Employment Rights Bill: An overview

When will the Parliamentary process be completed?

The Employment Rights Bill was introduced in the House of Commons last year and is in the final stages of the Parliamentary process.

It'll be implemented in stages, starting two months after Royal Assent (see below for more information).

This briefing is written on the basis that the amendments to the Bill currently being put forward by the House of Lords will not prevail.

What legislation is being amended?

In many cases the Bill proceeds by amending existing employment legislation rather than creating free-standing rights.

The key employment legislation for these purposes is the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, the Employment Rights Act 1996, and the Equality Act 2010. All three Acts were originally consolidating measures, but the first two have since been significantly amended by successive Governments.

In due course the Government will make the amended versions of this core legislation publicly available, but in the meantime we'll need to read this new legislation alongside the legislation it's amending.

What are the key provisions?

The Bill is the main vehicle for implementing the Government’s pre-election promises in its Plan to Make Work Pay, and so has a wide range of measures. 

Following the way the Bill is structured, the key measures are as follows:

Part 1: employment rights – includes extensive new rights for zero hours workers; extensions to eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay; various new rights for working parents; new rules on workplace harassment and fire and re-hire and, last, but not least, significant enhancements to employees’ unfair dismissal rights.

Part 2: other employment-related rights – includes amendments to rules on collective redundancy consultation and public sector outsourcing.

Part 3: sector-based pay and conditions – includes provisions to establish a School Support Staff Negotiating Body in England and Adult Social Care Negotiating Bodies in all parts of the UK.

Part 4: trade unions and industrial action – includes new right to statement of trade union rights; a new framework for union access agreements; extensive amendments to the statutory trade union recognition procedure and the reversal of most of the last Government’s legislation on industrial action.

Part 5: labour market enforcement – creates a framework for a new single enforcement authority to enforce core employment rights, including holiday pay, statutory sick pay and the national minimum wage.

Part 6: miscellaneous – this part includes an important measure doubling the time limit for commencing employment tribunal proceedings from three to six months in most employment jurisdictions.

What secondary legislation will be required?

Most of the employment-related measures will require secondary legislation before they can be implemented. Measures in this category include the new unfair dismissal regime and the new rights for zero-hours workers. 

The Government minister responsible for the Bill until recently has stated that around 80 separate statutory instruments will be required to implement the Bill in full.

Consultation on this secondary legislation is expected to start during Autumn 2025.

When will these measures be brought into effect?

The Government published an implementation timetable on 1 July 2025.

It envisages four implementation phases, starting with two months after Royal Assent when the repeals of the last Government’s trade union legislation will take effect. The new regime for zero hours workers won’t be implemented until 2027.