With the new government, comes the pledge of many changes to employee rights relating to their employment. The Employment Rights Bill covers a range of changes to existing practices, as well as the introduction of new protections for workers such as a ‘day one’ right to claim unfair dismissal. Whilst it isn’t expected immediately, a lot of the new legislation is expected to come into force in October 2026 and therefore it is well worth employers making themselves aware of key changes that will affect them. Some of those areas include the introduction of a statutory probationary period, changes to the rules around collective consultation for redundancies, amendments to ‘fire and rehire’ legislation and the introduction of some ‘day one’ rights – (for unfair dismissal claims, paternity, bereavement and others).
Other things to consider include the plans to remove the 3 day ‘waiting period’ before SSP can be claimed – which will have a huge impact on many employers – especially SMEs, and changes relating to ‘zero hours’ contracts. If you need any support with any of these, or any HR matters, please contact us.