on 30 October 2026. Section 20 strengthens the duty in section 40A of the Equality Act 2010 from "reasonable steps" to "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of employees. Section 21 makes an employer liable for harassment of its employees by third parties, such as customers, clients and patients, if it fails to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. Section 22 gives ministers a power to specify what counts as a reasonable step, but no such regulations have been made.

The regulations contain no transitional provision for these sections, so the strengthened duty applies to conduct from 30 October 2026. The evidence a tribunal will expect, from risk assessments to training records, is set out in our guide to the all reasonable steps sexual harassment duty. Read that before the date; this hub does not repeat it.

30 October 2026: Trade Union Access and Representatives

The same instrument commences the right of trade unions to access workplaces (section 59), the remaining trade union recognition changes (section 60 and Schedule 6), and new facilities for union officials, learning representatives and equality representatives (sections 64 and 65). Transitional rules protect recognition applications already received by the Central Arbitration Committee before 30 October 2026. Decide now who in your organisation receives and answers an access request, and how the answer is recorded.

1 January 2027: Unfair Dismissal at Six Months, With No Cap

SI 2026/559 commences section 25 and Schedule 3 on 1 January 2027. The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal in section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 falls from two years to six months. Section 124 is repealed, which removes the statutory cap on the compensatory award. The right to written reasons for dismissal also moves to six months. The basic award is not changed.

The test is the effective date of termination, not the date you decide to dismiss. Regulation 4 says the new rules apply where an employee is dismissed before 1 January 2027 but the effective date of termination falls on or after that date. The worked examples below show how that plays out.

One trap needs care. Where you dismiss without giving the statutory minimum notice, section 97(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 can treat the effective date of termination as later for the purpose of the qualifying period. A summary dismissal in the last days of December 2026 could therefore still fall under the new rule. Take advice on any dismissal planned for that window.

The Bill as first introduced proposed day-one protection with a statutory initial period of employment. That is not what was enacted. The Act sets a six-month qualifying period, and nothing in section 25 creates a statutory probation regime. Probation remains a contractual tool, which means the first six months now need to be documented as if a claim could follow, because after them it can. Our forthcoming unfair dismissal guide will cover probation redesign in full.

Seafarers From 30 October 2026

Section 56 and Schedule 5, on seafarers' wages and working conditions, are also commenced by SI 2026/1065 from 30 October 2026, with the supporting regulations expected in December 2026. This affects maritime employers only.

Group 3: Announced, With No Commencement Regulations Yet

These measures are in the Act or the government's plans, but on 14 October 2026 no regulations commence them. Dates here come from the Department for Business and Trade timeline update, whose timetable was last revised on 25 September 2026 and which itself says all future dates are subject to parliamentary process.

Fire and rehire deserves special mention because most competitor timelines file it under 1 January 2027 alongside unfair dismissal. The government does plan it for January 2027, but section 28 has only been commenced "for specified purposes" so that regulations can be made (see the annotations on section 28). When it does take effect, dismissing someone for refusing a "restricted variation" such as a pay cut or a change to hours will be automatically unfair unless the employer meets a narrow financial difficulties exception. Until a commencement SI is made, do not tell staff it is law, and do not assume it is not coming.

The Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care is the measure with the most direct consequence for sponsors. The government planned the regulations establishing the negotiating body for October 2026, but a title search of legislation.gov.uk on 14 October 2026 returned no such instrument. When an agreement is eventually ratified, a negotiated sector rate could sit above or below the Skilled Worker salary rules, which is why care providers should read it alongside our care sector sponsor licence compliance guide. Our dedicated post will follow once the regulations are made.

What HR Must Do, Date by Date

If you only work through one table on this page, make it this one.

Most of these actions come down to the same thing: records that show what you did, when and why. That is the gap a compliance audit is designed to find before a tribunal or an inspector does.

Why Sponsor Licence Holders Have to Track This Timeline

For a sponsor, the Employment Rights Act is not only an employment law matter. Paragraph C1.53 of Part 3 of the sponsor guidance (version 08/26) says you have a duty to comply with wider UK law, including UK employment law such as the National Minimum Wage and the Working Time Regulations, and to ensure your workers are aware of their employment rights. Each new right on this timeline adds to what a sponsored worker is entitled to, and to what you must make sure they know.

Our guide to modern slavery and your sponsor licence explains how a breach of wider employment law reaches the licence through C1.53. The headline point here is simpler: when you update a policy for one of the dates above, make sure sponsored workers receive and understand it too, and keep evidence that they did. A dismissal of a sponsored worker also triggers your reporting duties, which our sponsor duties checklist sets out, and has consequences for the worker that our sister firm WorkPermitCloud explains in its guide to the 60-day curtailment period.

Record keeping overlaps too. Appendix D sets its own retention rules for sponsor files, explained in our Appendix D guide, and they run alongside the six-year holiday and minimum wage clocks. During a Home Office compliance visit, an officer can ask about both.

Five Misreadings We Keep Seeing

"Unfair dismissal is now a day-one right." It is not. The enacted qualifying period is six months, and it applies to dismissals with an effective date of termination on or after 1 January 2027. Until then, the two-year rule still applies to ordinary unfair dismissal.

"Fire and rehire is banned from January." It is planned for January 2027, but on 14 October 2026 no regulations commence it. Plan for it; do not describe it as law.

"Everyone gets paternity pay from day one." The leave is a day-one right. The statutory pay is not.

"Old grievances now have six months." The six-month limit applies only where the act or failure happened on or after 1 October 2026.

"Large employers must publish a menopause action plan now." The power exists, but the duty needs regulations, planned for 2027. Until then, plans are voluntary.

How We Keep This Timeline Current

Every status on this page was checked against the Act and the commencement regulations on legislation.gov.uk on 14 October 2026. When a new commencement SI is made, a measure moves from Group 3 to Group 2, and on its start date from Group 2 to Group 1. We review the page every quarter and on any new commencement SI, and the Last Updated date only moves when a status or date actually changes.

To check a measure yourself, open the section on legislation.gov.uk and read the commencement annotations at the foot of the page. "Prospective" means not in force. "For specified purposes" usually means only the regulation-making power is live.

How Can WPC HR Help?

WPC HR, the HR-tech arm of WorkPermitCloud Ltd, provides HR compliance software and sponsor licence compliance audits that help UK employers keep the absence, leave, holiday, probation and dismissal records each Employment Rights Act 2025 date now depends on. Our HR compliance software keeps those records per worker, with dates, so you can show a tribunal or the Fair Work Agency what happened and when, for as long as the law now requires.

If you sponsor workers, our sponsor licence compliance audit checks whether your policies, contracts and files have caught up with the Act, and whether sponsored workers have been told about the rights that apply to them. We will tell you which of the dates on this page your files would not currently survive.

Conclusion

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is easiest to manage as three lists. The April and October 2026 changes are law, and your payroll, policies and retention schedule should already reflect them. The 30 October 2026 harassment duty and the 1 January 2027 unfair dismissal changes are fixed in regulations, so the preparation window is now. Everything else, from fire and rehire to guaranteed hours, is announced but not yet law.

The employers who will cope best are not the ones who memorise dates. They are the ones whose records can answer, for any worker, what was agreed, what was paid, what leave was taken and why a decision was made. We will keep this page current as each new commencement SI is made.

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