Employment Rights Act: Why the Next Four Months Matter for Employers
The Employment Rights Act is no longer a future issue for businesses.
Implementation is already underway, and between now and the start of 2027 several significant changes will alter the environment in which employers manage workplace issues, complaints, performance and dismissal.
For business owners and managers, the challenge is not simply keeping track of new legislation.
It is making sure the way people are managed day to day keeps pace with it.
Over the next four months, three dates in particular deserve employers’ attention:
- 1 October 2026 – time limits for bringing most Employment Tribunal claims increase from three months to six months.
- 30 October 2026 – employers’ responsibilities around preventing workplace harassment become stronger.
- 1 January 2027 – the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal protection reduces from two years to six months, while the existing cap on compensatory awards for unfair dismissal is removed.
Taken individually, each change is important.
Taken together, they should prompt businesses to look again at how employment decisions are made, recorded and managed.
The risk is often in the process, not the intention
Most employers want to treat their staff fairly.
But good intentions alone do not necessarily create good HR processes.
Problems can arise because a manager deals with an issue informally, a conversation is not documented, an old policy is still being used or a probation review is left until the last minute.
These may seem like relatively minor issues when everything is running smoothly.
They can become much more important when a decision is later challenged.
That is one reason why the coming months matter.
The Employment Rights Act does not simply introduce new employee rights. It changes some of the circumstances in which existing management decisions could be scrutinised.
1 October: workplace decisions could remain relevant for longer
From 1 October, the time limit for bringing the majority of Employment Tribunal claims increases from three months to six months.
The new six-month limit will generally apply where the workplace issue giving rise to the claim happens on or after 1 October.
For businesses, the practical implication is straightforward: an employment decision made today may remain relevant to a potential claim for longer than employers have previously been accustomed to.
Consider a performance issue.
A manager speaks to an employee several times but keeps limited notes. The situation appears to improve and everyone moves on.
Months later, that same sequence of events becomes relevant to a dispute.
Could the business clearly show:
- what concerns were raised,
- when conversations took place,
- what the employee was told,
- what support was offered,
- and why subsequent decisions were made?
The longer potential window for claims makes consistent record keeping and well-managed HR processes increasingly important.
It does not mean every difficult conversation needs to become overly formal.
It does mean businesses should be confident they could explain and evidence important employment decisions if required to do so later.
30 October: preventing harassment becomes a bigger responsibility
The next significant change arrives only a few weeks later.
From 30 October, employers will be required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their workers, strengthening the existing requirement to take reasonable steps.
Employers will also face liability for harassment by third parties, such as customers or clients, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.
For many businesses, particularly those where employees have regular contact with customers, clients, service users, contractors or members of the public, this deserves careful consideration.
Having a harassment policy remains important.
But the direction of travel is increasingly towards what an employer has actually done to prevent problems.
Depending on the organisation and the risks involved, this could include reviewing workplace risks, training staff and managers, making reporting routes clear, recording incidents and considering how the business deals with inappropriate behaviour from third parties.
Acas has already advised employers to start preparing for the change in advance.
The key question is therefore not simply:
“Do we have a policy?”
It is:
“Could we demonstrate the practical steps our business has taken to prevent harassment?”
January could change the importance of probation
Perhaps the most significant change for many employers arrives on 1 January 2027.
Currently, employees generally need two years’ continuous service before they qualify for ordinary unfair dismissal protection.
From January, that qualifying period reduces to six months for dismissals taking effect from 1 January 2027.
Employees who have already completed six months’ continuous service by then will therefore gain ordinary unfair dismissal protection.
At the same time, the existing cap on compensatory awards for unfair dismissal will be removed.
There will still be circumstances where unfair dismissal protection applies from day one — including certain automatically unfair reasons — so the January reform should not be interpreted as meaning employers currently have unrestricted freedom to dismiss employees during their first two years.
What it does mean is that the period in which many employers have traditionally assessed whether a new employee is suitable for a role will become much more important.
Businesses may want to ask:
- Do probation periods have clear objectives?
- Are review meetings actually taking place?
- Are performance concerns being raised early enough?
- Are managers documenting those conversations?
- Is support or training being provided where appropriate?
- Are decisions about extending probation or dismissal being made carefully and consistently?
A six-month probation period followed by a rushed review shortly before the employee reaches six months’ service may no longer feel like a particularly comfortable process.
The stronger approach is to manage performance throughout the probation period rather than waiting until the end of it.
Some businesses may already be playing catch-up
It is also worth remembering that the Employment Rights Act implementation programme did not begin in October.
A number of changes have already taken effect during 2026, including changes to Statutory Sick Pay, day-one rights to Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave, stronger collective redundancy protections and the establishment of the Fair Work Agency.
That creates another useful question for employers:
Have the changes that are already in force actually made their way into your policies, payroll processes, employee documentation and manager guidance?
A business can be aware that the law has changed while still operating processes written for the previous rules.
That gap between knowing and implementing is where problems can emerge.
Preparation does not mean predicting every detail
There are further Employment Rights Act reforms expected throughout 2027, including measures relating to flexible working, bereavement leave, guaranteed hours, shift notice, pregnancy and maternity protections and collective redundancy.
Some detailed requirements and implementation dates are still being developed through consultation, regulations and parliamentary processes.
Businesses therefore do not need to redesign every employment policy overnight.
But neither should they wait for each deadline before thinking about it.
There are areas employers can sensibly review now regardless of further detail:
- employment contracts and template documents,
- employee handbooks and policies,
- probation and performance processes,
- grievance and disciplinary procedures,
- harassment prevention,
- absence management,
- HR record keeping,
- and the guidance and training given to managers.
The next four months are an opportunity
Employment law changes can understandably feel like another compliance burden for businesses already dealing with rising costs, recruitment challenges and day-to-day operational pressures.
But the months ahead also provide an opportunity.
Businesses that review their processes before an issue arises are in a much stronger position than those trying to understand them during a grievance, dismissal or Employment Tribunal claim.
You do not need every manager to become an employment lawyer.
You do need sensible processes, up-to-date information and somewhere to turn when a difficult employment decision arises.
The first major deadline is now only weeks away.
The question is not simply whether your business knows the Employment Rights Act is changing.
It is whether the way you manage people is ready for what comes next.
Is your business ready?
We have created a dedicated Employment Rights Act guide setting out what has already changed, the important dates ahead and some of the areas employers should be reviewing.
Whether you are already a Cumbria Chamber member or would like to understand the support available to your business, you can also request expert help through the page.
Read our Employment Rights Act guide and request expert help.
