The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces the biggest changes to UK employment law in over a decade.

Over the next 12–18 months, employers will face new responsibilities around sick pay, family leave, redundancy consultation, whistleblowing and trade union rights.

April 2026 saw the first wave of significant changes becoming law including changes to SSP, Paternity & Parental Leave, along with added Whistleblowing protections for Sexual Harassment.

Finally the new Fair Working Agency was launched to support employees and provide legal assistance where needed.

Businesses must take action to update policies & handbooks, retrain managers and inform employees of these changes.

Further legal changes are coming in October and January 2026, so businesses should prepare early to avoid legal risk, control costs and maintain employee confidence.

Those that do not may face tribunal exposure and operational disruption.

If you have not made the changes following the April 2026 new employment law or need to prepare for October 26 and January 27, OPSHR can help so please reach out!

Many changes have already landed with the Employments Rights Act. Some came in December 2025, with a bigger wave of reform this April.

With Further changes coming in October 26 and January 27, that actually need preparation for now, below is a timeline of what’s happened and what’s to come, to keep you on track.

February 2026

Industrial Action

18 February 2026 – Simpler ballot and notice rules, with stronger protection from dismissal during industrial action.

April 2026

SSP

6 April 2026 – Became a day one right and available from first day of absence. Also, extended to employees earning below the Lower Earnings Limit.

Collective Redundancies

6 April 2026 – Protective award for failure to inform and consult doubled.

Industrial relations

6 April 2026 – Simpler trade union recognition process.

Family Leave expanded

6 April 2026 – Day-one rights introduced for paternity and unpaid parental leave.

Fair Work Agency

7 April 2026 – Introduction of a single enforcement body.

Holiday records

6 April 2026 – New duty to keep records demonstrating compliance with Working Time Regulations on annual leave.

Next Wave of changes – October 2026

Harassment protections

October 2026 – New third-party harassment claims introduced, with a strengthened duty requiring employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment.

Trade union rights

October 2026 – Workplace access rights for trade unions introduced, alongside a duty to inform workers of their right to join

Employment Tribunals

October 2026 (no earlier than) – Time limit for bringing Employment Tribunal claims extended to six months.”

Further changes coming in 2027 (these will be subject to change and updates)

Expanding unfair dismissal rights

January 2027 – Six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal introduced, and compensation cap removed

Fire and rehire

January 2027 (Implementation) – Enhanced protections for employees dismissed for refusing ‘restricted variations’ to their terms.

Zero/low hour contract reforms

2027 – New rights for eligible workers to be offered guaranteed hours contracts and receive reasonable notice of shifts

Collective redundancies

2027 – Expanded collective consultation obligations across multi-site operations

Flexible Working

2027 – Flexible working requests may only be refused on ‘reasonable’ grounds.

Bereavement leave

2027 – Introduction of a day-one right to bereavement leave.

The cost of an employment tribunal depends on the claim being made and the outcome of the case.

However, potentially you could spend £30,000-£70,000 just fighting and defending a claim with good legal representation.

Should you lose you will need to pay compensation on top of this, which could be significant, especially in cases of discrimination.

With the new Employment Rights Act 2025 coming into effect and changes to tribunal claim rights in October 26 and January 27, claims are likely to be going up by at least 17% in the near future.

Losing an employment tribunal can result in substantial fines, operation impact during a likely 12 month proceeding, damage to moral of employees and managers involved, and negative reputational impact.

At OPS HR we are experts in conflict and tribunal claim management. So if you do have challenges with a claim, reach out to us for the best resolution possible.

People management is more complex than ever before. Human Resources (HR) will need to spend more time focused on people challenges arising from:

• New employment legislation
• Remote working

• New working practices
• Skills and talent shortages
• The new AI technology

This will be made possible using technology designed to take away much of the administration burden from HR professionals.

We also believe that more organisations will look to outsource their HR activities to bring in HR specialists as and when required.

Employees have various rights including:

• Payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
• Maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave and pay
• The right not to be unfairly dismissed
• Statutory redundancy pay
• The National Minimum/Living Wage
• Protection against unlawful deductions from wages
• Itemised pay statements
• The statutory minimum level of paid holiday
• The statutory minimum length of rest breaks
• Receiving notice of termination of employment
• Time off for family emergencies
• To not work more than 48 hours on average per week or to opt out of this right if they choose
• Protection against unlawful discrimination

All employees must be issued with written particulars of employment on or before their first day of employment.

If an employer wishes to terminate or dismiss an employee, they must have a valid reason for doing so and must follow a fair and legal process.

Unless gross misconduct has occurred, dismissal should only happen if a disciplinary procedure, as detailed in the company’s disciplinary policy, has been unsuccessful. An investigation with appropriate evidence will be required to establish facts, avoid discrimination and manage the risk of unfair dismissal.

Depending on the employment contract, employers must provide either contractual notice of termination or the legal minimum of notice. The legal minimum is one week for employees who have served under two years with a company.

Dismissals can be complicated and carry high risk of breaching employment law if not handled correctly. It is advised to seek professional HR support to carry out dismissals.

HR is all about the effective management of people to enable an organisation to meet its strategic aims. There are many activities associated with an HR department including:

• Resource planning and recruitment
• Writing employment contracts, policies and procedures (sometimes organised into a staff handbook)
• Dealing with staff issues such as grievances
• Managing discipline issues and performance management
• Restructures and redundancies
• Psychometric assessments and team building
• Organising staff pay and benefits
• Training and career development

The type of HR work varies from business to business and HR professionals can choose to specialise in a particular area (e.g. training or recruitment), or become a generalist and get involved with the full range of HR activities.

HR operates at all levels of an organisation from the board room to the shop floor. HR professionals need to demonstrate a range of abilities including:

• Problem solving
• Clear and sensitive communication
• Strategic thinking
• Administration and organisational ability

Yes, business owners can choose to outsource their Human Resources (HR) if they wish. It can often be more cost effective to do this than hire a permanent HR advisor.

Some companies employ HR professionals who make up the HR department for the business.

Smaller companies, with fewer employees, may find that outsourcing HR to an external agency or professional is a better solution for the business, as they have fewer HR needs.

The HR Dept provides flexible outsourced HR services to suit the various needs of employers across a broad range of industries. Starting from micro businesses and start-ups to larger more established companies.

This depends on the level of HR support you require.

Typically, for a micro business (up to 5 people) the most important requirement is to ensure your employment documentation is legally compliant and protects the business. We offer a document-only package at an affordable rate.

For larger businesses who will have more employees (and therefore more employee issues), an advisory package maybe required. A package such as the HR Dept HR Advice Line package (which also has employment tribunal insurance cover) will be priced on a range of factors such as:

• Number of staff
• Industry sector
• Previous employment claims history
• Additional services such as documentation or onsite HR support

Advice packages are great value and cheaper than employing an in-house HR person or team. This is why HR outsourcing is a great option for many businesses.

In-house HR is a business function provided by skilled employees for a company.

Whether an individual HR advisor or a team lead by a HR manager, the in-house HR department is responsible for human resources and people management for the business. This ranges from recruitment to training, grievances, absence management, managing the leavers process and more.

The HR employees will have an employment contract and be enrolled in the company’s payroll.

Outsourced HR refers to HR services provided to a business by an external HR professional or agency. The outsourced HR provider will not be employed by the company and will instead have a contract for agreed services.

Outsourced HR provided by The HR Dept can apply to one off pay-as-you-go needs or provide longer term advice covered by the protection of employment tribunal insurance.