The employment rights bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 10th October 2024. The bill is currently in the legislative process with various stages of review and amendment and phased implementation.
The government has recently backed some amendments to the employment rights bill; we wanted to update you on what these are, and outline where we can, the proposed road map for the changes:
NDA – changes in discrimination and harassment cases
These are potentially game changing in relation to employment contracts and settlement agreements. Once this legislation changes, clauses that attempt to silence a worker from raising concerns and potentially claims in relation to workplace harassment and discrimination will be null and void, and may result in further claims and litigation for victimisation.
This also extends to how an employer dealt with the compliant, and will apply to not only current but past employees.
There are also moves afoot to extend the regulations to include contractors, trainees, work experience, and workers in general.
Whistle Blowing restrictions
The amendments proposed to whistle blowing, are being proposed, but do not appear to be backed by government, so perhaps less likely to become law.
The requirements potentially include the following:
- Creation of an official office of the Whistleblower, responsible for setting new minimum standards for employers and the policies, provide an independent reporting line, and ensure that non compliance is dealt with accordingly.
- Provide a simplified and broader definition of what is classed as whistleblowing, including the mismanagement funds (public sector) and the abuse of authority.
However, complaints or reports of sexual harassment will now be covered under the changes to the whistleblowing provisions which have already been approved.
Zero Hours and agency workers
The House of Lords passed an amendment to the Bill which may, if it makes its way into the final draft, will weaken the ‘all out’ crackdown on zero hours contracts.
The amendments switch to change the provisions from a requirement on employers to provide guaranteed hours to an employee’s right to request guaranteed hours. The second amendment exempts employers from having to make payment to a worker if a shift was cancelled with less than 48- hours’ notice.
Unfortunately, these amendments lack Government support so can still be overturned.
Statutory Sick Pay amendments
From April 2026, SSP will be payable from the first day that an employee is sick regardless of their rate of pay. This change has slipped under the radar for most employers and as this will come into effect at the same time as the usual minimum wage increases, this will place an unwanted burden on employers.
Bereavement leave
Parents will now be granted the right to bereavement leave after suffering a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. The right applies to both mothers and their partners. The exact amount of time off has yet to be decided and is subject to further consultation although the current proposal is that this time off would be unpaid.
Fire and re hire
A ban on fire and re hire was one of the Government’s flagship proposals under the Bill. Following concerns that the proposals could severely restrict employers from making even reasonable contractual changes, the Government has introduced and revised its approach.
Originally, the Bill made it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing any variation to their contract of employment, or to enable an employer to re-engage them under a varied contract for substantially the same role.
Now, this will only apply if an employer seeks to make a restricted variation. That is currently defined as changes that:
- Reduce pay
- Alter performance-based pay measures
- Affect pensions
- Change working hours or shifts
- Reduce time-off
- Including a variation clause which allows such changes
The Bill already prevents employers from dismissing an employee in order to employ another person to carry out substantially the same duties and the new amendments seek to extend this to employers replacing the dismissed employee with agency workers or contractors.
The good news is that as it stands currently, a dismissal would not be automatically unfair if the changes were made to an employee’s place of work or duties.
Day One unfair dismissal rights
Extensive consultation is still expected to take place over this proposal, but at the moment it is expected that a light touch procedure to allow dismissal during the ‘initial period’. This procedure is expected to apply where the dismissal for capability, conduct, illegality, but will not cover a redundancy dismissal.
Exactly how long the ‘initial period’ will be is still subject to consultation although the Government has expressed preference for 9 months.
The Bill has been amended to introduce a special compensation regime for employees during the initial period.
Holiday (entitlement and pay)
The Bill imposes a new specific obligation on all employers to keep records demonstrating their compliance with holiday entitlement, including the amount of leave and pay. Whilst there is no set format for these yet, there is a requirement that records be kept for 6 years and a failure to comply will be a criminal offence, punishable with (potentially unlimited) fines.
Roadmap for change – what’s changing and when
April 2026:
- Day one right to Paternity Leave
- Day one right to Parental Leave
- Removal of the Lower Earning Limit and waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay
- Additional protection for those reporting sexual harassment
October 2026:
- Ban on fire and rehire practices
- New rules on handling tips
- Further requirements for employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
- Duty to inform workers of their right to join a Trade Union
- Extension to tribunal time limits
2027:
- Day one protection from unfair dismissal
- A ban on ‘exploitative’ zero hour contracts
- Further bereavement leave rights
- Mandatory gender pay gap and menopause action plans
- Enhanced protection for pregnant women and new mothers
- Further harassment protections
- Further requirements for employers to justify rejecting flexible working requests
The roadmap provides us with time to prepare, but that time starts now.
Contact us today to discuss how these changes will impact your policies, processes, contracts and systems, and what we should be doing together to prepare.
