Employment Rights Act – Consultations

Opened 14 July 2026

Closes 27 October 2026

All sectors.

Issue relating to outsourcing likely to be more relevant in sectors where outsourcing is more commonplace.  This new provision could impact the cost of these arrangements.

Opened 30 June 2026

Closes 22 September 2026

This is relevant to all sectors although compliance is more complex where employers engage workers on atypical contracts e.g. zero-hour contracts, part year, assignment only, bank etc.  We would advise that these provisions will be especially important to employers who engage staff on those contracts.

Hour threshold for guaranteed hour contracts

Government prefer between 8 and 20 hours – consulting on between 8 and 48 hours.

Guaranteed hours contracts over this threshold will not be in scope of GHO.

Initial reference period for assessing whether GHO should be offered

Government prefers 12 weeks – consulting on 12,26 and 52 weeks.

Subsequent reference periods

Government consulting on 12, 26 and 52 weeks.

Government consulting on whether there should be gaps between initial reference period and subsequent reference periods.

Regularity of work – workers must be working regularly within reference periods to be in scope of GHO

Government consulting on whether regularity should be based on weekly distribution of work or weekly distribution AND a total hours’ requirement.

Government also consulting on minimum weeks required in weekly distribution of work; 6, 8, 10, 12 calendar weeks and total hours requirement; fewer than 48 hours, 72 hours; 96 hours.

Should this weekly distribution be extended out for longer subsequent reference periods?

Seasonal work and ‘temporary need’

Government asking whether examples of temporary need not related to a specific task or event and what those would be?

How to calculate the guaranteed hours offer?

Should it be the mean number of hours during a reference period or the median number of hours?

Should employers be permitted to determine how the hours guaranteed in the offer are worked e.g. over week, month or other?

If the Government mandate a time period for guaranteed hours, should it be over a week, month or other?

Should there be an adjustment margin of a fixed figure or a percentage of hours to provide some flexibility for employers?

Exemptions and exclusions from the right to GHO?

Should there be any types of workers excluded from the right to a GHO and which types of workers?

Should any employer be exempted from duty to provide GHO and under what circumstances?

Reasonable notice for shifts and payment for short notice

What should be the hours threshold for workers on guaranteed hours contracts to be given reasonable notice and short notice payment; range offered between 8 and 48 hours.

The Government proposes a presumed reasonable notice and consults on period of presumed notice from 1-4 weeks.

Where presumed notice not met, the tribunal will determine factors as to whether notice was reasonable in the circumstances – Government asks what circumstances should be taken into account.

Government asks whether certain specified hirers to exempt from duty to provide reasonable notice and what types of hirers that would include.

What is short notice for purpose of entitlement to payment for cancelled or curtailed shift – Government suggests between 1 and 7 days.

Government proposes a shorter notice period where higher cancellation payment due and suggests between 1 and 7 days.

Government proposes that the short payment amount be either a percentage of the monies the worker would have earned had they worked the shift OR a percentage of what the worker would have earned had they worked the shift at the National Living/Minimum Wage rates.

The Government further consults on what this percentage should be for both short notice and very short notice; 10%, 30%, 50%, 65%, 80%?

The Government asks whether there should be an exception to the right to short notice payments and what those exceptions should be.

Enforcement of short notice payments

The Government asks whether the Fair Work Agency should enforce the right to short notice payments, whether they should impose a penalty where it finds a failure to make a payment and what that penalty should be; 50%, 100% or 200% of arrears?

Should the minimum and maximum penalty be changed; minimum £100 per case with maximum of £5,000 per worker or minimum £100 per case with maximum of £20,000 per case.

Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003

Should these Regs be updated to ensure that agencies and hirers are sharing information to ensure that they are compliant with the GHO regime or should be left as is.

Opened 2 June 2026

Closes 25 August 2026

Sectors where zero-hour contracts are more common.

New s202A is to be inserted into the Employment Rights Act 1996 which will render as void any provision within an agreement made between an employer and a worker that seeks to prevent the worker from speaking out about relevant harassment or their employer’s response.

The only agreements which will not be void will be ‘excepted agreements’. This consultation asks for input on what should constitute an excepted agreement.

Elements of this excepted agreement that are being consulted on include:

• Worker must receive independent legal advice before signing the agreement
• There should be a cooling off period for the worker after signing the agreement
• A worker should be able to request an excepted agreement
• Excepted agreement only relate to an incident or alleged incident that has already taken place
• Excepted agreement must be time limited

Another key consideration is who workers can talk to after signing an excepted agreement.

• Should a permitted disclosure only be allowed to person such as those included in Victims and Prisoners Act 2024?
• Should future employers be included in that list?

