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Employment law: Review of the year 2025
To mark the end of the year, we are pointing you to our top employment-related content from 2025.
- Access the latest news on our hub
- Our dedicated hub gives you access to all the latest Mills & Reeve content on the Bill. In the coming year we will keep a particularly close eye on new consultations and the Government’s implementation plans.
- Overview of new employment rights
- The Bill’s measures include significant changes to the law of unfair dismissal, new rules on collective consultation and fire and re-hire and extensive measures to improve the rights of workers on zero-hours or reduced hours contracts.
- Nearly there, but agreement still needed over removal of unfair dismissal cap
- The Employment Rights Bill failed to complete the final stage of the Parliamentary Process on 10 December. There remained one point of difference between the Lords and Commons to resolve: the issue of removing the cap on unfair dismissal compensation.
New legislation
- Early conciliation periods and HR1s
- The ACAS early conciliation period was doubled to 12 weeks with effect from 1 December. The day previously, the use of the new digital HR1 became compulsory.
- New restrictions on NDAs
- New legislation which limits the use of confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements in relation to victims of crime came into effect on 1 October. Additional restrictions are in the pipeline.
Listen to our podcast explaining the April 2025 changes to statutory leave
Amy Durham and Charles Pigott explore the new neonatal care leave regime, which will take effect next month. They also highlight what changes are in the pipeline for other types of statutory leave.
Case law and legal practice
- Guidance on balancing competing workplace rights
- The Court of Appeal’s ruling about the dismissal of a gender-critical worker, published in February 2025, offers authoritative guidance on how employers should balance competing rights in the workplace.
- The importance of exploring alternative employment in a redundancy situation
- Over the summer the Employment Appeal Tribunal explained why an employer’s obligations do not stop at applying a fair selection process for redundancy. It is also essential to take active steps to assist redundant staff secure alternative employment, right up to the point the redundancy notice expires.
- AI and workplace disputes
- Alongside the benefits of deploying large language models in the workplace, in our experience there are downsides when it comes to resolving workplace disputes.
Listen to our podcast about conducting a fair capability procedure
Emma Williams and Charles Pigott explore the lessons from recent case law about the essential requirements of a fair capability procedure.
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Employment law blog
Insights on the latest legal and policy decisions affecting employers and those in a senior human resources role.