UK: Employment Rights Act 2025 – October 2026 Changes

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces several changes for employers in October 2026. The key dates are 1 October and 30 October.

Employment Tribunal Time Limits

From 1 October, the time limit for most Employment Tribunal claims increases from three to six months. The change applies to claims relating to acts or failures on or after that date.

Sexual Harassment

From 30 October, employers must take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment. This strengthens the existing duty to take ‘reasonable steps’. What is deemed to cover all reasonable steps will depend on the circumstances, including the employer’s size, sector and the risks its workers face.

At present, the law does not prescribe specific steps employers must take, although further regulations may set out requirements after the changes take effect.

Failure to comply with the duty may lead to a 25% increase in Tribunal compensation, as well as potential Equality and Human Rights Commission enforcement action.

Employers may also be liable for harassment of workers by third parties, including customers, clients, service users, suppliers and members of the public, if they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. Employers should ensure their policies, training, reporting procedures and risk assessments address third-party risks.

Trade Union Rights

From 30 October, independent trade unions can request physical or digital access to workplaces. Employers must respond within 15 working days and can negotiate for up to 25 working days. If the parties cannot agree, either may apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). The CAC can impose an access agreement only where the employer has at least 21 workers.

Changes to the recognition process will allow unions to seek access earlier, apply unfair-practice rules from the start of an accepted application, and freeze the bargaining unit when an application is received. The deadline to raise an unfair-practice allegation after a ballot increases from one to five working days.

Union representatives will gain stronger rights to paid time off and facilities, including reasonable paid time off for equality representatives. Workers will also be protected from detriment where an employer’s main purpose is to penalise, prevent or deter participation in protected industrial action. Employers may still proportionately withhold pay for time spent taking industrial action.

The January 2027 change: The duty to give workers a written statement about their right to join a trade union is not coming into force in October. It is scheduled for 1 January 2027.

Actions to Consider

• Update harassment policies, risk assessments and manager training, including for third-party relationships and conduct.
• Review record retention policies in light of the longer Tribunal claim time limits.
• Prepare a process for handling union access requests and representative time-off requests.
• Plan how to provide the trade union rights statement from January 2027.

This is a high-level general update only. Legal advice should be obtained on specific circumstances.