Most law firms and HR consultancies have been sending regular bulletins to clients and prospective clients about the Employment Rights Act 2025. But we have also had the holiday season and, frankly, an awful lot of noise around the changes.

There are many changes being introduced through the Act, but not all of them will be relevant to every organisation or sector. The risk is that, with so much information circulating, people become over-relaxed about the changes that do matter.

Whilst both ACAS and the Government have updated timelines showing what is being implemented and when (see Acas: Employment Rights Act 2025 and GOV.UK Employment Rights Act implementation timeline), it is worth identifying the current key points that need further consideration and understanding what they mean for your own organisation. We are, of course, happy to provide support where this is relevant to your circumstances.

Meanwhile, these are three key areas of change in October to think about:

1. Trade Unions changes effective from 30^th October 2026:

· There will be a new duty on employers to inform their workers of their right to join a trade union – although as of now the wording of this statement, its method and frequency of delivery have not been confirmed

· In addition, Trade Unions will also gain a new statutory right to request access to workplaces to allow them to meet workers

· These changes follow the recent changes around electronic and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots which came into force on 25 August 2026.

· These three changes provide a significant change to how Trade Unions should be managed both in organisations that are currently unionised and organisations that are currently not unionised.  

· Employers need to ensure that their communications  / notifications meet these changes as do their internal procedures or managing union requests.

2. The time limit for bringing most employment tribunal claims will increase from three months to six months from 1 October 2026.

· This potentially lengthens the period of uncertainty for employers and makes good record-keeping even more important.

· As more time passes, memories can fade, people can move on and reconstructing what happened becomes harder.

· Contemporaneous notes, emails, messages and witness evidence therefore matter and will become more significant as will robust, well documented performance management processes.

3. Harassment law is changing significantly from 30 October 2026.

· Employers will be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers, strengthening the existing duty to take reasonable steps.

· Separately, employers will become liable for harassment of workers by third parties — such as customers, clients, service users, students or patients — unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.

· Organisations should be considering updating their initial sexual harassment risk assessments to include third-party harassment and to consider whether they have taken all reasonable steps to mitigate these risks in their appropriate policies and reporting routes, training for relevant groups, how incidents will be monitored and recorded, and whether contracts or terms with clients, customers and suppliers need to be reviewed.

· The response needs to be tailored to the organisation, its sector and the risks its employees actually face.

· Acas has updated its guidance on this, see Acas:  Harassment law changes. The guidance specifically identifies measures such as assessing risks, monitoring incidents, reviewing policies, training staff and considering relevant provisions in customer, client and supplier terms.‍

The challenge for managers

What concerns me is whether the changes are actually being read and understood by the managers who will have to deal with their practical consequences.

They are doing so against a backdrop of significant legislative change, reduced budgets and, in many organisations, shrinking training budgets. There is a disconnect here.

The managers dealing with situations that could fall within the Employment Rights Act need guidance and training — not simply on the theory, but on how to apply it in practice.

Increasingly, our training covers the employment law backdrop but, more importantly, focuses on what managers actually need to do day to day: how to handle situations properly, how to have difficult conversations, what to document and when, and how to apply policies fairly and consistently.

There is also the question of rewriting policies in clear, plain English so that the people expected to use them can actually understand them.

Add to this the increasingly detailed grievances and tribunal submissions that can be produced with the assistance of AI, and already stretched middle managers are going to need practical help and guidance.

We are also already seeing these issues reflected in public-sector tenders, where organisations are being asked to demonstrate the action, they have taken in mitigating the risk of harassment. Increasingly, organisations will need to be able to evidence that they have considered the risks and responded appropriately.

If you would like support with any of these matters, please do get in touch.

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