The Government has now published its road map implementing the Employment Rights Bill provisions and the goalposts have now changed.
It is clear from the roadmap that the government intend to take a phased approach when implementing the reforms proposed under the Employment Rights Bill. Phasing commencement allows employers to plan and ready their resources to ensure that they are compliant when the changes come in.
It is anticipated that in April 2026 the Day 1 Paternity Leave and unpaid Parental Leave Rights reforms will take effect together with the removal of the lower earnings limit and waiting period with regards to statutory sick pay.
One surprise to come out of the roadmap is that third party harassment will now not be implemented until October 2026. This is surprising given that the legal framework for implementing the third party harassment provisions already exist and no formal consultation has been proposed.
Delay is also proposed for the reforms surrounding fire and rehire. These are now not going to be brought into force until October 2026 despite the fact that the legal framework already exists and no additional regulations would need to be passed to enable this reform to take effect.
The roadmap also provides clarity of the likely timescales for the Day 1 Rights for Unfair Dismissal. Previously the guidance from government was that these reforms would not take effect before the Autum of 2026. However, the roadmap now confirms that 2027 is the intended enforcement date, with no indication as to whether or not that will be early 2027, or later that year. In order to implement the Day 1 Rights, there is work to be done. The government do need to draft regulations and provide clarity on matters such as; what the test for reasonableness will be and how they will define the ‘initial period of employment’.
In fact as we approach 2027 and go beyond, the roadmap suggests that rights for pregnant workers will be introduced with gender pay gap and menopause action plans, flexible working and bereavement leave too.
Consultation has been planned to take effect during the summer and autumn term of 2025 and then continuing over winter and into early 2026. Before a lot of reforms can be introduced, policy, regulations, codes of practice etc. need to be drafted and agreed.
This is definitely something to keep a watchful eye over, during the next few months as it is anticipated further guidance and updates will be released as we progress through 2025.
