‘Tis the Season for Change: Other employment law reforms you may have missed

Today (5th November 2025), employment lawyers are watching Parliament with bated breath as the House of Commons considers the latest amendments to the landmark Employment Rights Bill.

The Employment Rights Bill will usher in the most significant changes to employment law for over 30 years. However, the high-profile nature of the Bill has eclipsed some other employment law changes being quietly made by the Government before the festive period.

HR1 forms

It has long been the case that employers proposing to make collective redundancies must notify the Secretary of State in advance using a HR1 form. The deadline for submitting the form will depend upon the number of redundancies being proposed and failure to do so amounts to a criminal offence.

From 30 November 2025, employers must complete and submit HR1 forms electronically. The new digital version replaces the paper version and has some notable differences: 

• The digital form requires total numbers of employees across affected establishments and total numbers of proposed redundancies – however, these will no longer need to be categorised by occupational group.
• The digital form contains a declaration from the employer confirming they have given copies of the form to all trade union and elected representatives. However, there is no option to export the digital form, meaning you will need to save and print the summary page of the form prior to submission - and circulate this to employee representatives manually.
• The new digital form will not accept consultation start dates in the future.

Guidance on the digital HR1 form is available here.

Extension of ACAS early conciliation period

Since May 2014, anyone wishing to bring an employment tribunal claim must first contact ACAS to consider early conciliation (unless a limited exception applies). While participation in early conciliation is voluntary, an ET claim cannot be issued without an early conciliation certificate from ACAS.

Should the parties choose early conciliation through ACAS, they currently have a maximum of six weeks to reach agreement. Yesterday, regulations were laid before Parliament doubling the maximum conciliation period to 12 weeks. This change is expected to come into force on 1 December 2025 and its stated purpose is to ease the burden on ACAS.

As reforms in the Employment Rights Bill are expected to increase tribunal claims by 15%, doubling the maximum conciliation period is a welcome move.  However, with the Tribunal system already under significant strain, many wonder if this change goes far enough and how the Tribunal system will cope if claims increase to predicted levels.