Opened 15 April 2026

Closed 8 July 2026

All sectors will be affected by these provisions.

The Government has responded to its earlier consultation (see below) on the statutory right and process for trade unions to access workplaces.

In addition, to accompany draft regulations (yet to be published) the Government has drafted a code of practice which does the following:

• Sets out the framework for the process – time frames etc.
• Includes templates for trade unions and employers to use when using the statutory process
• What broader changes need to be considered so that regulatory framework can be modernised

Opened 8 May 2026

Closed 20 May 2026

This right of access is available to trade unions regardless of the level of support or membership. It is therefore relevant to all employers with 21 employees or above. For health and social care providers with 21 employees or less, the Government has noted that it will alter the framework in 2027 so that unions can access these smaller workplaces so that they can consult with workers as part of negotiating the fair pay agreement for the sector.

The Government’s aim is to maintain protections for workers, including those who work through umbrella companies, whilst also supporting a flexible work force which can encourage economic growth.

The consultation seeks views on the following:

• How the temporary labour market can be adapted to account for the activities and existence of umbrella companies.
• What broader changes need to be considered so that regulatory framework can be modernised.

Opened 6 February 2026

Closed 1 May 2026

Sectors where more atypical working patterns are used including reliance on agency workers and umbrella companies.

Changes to the statutory process:

• Employer to meet with employee if considering a refusal
• Ensure meeting is attended by a senior member of staff
• In the meeting discuss the request and potential alternatives
• Keep a record of the discussion and address any other reasonable adjustments
• Communicate the decision in writing, including a summary of the meeting
• Consider a trial period if the potential impact is unclear
• The Government seeks views on the impact of these changes; what the notice period should be for the meeting, what the parties should have to discuss and whether the process will be an unnecessary administrative burden or a time saving provision

Opened 5 February 2026

Closed 30 April 2026

All sectors and employers

The Employment Rights Act 2025 will introduce a new s236A to TULRCA 1992 so that employees who are taking part in official industrial action are protected against any detriment where the sole or principal reason for that detriment is their involvement in the strike action.

The Government is consulting on whether the definition of detriment includes all detriments and so mirrors other legislation, or whether it publishes further regulations with a narrower definition.

The Government’s preferred option is to prohibit all detriments so as to keep consistency with other legislation and provide greater certainty.

Opened 26 February 2026

Closed 23 April 2026

This will address all sectors although the short-term impact will only be on organisations where there is a strong union presence and support. However, with the Government’s intention to extend union involvement more widely the issue may become more relevant to more employers in the long term. The danger of having the widest definition means that it can limit the options available to employers when strike action is ongoing – any measures or offers made to some employees could be seen as a detriment to those who are striking.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 will introduce a further organisation wide trigger for collective redundancy. Currently, when an employer seeks to make more than 20 employees redundant in one establishment, they must collectively consult. This change will introduce a trigger for collective consultation when taking into account all redundancies across the organisation.

The Government’s preferred method for this new trigger is to have a fixed number between 250 and 1000 – once that number is exceeded then collective consultation must occur.

The consultation engages with different methods for calculation of this threshold although makes it clear that this fixed number is its preferred option.

The fixed number would bring certainty, however, the benefit of a more variable approach means that the threshold applies more equally to large and smaller employers alike.

Opened 26 February 2026

Closed 23 April 2026

This is applicable to all sectors although it’s impact may only be seen for organisations spread over different sites and establishments. The current threshold for one establishment will remain in place.

Provisions in the Employment Rights Act will mean that any employee who is dismissed for failing to agree a ‘restricted variation’ will be automatically unfairly dismissed (unless the financial difficulties exemption applied). The ERA sets out that a restricted variation will mean any of the following: reduction in pay or way it’s calculated; variation in pension term; variation in hours worked; variation in paid leave; or the inclusion of a term which enables the employer to make a variation of any of the above terms without the employee’s agreement. This consultation concerns the Government’s proposal to include two further restricted variations, employment expenses and benefits in kind and shift patterns.

The consultation asks:

• Which expenses and benefits in kind should be excluded from the scope of a restricted variation?
• What type of changes to shift patterns should be protected as a restricted variation?

Opened 4 February 2026

Closed 1 April 2026

All sectors.

Particularly key to sectors where shift work is more prevalent as bringing shift work patterns into restricted variations is a key shift.

The ERA will update the statutory recognition process and so the Government is updating the code of practice on access and unfair practices.

Opened 4 February 2026

Closed 1 May 2026

All employers regardless of sector where there is significant union activity.

