Employment Law Update - November 2025
Employment Rights Bill
The Employment Rights Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent however there is some debate ongoing. On 6 November 2025, the House of Commons rejected the House of Lords proposal for a six month qualifying period for unfair dismissal right. It will now return to the House of Lords for further debate
There are a number of provisions in the ERB setting out major reforms, which are intended to modernise the workplace whilst strengthening protection for workers through trade union rights.
Duty to inform employees
One of the key changes is that employers will be under a new legal duty to inform employees of their right to join a trade union on commencement of employment. This applies whether or not the employer recognises a union. The information must be given to the employee at the same time as providing the ‘Section 1’ written statement of employment and failure to comply with the new duty may result in a compensatory award of two or four weeks pay.
This change has potential far reaching significance for the influence of trade unions in the workplace: the duty brings to the attention something that employees may not have previously been aware of or understood.
Increased protection for employees
Changes will also see enhanced protection being rolled out to union members, who will receive enhanced protection against:
Blacklisting (whereby employers discriminate against employees based on their trade union activities);
Detriment for partaking in industrial action.
Dismissal for industrial action – offering enhanced protection compared to the existing 12 week protected period.
Rights of access to the workplace
The Employment Rights Bill also grants trade unions greater rights to access the workplace to carry out union activities. They will be given stronger rights to physically access the workplace and to communicate with employees for ‘access purposes’ which are:
to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers (regardless of whether they are members of a trade union); and
to facilitate collective bargaining.
Notably, the act of organising industrial action is not one of the ‘access purposes’.
The ERB introduces a new process which will structure how access requests are made:
The union will make an access request to the employer, setting out the proposed terms of access in a prescribed form;
The employer will issue a response notice within a specified period of time, setting out whether it agrees and its reasons for objecting;
The parties will enter a negotiation period to agree written terms of which the union will have access and notifyng Topics
Compulsory recognition
The ERB introduces new measures which will make it easier for trade unions to be recognised by an employer as follows:
The union will need to demonstrate that a lower percentage of workers (to be set between 2-10%) in the bargaining unit are members of the union, whereas currently that percentage is set at 10%;
The current requirement for a union to show likely majority support before a ballot will be removed; and
The requirement for a majority of the total workforce in the bargaining unit to vote in favour of recognition will be removed, making a simple majority of the votes cast sufficient.
When will the proposed changes take effect?
The government has outlined the following timeline for key reforms:
Immediately after the bill is passed (or within two months):
Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and most provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016.
Employees gain protection from dismissal related to participation in industrial action.
April 2026:
Updates to the trade union recognition process.
Introduction of electronic balloting for workplace votes.
October 2026:
New safeguards for trade union representatives.
Establishment of trade unions’ right of access to workplaces.
April 2027:
Launch of a modern industrial relations framework, including mandatory recognition procedures and clear access principles.
Fair Work Agency (FWA) to be introduced in the Employment Rights Bill
The FWA will be a centralised body with wide-ranging powers to uphold workplace rights and will reshape how some workplace rights are policed in the UK. This was one of the Labour government’s key manifesto pledges, driven by the view that the current system of state enforcement is fragmented and inefficient.
What will the Fair Work Agency do?
The policy intention is that it will be a single place where workers and employers can turn for help, improving efficiency by ensuring there is one leadership team to oversee work in line with a unified strategy.
The idea is that the Fair Work Agency will support businesses in complying with the law, as well as its enforcement powers, taking a ‘balanced approach’ with better support for the majority of employers who want to comply and tough action against those who do not.
The FWA will serve as a single, unified enforcement body, combining the roles of several existing regulators/enforcement bodies, such as HMRC’s national minimum wage team, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, and elements of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.
The FWA will have a wide-ranging remit, including:
Enforcing minimum wage compliance.
Monitoring holiday pay, statutory sick pay, and payslip accuracy.
Tackling modern slavery and labour exploitation.
Regulate agency work and supply chains.
Oversee statutory sick pay, holiday pay and contractual transparency (where secondary legislation permits).
Respond more effectively to complaints from workers and whistleblowers.
Importantly, the FWA will have increased investigatory powers, including the ability to conduct unannounced inspections, issue civil penalties, and publicly name non-compliant employers. Where breaches are found, the FWA will be able to take enforcement action without the need for individual workers themselves to raise a tribunal claim, addressing gaps where vulnerable workers are unable or unwilling to assert their rights.
It is anticipated that, over time, it will take on enforcement of a wider range of employment rights like other countries (France). Whilst that may be the case, the government has confirmed that equality legislation will remain outside its remit for now.
It is currently expected that the Fair Work Agency will become operational in April 2026.
Key takeaways
The success of the Fair Work Agency will depend heavily on funding, resourcing, and political will. If properly staffed and supported, it could significantly shift the compliance landscape, especially for employers in sectors like logistics, care, hospitality, and construction, where complex labour supply chains, low-paid roles, and past compliance issues make them more exposed to enforcement scrutiny.
Businesses may be held accountable for non-compliance further down their labour supply chains, meaning that due diligence will be essential.
Employers may face:
Closer scrutiny of working arrangements
Liability for non-compliance within their supply chains
Higher reputational risk from public naming
Greater enforcement activity, even without worker complaints
The FWA marks a shift toward a more compliance-driven and enforcement-heavy landscape. While the core legal obligations remain the same, how they are monitored and enforced is about to change.
The FWA will have the power to investigate employers pre-emptively and across multiple fronts simultaneously and penalties and enforcement notices are expected to be used more frequently and consistently than under the current system.
Amelore will support our clients by:
Reviewing employment practices and pay compliance
Advising on due diligence on labour providers and agency arrangements
Ensuring documentation and contracts are up to date
Offering HR internal audits to identify unknown risks before regulators do
Extension of time limits for bringing Employment Tribunal claims
One of these proposals, currently under review at the House of Lords amendment stage, is for the length of time an employee has to submit a claim to the Employment Tribunal to be extended from the current three months (in most circumstances) to a proposed six months. This extension to the time limit for bringing a claim has been called for by various groups, including the Women and Equalities Committee and the Law Commission, for some time.
Whilst this amendment will increase the waiting period for employers anxious to know whether an employee will submit a claim, the government is keen to emphasise that it allows additional time for the dispute to be potentially resolved.
At present it is anticipated that these proposals will come into force in October 2026.
Equality Action Plan
The Employment Rights Bill, introduced by the government in October 2024 and currently under review at the House of Lords amendments stage, includes the introduction of a requirement for all companies with a workforce of more than 250 employees to produce and publish an action plan to address gender inequalities within their workforce.
This proposal goes beyond the current requirement to merely publish gender pay gap data, since research has suggested that as many as half of the companies publishing this information do not have plans to address the inequalities identified. Under the new proposals, companies will be required to share:
The content of the plan
How the plan will be published
How frequently the plan is to be revised and re-published
Who within the organisation has to approve the plan before it is published
The government plans to have these provisions come into force some time in 2027.
This legal update was produced using content from our Legal partners Ward Hadaway and also the CIPD.