Timeline & current thinking
ERB Update Hub
Your home for the latest news and thinking
Implementation timeline
Learn about the latest updates on Government's stated timeline of implementation.
Summer 2025
Consultations expected on:
- Reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body
- Fair Pay Agreement for the Adult Social Care sector
- Giving employees protection from unfair dismissal from 'day 1', (including consultation on the dismissal process in the statutory probation period)
Autumn 2025
Consultations expected on:
- A package of trade union measures including:
- electronic balloting and workplace balloting - simplifying trade union recognition processes; - duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union; and, - rights of access. (New rights and protections for trade union representatives will be covered by an Acas Code of Practice consultation.)
- Fire and rehire
- Regulation of umbrella companies
- Bereavement leave
- Rights for pregnant workers
- Ending the exploitative use of Zero Hours Contracts
September/October 2025 (at or soon after Royal Assent)
- Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023
- Repeal of the majority of the Trade Union Act 2016
- Removing the 10 year ballot requirement for trade union political funds
- Simplifying industrial action notices and industrial action ballot notices
- Protections against dismissal for taking industrial action
Winter 2025/early 2026
Consultations expected on:
- A package of trade union measures including protection against detriments for taking industrial action and, blacklisting.
- Tightening tipping law
- Collective redundancy
- Flexible working
April 2026
- Collective redundancy protective award – doubling the maximum period of the protective award
- 'Day 1' Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave
- Whistleblowing protections
- Fair Work Agency body established
- Statutory Sick Pay – removal of the Lower Earnings Limit and waiting period
- Simplifying the trade union recognition process
- Electronic and workplace balloting
- Gender pay gap and menopause action plans (introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026 and required from 2027)
October 2026
- Fire and rehire
- Bringing forward regulations to establish the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body
- Procurement - two-tier code reinstated
- Tightening tipping law
- Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union
- Strengthen trade unions' rights of access
- Requiring employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees
- Introducing an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties
- New rights and protections for trade union reps
- Employment tribunal time limits
- Extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action
Mandatory Seafarers Charter in December 2026
2027
- Day 1’ right – protection from unfair dismissal
- Gender pay gap and menopause action plans (introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026)
- Rights for pregnant workers
- Introducing a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable”, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
- Blacklisting
- Industrial relations framework
- Regulation of umbrella companies
- Collective redundancy – collective consultation threshold
- Flexible working
- Bereavement leave
- Ending the exploitative use of Zero Hours Contracts and applying ZHC measures to agency workers