Electronic and workplace voting for statutory ballots are being introduced by the Government – these will include recognition and de recognition ballots.

Before the electronic balloting is introduced in the recognition process, the Government is consulting on what safeguards are necessary to prevent interference with these ballots.

Opened 4 February 2026

Closed 1 May 2026

All employers regardless of sector where there is significant union activity.

The paper outlines the Government’s plan for establishing a Fair Pay Agreement for the adult social care sector.

The consultation addresses the following:

• Forming the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body – who will negotiate the FPA on behalf of providers and workers?
• What will the negotiation process look like? How will it get to a consensus on what the FPA will look like?
• Coverage and remit – which staff will be covered by FPA and how will they be defined? Which areas of employment will the FPA cover – will it be pay only or reach to further terms and conditions?
• Dispute resolution – what mechanisms will be in place when consensus either breaks down or cannot be found?
• Implementation – who will employers implement the FPA – what help will be given?
• Compliance and enforcement – what are the processes to ensure that employers abide by any FPA and which body will enforce this?

Opened 30 September 2025

Closed 16 January 2026

Adult social care

Please note that this does not affect staff who work principally with children’s social care and is for England only. The ERB provides for Wales and Scotland to make provision for FPAs in their regions.

The consultation paper addresses the following issues.

• What information is to be given to employees on their union rights
• Whether that should be a standard form or one created by the employer
• Whether that should be delivered directly or indirectly to new starter
• How the information be delivered to existing staff
• How frequently the employer should repeat the information to staff and whether directly or indirectly

Opened 12 October 2025

Closed 18 December 2025

This is applicable to all sectors as all employers will need to inform their staff regardless of whether they are unionised or not.

The consultation seeks views on the Government’s proposed new statutory access for unions where voluntary access has not been agreed. Issues they are seeking consultation on are:

• The process of requesting and negotiating an access agreement between the parties
• How the Central Arbitration Committee will determine the terms of access if no agreement is made
• Whether there should be any exemptions to this right
• What the maximum fines would be for non-compliance with the statutory regime

Opened 12 October 2025

Closed 18 December 2025

This could apply to all sectors and employees subject to any exemptions being agreed. However, it is most likely to be more relevant to organisations where there are active union representatives who are more likely to take advantage of pushing for access under this new right.

The Government proposes three voting methods.

• ‘pure’ electronic balloting – fully digital;
• hybrid electronic balloting – voting materials distributed by post with members able to vote either by post or electronically; and
• workplace balloting – ballots that take place entirely within the workplace.

To ensure that the new voting methods are applied legally, fairly and securely, the Government has published a draft Code of Practice. In this consultation, the Government is seeking views on the contents of this draft Code. It is not seeking views on its measures to introduce electronic and workplace balloting. The secondary regulations which will introduce electronic balloting will, we imagine, be published once the ERB has been given Royal Assent.

Opened 19 November 2025

Closed 28 January 2026

These changes will affect all organisations regardless of sectors as will apply to all employees where there is a union presence.

Given the Government’s aim to extend and strengthen union involvement within workplaces, this could apply to an increasing number of organisations across the sectors over the coming years.

This consultation seeks views on the Government’s proposal to introduce a new unpaid period of bereavement leave for employees. The consultation addresses who would be eligible, whether that leave is one or two weeks and what notice should be given.

The bereavement leave extends to the employees who have lost a baby before 24 weeks. The consultation addresses again who would be eligible for leave in these circumstances and what types of loss would be included.

Opened 23 October 2025

Closed 15 January 2026

These changes will affect all organisations regardless of sectors as will apply to all employees.

The consultation asks for views on issues such as:

• Whether there would be any specific circumstances when a dismissal would be fair
• Whether the existing five fair reasons to dismiss should be limited during the period of pregnancy and after the birth (up to 18 months)
• When an employee becomes eligible for these enhanced protections
• Whether these protections should extend to other employees on family leave e.g. shared parental leave, adoption leave, paternity leave etc.

This consultation concerns the Government’s intention to introduce enhanced protection against dismissal for employees who are pregnant and new mothers. The protection could last for up to 18 months after the birth of the child.

The consultation asks for views on issues such as:

• Whether there would be any specific circumstances when a dismissal would be fair
• Whether the existing five fair reasons to dismiss should be limited during the period of pregnancy and after the birth (up to 18 months)
• When an employee becomes eligible for these enhanced protections
• Whether these protections should extend to other employees on family leave e.g. shared parental leave, adoption leave, paternity leave etc.

Opened 23 October 2025

Closed 15 January 2026

These changes will affect all organisations regardless of sectors as will apply to all employees.