Employment Rights Bill Changes Services For UK Employers

The Employment Rights Bill 2024-2025, introduced on 10th October 2024, brings major employment law changes across the UK. The Bill introduces over 28 individual employment reforms designed to strengthen employee rights in the workplace and will significantly increase compliance obligations and responsibilities for all UK employers.

Dubbed as the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, the Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent in autumn 2025. Once implemented, the changes will affect how you manage contracts, dismissals, leave, pay and key workplace systems and process, representing the biggest overhaul in employment law in over a decade.

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At Avensure we support UK employers with the legal and operational impact to help you prepare now for what’s coming, and support you after the changes come into force. Our job is to keep you compliant, reduce tribunal exposure and help your HR team avoid missteps.

Why choose Avensure for UK Employment Rights Bill compliance?

We provide clear, employer-focused guidance backed by employment law expertise. From updating zero-hours contracts to training line managers on new probation rules we take on the hard legal work so your team doesn’t have to.

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How Avensure prepares you for The Employment Rights Bill (step-by-step by priority)

Update Contracts, Handbooks & Policies

We revise your existing documentation to identify legal gaps and compliance risks to align with upcoming reforms such as SSP changes, guaranteed hours, flexible working and day-one rights.

Train HR & Line Managers

We run regular CPD-accredited webinars and workshops to keep you complaint for example on dismissal procedures, flexible working requests and redundancy consultations.

Audit Leave Systems and Processes

We help you review and update internal procedures for managing statutory leave entitlements, holiday tracking, and collective redundancy protocols.

Prepare for FWA Audits & Union Requests

We help you reduce the risk of enforcement action and also get ahead of external scrutiny by ensuring your internal policies are watertight. This includes support to help you draft necessary internal policies, adjust recognition procedures and handle union access.

Monitor Regulatory Updates

With changes rolling until 2027, staying compliant isn’t a one-time job. We keep you ahead of every confirmed regulation like changes to agency worker hours, day one rights and leave entitlements.

Whether you have 5 staff or 500, our legal team helps you stay compliant as each part of the Employment Rights Bill becomes law.

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What the Employment Rights Bill changes 2025 mean for employers

The Employment Rights Bill’s proposed reforms fall into several key areas. The Bill strengthens existing employment laws and introduces brand-new rights.

On 1 July 2025, the government set out a clear roadmap showing just how much change is on the horizon. Some reforms will kick in immediately at Royal Assent, with more to follow right through to 2027. It’s a lot for employers to take in, and staying ahead of it all will be key to avoiding disruption.

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Reform Area	Employer Responsibility	Proposed date	Risk If Ignored
Day-one unfair dismissal	Prepare policies assuming all employees may soon be protected from day one of employment	2027	Tribunal claims if protections are implemented
Probation periods	Plan for 9-month “initial periods” with fair but simplified dismissal routes	2027	Early dismissal claims if unclear process followed
Zero/low-hours contracts	Prepare to move workers onto guaranteed hours and issue compensation for cancelled shifts	2027	Pay disputes, breach of working time law
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)	From April 2026, SSP must be paid from the first day of sickness, not after 3 waiting days	April 2026	Payroll non-compliance, legal exposure
Flexible working	As of April 2024, employees can request flexible working from day one of employment.Stronger rights to flexible working are also on the way and will be implemented through the Bill.	2027	Tribunal claims for unjustified refusals
Family rights	Multiple rights including, paternity leave from day one, protection from dismals for pregnant workers, a new right to bereavement leave and miscarriage leave.	2026-2027	Pay disputes, breach of statutory rights, tribunal claims or fines.
Holiday pay & new leave rights	A new obligation on employers to keep records relating to annual leave and holiday pay.	TBC	Pay disputes, breach of Working Time Regs
Redundancy consultation	A new threshold to trigger collective consultation, extended HR1 requirements and an increase the maximum protective award to 180 days’ pay.	April 2026-2027	Tribunal awards for non-compliance
Fire and rehire restrictions	Significant restrictions on employers to use fire and rehire to change an employee’s employment terms and conditions	October 2026	Tribunal claims for unfair dismissals, penalties and contract changes
Fair Work Agency and extension of Tribunal time limits	Increasing time limits for Employment Tribunal claims and introducing a new single enforcement body to uphold workers’ rights. Employers must be ready for audits, enforcement notices, and trade union access rights	October 2026	Enforcement action, longer claim windows and reputational damage
Greater Trade unions powers	Reforms will make it easier for trade unions to access workplaces for recruitment, organising, and collective bargaining purposes.	–	Increased scrutiny on workplace practices and enforcement action
Pay transparency & Equality reporting	Employers must prepare for new rules publishing menopause and gender pay gap action place and ethnicity and disability pay gap figures.	2026-2027	Tribunal or HMRC challenges
Harassment & discrimination	Employers now have a proactive duty to prevent sexual harassment at work (from Oct 2024 under the Worker Protection Act).Employers’ duty to prevent sexual harassment will rise from taking “reasonable steps” to taking “all reasonable steps”, alongside new risks from whistleblowing claims, third-party harassment, and a ban on NDAs that silence complaints.	2026	Tribunal claims, fines, reputational impact

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Latest tribunal statistics

97,000 tribunal claims filed in 2023–24 – up 13% year on year

£13,749 average unfair dismissal award, with max awards exceeding £100,000

180-day protective awards proposed for redundancy consultation failures.

