The Employment Rights Bill is round the corner: Here’s how to prepare
The UK’s employment landscape is on the verge of its biggest shake-up in decades. The Employment Rights Bill, now nearing the final stages of Parliament, brings together reforms across 28 areas of employment law and covers everything from zero-hours contracts and flexible working, to sick pay and tribunal access.
While much of the detail is still to come through secondary legislation, the direction of travel is clear: greater protection for workers, tighter rules for employers, and a more assertive enforcement regime. For businesses, especially SMEs without in-house legal teams, the bill marks a shift from flexibility at all costs to fairness as a legal obligation.
With Royal Assent expected before Parliament’s summer recess, and implementation beginning shortly after, now is the time for employers to get to grips with the changes — before the cost of getting it wrong becomes all too real.
The 7 Big Changes Employers Need to Know
1. Extended Tribunal Claim Window
Employees will soon have up to six months (up from three) to bring most tribunal claims. This gives individuals more time to raise grievances — and gives employers more reason to keep records straight and compliant.
2. Stronger Protections for Zero-Hours and Short-Hours Workers
Employers will be required to offer more stable contracts to workers who regularly work above their contracted hours. Casual and shift-based roles will come under greater scrutiny, particularly around predictability and consent.
3. Reforms to Probation Periods
The government is set to introduce a legislated framework for probation. While the detail is still subject to consultation, it’s likely to define expectations around length, notice, and fair treatment — changing how new starters are onboarded and reviewed.
4. Reworked Sick Pay Rules
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will become payable from day one, with eligibility widened to include lower-paid workers. Employers will need to ensure processes for absence tracking and evidence collection are robust.
5. Restrictions on Fire and Rehire Tactics
Employers will face new limitations on using fire-and-rehire to change terms and conditions. Consultation requirements and documentation duties are expected to increase, particularly during restructures.
6. Collective Redundancy Consultation Updates
New rules will clarify when and how collective consultation duties apply — including for employees on fixed-term and temporary contracts. Businesses making wider changes to workforce structure will need to tread carefully.
7. Creation of the Fair Work Agency
A new Fair Work Agency will consolidate enforcement powers across employment standards, holiday pay, and statutory rights. The intention is to simplify reporting and raise the stakes for non-compliance.
What This Means for Employers
The Employment Rights Bill doesn’t just tweak a few policies — it redefines how businesses must approach hiring, managing and parting ways with employees. For many employers, especially SMEs, it introduces new obligations that could carry legal, financial and reputational risks if ignored.
Longer tribunal claim windows and clearer redundancy consultation rules mean internal documentation needs to be watertight. Contracts, HR systems and staff communications will all need to stand up to scrutiny — not just in the moment, but potentially six months down the line.
Zero-hours and flexible contracts, often used for convenience, will now require more careful handling. If your workforce includes casual or agency staff, it will be your responsibility to prove that their working patterns match their contract — or risk being challenged.
These changes also have implications for how new staff are brought on board. With probation periods likely to be formalised, and more workers gaining day-one rights to sick pay and predictable hours, employers need to make sure their pre-employment checks, contracts, and onboarding processes are consistent, compliant and up to date.
How to Prepare Now
While the finer details of the Employment Rights Bill will come through secondary legislation, there’s still plenty that employers can do now to prepare. Being proactive could save time, reduce legal risk, and help avoid disruption later.
1. Audit Your Employment Contracts
Review terms for zero-hours, short-hours and fixed-term staff. Are they reflective of real working patterns? Make sure flexibility doesn’t come at the expense of legal clarity.
2. Formalise Your Probation Process
Even before new rules come in, it’s wise to document your approach to probation clearly — setting out expectations, support offered, and how decisions are made.
3. Review Onboarding and Screening Workflows
With more employees gaining day-one rights, onboarding must be efficient and fully compliant from the start. Ensure your right to work checks, DBS processes and identity verification are up to date and aligned with safer recruitment principles.
4. Tighten Your Record-Keeping
With extended tribunal windows and greater enforcement powers incoming, keeping clean, dated, and accessible records will be more important than ever — especially around working hours, consultation, and disciplinary processes.
5. Stay Informed on Secondary Legislation
Many of the operational details (e.g. new sick pay thresholds or redundancy guidance) will be set out in future regulations. Set up alerts from trusted sources like CIPD or gov.uk, and brief your HR team regularly.
The Employment Rights Bill may still be moving through Parliament, and many specifics will be shaped by secondary legislation. But that doesn’t mean employers can afford to wait.
The direction of travel is clear: more protection for workers, more structure around flexible employment, and more accountability for businesses that fall short. Whether you're managing a team of five or fifty, now is the time to tighten your hiring and onboarding practices, update your documentation, and ensure your recruitment processes are fair, consistent and legally sound.
The businesses that act early will be best placed to adapt — not just to comply with new rules, but to build better, more resilient workforces in the long term.
Need help reviewing your onboarding or screening processes?
Whether you're hiring full-time staff, flexible workers or agency temps, our team can help you stay compliant as the new legislation rolls out. From DBS Checks and Right to Work verification to safer recruitment advice, Personnel Checks is here to support you every step of the way. You can get in touch here.