The Employments Rights Bill is a new bill proposed by the Labour Government that is currently going through Parliament. The Bill is expected to become law by the end of 2025, which means important law changes are coming.

The Bill is designed to address flexibility, ensuring that jobs provide a baseline of security for workers, such as ending zero-hours contracts by introducing rights to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts, and payments for short-notice cancellation of shifts, with corresponding rights for agency workers, together with pay equity.

Some Key Changes:

• Day One Flexible Working Rights
• Zero Hours and Casual Worker Protections
• Enhance Family Leave and Redundancy Protections
• Pay Transparency and Job Advert Requirements
• Stronger Enforcement and Penalties

Recent Updates and What That Means for You:

Following recent discussions with the Government, business representatives and Trade Unions, it has been proposed that the change of day one unfair dismissal rights, which is currently a continuous service of 2 years, is now changed to 6 months.

This means that employers will have to dismiss for a fair reason and only after having followed a fair process for those employees who have 6 months or more continuous employment.

Probationary periods regularly last for at least six months - sometimes longer if an extension is applied - therefore it is encouraged to consider a robust assessment of an employee’s suitability earlier on in employment and before the expiry of the six months. It is expected that if new legislation follows the course of current law, employers will need to be considering any dismissals by five months, due to employees being entitled to one week’s minimum notice. This is because the entitlement to unfair dismissal may actually occur at 6 months less 1 calendar week and not 6 months.

These changes are expected early in 2026. This being so, it will mean that as employers, reviews of contracts and processes should be considered to account for the changes. This will need to include potential changes in current approaches to new employees and the way in which working relationships are managed.

If you need HR advice, FPM Core subscribers can submit a question to the FPM HR Helping via the Core database. 

Thornfields primary care training experts run a variety of workshops for both individuals and organisations which you can view here, on topics covering all aspects of management and personal development.