Over 1 million people are working under zero-hours contracts

These numbers are real and your business is at risk. Act now.

Compliance with the Employment Rights Bill is non-negotiable

Failure to prepare for the Employment Rights Bill 2025 changes and the reforms beyond could lead to:

Tribunal claims for unfair dismissal, particularly if “day-one” protection becomes law
Protective awards of up to 180 days’ pay per employee for failure to follow redundancy consultation duties (already in effect)
Penalties and legal costs tied to breaches of statutory consultation, flexible working, sick pay obligations, and more
Backlogs in tribunal processing, causing longer legal exposure
Loss of employee confidence, reputational risk, and increased staff turnover

And other legal risks that can seriously impact your business operations and financial health.

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Timeline for the Employment Rights Bill: What’s Now, What’s Coming

Area	Status	Employer Action
Day-one unfair dismissal	Proposed, 2027	Prepare to revise dismissal and probation process
9-month probation period	Proposed, 2027	Draft flexible policies but don’t enforce yet
SSP from day one	Confirmed, April 2026	Update payroll, policies, and absence systems now
Guaranteed hours rules	Proposed, implementation pending	Draft contracts and shift notice policies
Redundancy consultation rules	Proposed, April 2026	Train managers on 30/45-day HR1 rules
Flexible working from day one	In force since April 2024, more rights in 2027	Review all internal request forms and procedures
Fair Work Agency powers	Launching April 2026, some functions active	Assign HR leads for inspections and dispute handling
Sexual harassment prevention duty	In force since October 2024, stronger protections coming in 2027	Conduct risk assessments, update harassment training and anti-bullying policy

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Avensure saved our firm over £100k+

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Business Sector: Agriculture

We have had a simply excellent experience with Avensure as our HR/Legal support mechanism. They are an integral part of our team and an invaluable resource.

Annie, our designated advisor has genuinely saved our firm well over £100,000+ by ensuring we have responded to any employee issues in the right way.

Annie has always gone over and above to help us, even out of hours and the time and effort she has given to our firm has been incredible.

If you need HR and employment law advice and want to ensure you maintain a happy group of proactive employees, then I recommend Avensure 100% as an investment you will reap the rewards and benefits from time and again.

Jon Carlyle-Hollywood – Bannister Hall Ltd.
How Avensure’s HR advice saved a small business owner £41,000 in a dispute.

From uncertainty to resolution:

Until this year, we didn’t have an HR company supporting us. Like many businesses, we handled employment issues ourselves.

A long-standing employee wrongly believed he was being made redundant. Despite explaining that his hours were only temporarily reduced, he accused us of not following the correct procedures and took things further, claiming unfair treatment, bullying, and even demanding

We turned to Avensure, and their expert advice was there at every step. The result? We settled for just £9,000, saving £41,000 in the process.

At first, we also contacted a local solicitor, but after appointing Avensure, we realised we didn’t need them. If we had gone with Avensure from the start, we would have avoided extra legal fees altogether.

The biggest lesson? HR support isn’t a luxury, it’s a cost-saving essential.

David & Margaret Dunkley

Let Avensure prepare you for the biggest workplace reforms in a generation

Given how much change is on the way, getting ahead of it now will put you in a much stronger position for immediate compliance and for your long-term HR strategy. Organise a free compliance audit. We’ll review your current setup, give you legal assistance and ensure full preparation for implementation.

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FAQs Employment Rights Bill changes 2025

Not automatically. The new employment rights bill probation rules 2025 proposes a 9-month initial period for new hires, expected to take effect in 2027. You’ll need fair procedures and documented reasons, even early in employment, especially once protections become law. Currently, employees need two years’ service for unfair dismissal claims (unless exceptions apply).

The Employment Rights Bill proposes employers must give “reasonable notice” of shift cancellations or compensate the worker. Details will depend on consultations in 2025 and final regulations, expected in 2027.

Currently, failure to consult on collective redundancies (20+ employees) can lead to protective awards of up to 90 days’ gross pay per employee. The bill proposes extending this to 180 days, expected in 2026.

Yes. It’s launching in phases through 2025, with full enforcement by 2026. It will handle enforcement, issue compliance notices, and bring tribunal claims on behalf of employees such as unfair dismissal claims.

You risk employment rights bill penalties which include: tribunal claims, increased liability, reputational damage, and FWA enforcement action. Early action means fewer disputes and fewer costs.