Everything you need to know about the ERA. Our accredited employment lawyers explain the upcoming changes and support employers to navigate them.

The Employment Rights Act is bringing the most significant updates to UK employment law in decades. As confirmed in the King’s Speech in July 2024, this is the Government’s primary vehicle for enacting its ‘New Deal for Working People’. This means that employers must prepare — starting by getting informed and being proactive to successfully navigate this new era of employment law and ensure compliance with the forthcoming changes.

As one of the largest and most specialised employment law teams in the country — annually accredited by directories such as The Legal 500 — we’re perfectly placed to demystify the current and upcoming changes and support employers to implement the right contracts, policies, procedures and more to stay on the right side of the law.

There’ll be a lot to get to get to grips with over the coming years, since we’ll see a staggered introduction of the new measures following a raft of consultations. However, the changes that’ll have the biggest impact are likely to include:

Some of the earliest changes to be made will be around trade unions, with consultation on some of the new rights having already taken place. The Employment Rights Act is designed to enter us into a ‘new era’ around industrial relations and bring about a culture shift — making the employer/trade union relationship central to workplaces. This means that profound legislative changes are coming, which we anticipate will be particularly impactful for some non-unionised employers.

Some examples include:

All these changes are due to come into effect in stages between the Employment Rights Act becoming law in December 2025 and 2027.

Paternity & parental leave

The qualifying period for these rights has been removed so that they're day-one rights. 

In addition, statutory paternity leave and pay can now be taken after shared parental leave and shared parental pay. These changes took effect in April 2026. 

The Government also undertook a review of parental leave and pay in summer 2025. It looked at all types of family leave, including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave. Depending on the outcome of that review, further changes may come.

Unfair dismissal

Rather than being a day-one right — as promised by the Government — the Employment Rights Act contains a reduced qualifying period for claims of unfair dismissal of six months (down from the current two years). This is the first time that the qualifying period has been as low as six months since 1974.

In addition and just as significantly, the Employment Rights Act removes the statutory cap on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal cases. 

Both of these changes are expected to come into effect on 1 January 2027.

Zero hours & low hours contracts

Employees with zero hours contracts and those with a low number of guaranteed hours (including agency workers) will need to be offered a guaranteed hours contract at the end of every reference period. 

In addition, it’s intended that employers must provide reasonable notice of shifts, shift changes and cancellations to zero hours workers as well as those with low contractual working hours (including agency workers. These workers will also have a right to payment for cancelled shifts. 

All these changes are due to take effect in 2027 and will be subject to consultation and Regulations that contain the detail of how these changes are intended to work in practice. The Government’s consultation on zero and low hours contracts is open until 25 August 2026. We urge any businesses affected by the proposed legislation to contribute to the consultation to ensure that your voices are heard.

Contact Brabners

For more detail on the full list of key changes in the ERA please visit our website:

https://www.brabners.com/services/employment/employment-rights-bill 

If you need more information, tailored advice or training for your HR or management teams, get in touch with our award-winning employment lawyers today. With a wealth of sector-specific knowledge — including around recruitment, sport, retail, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing and more — we can help you to understand exactly how these changes will impact your business and (just as importantly) how to successfully navigate them.

Give us a call on 0333 004 4488, email us at hello@brabners.com or complete our contact form on our website (above).