19 Feb Where Are We With The Employment Rights Bill and The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill?
Various feedback and consultation processes are underway, but here’s a summary of the key areas of change, many of which won’t be with us until 2026 onwards…but it’s worth keeping an eye on these and we’ll update each month.
In the meantime, in quick summary – the key points:
So, what will happen in employment law this year?
Here’s a table with a summary of what we think may well change this year:
| What’s new? | When is it happening? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Employment Rights Bill | Autumn 2026 (at the earliest) |
Day One right to claim unfair dismissal and other Day One rights: Now made clear this won’t come in before Autumn 2026, and it is likely the right won’t apply until a probationary period is implemented. How that will work is yet to be seen. We’ll update as and when we have more concrete details. The Bill also adds:
|
| Harassment | TBC |
The Bill offers changes in this area of law, in particular:
|
| Restricting ‘Fire and Re-Hire’ | TBC |
Automatically unfair to dismiss for:
|
| Restricting use of zero-hours contracts | TBC |
Where such workers are on low but guaranteed hours and regularly work beyond that, employers will be required to:
|
| Change to the Flexible Working regime | TBC | The present regime permits refusal on specific grounds. The Bill will restrict refusal of a request to circumstances where employers have a ‘reasonable basis’ for refusal and have set that out. |
| Equality (Race and Disability) Bill | TBC |
Pay Gap Reporting: For employers with 250 or more employees, Pay Gap reporting will be extended to:
Equal Pay: Equal Pay rights will be extended to:
Note: Employers will also be restricted from using outsourcing to avoid Equal Pay protections. |
| Single worker status | Highly unlikely to be implemented soon | In consultation. Given the complexity, this is unlikely to be implemented for some time. Watch this space! |
