The government has recently updated the timetable for implementing key changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Electronic and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots is scheduled to take effect by the end of August 2026.
On 1 October 2026, the time limit for bringing an Employment Tribunal claim will increase from three to six months.
A number of measures relating to trade unions and to harassment will take effect on 30 October 2026. The trade union measures include:
- the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union;
- strengthening trade unions’ right of access;
- implementing reforms to access and unfair practices during the recognition and derecognition process, and all remaining trade union recognition measures, including freezing the bargaining unit when an application is received;
- new rights and protections for trade union representatives;
- extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action.
The harassment measures include:
- requiring employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees;
- introducing an obligation on employers not to permit harassment of their employees by third parties;
- introducing a power enabling the minister to make regulations at a later date specifying evidence-based steps that employers must take to prevent sexual harassment. This will complement the broader legislative requirement to take all reasonable steps.