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Guidance for businesses and workers on new employment rights

The Government have launched a new campaign hub to pull together the changes to employment rights being introduced during 2026 and 2027. The hub contains separate sections for employers and employees, so that both can understand what the new rights mean for them. 

As we have covered in previous articles, the Employment Rights Act 2025 brings significant changes to the employment law landscape in a range of areas. These include changes to rules around industrial action which took effect in February 2026, the introduction of the Fair Work Agency from April 2026, and several changes to sick pay and family leave which also came into effect from April 2026. 

In future, changes to unfair dismissal protections will be introduced from 1 January 2027 and employers may need to take action before then to review their employment policies and contracts. This is because employees will be able to claim unfair dismissal after only six months of service, instead of the current requirement of two years’ service. The campaign page includes a short video giving an overview of the changes. 

Further changes will be introduced in the future, including changes to trade union legislation and reforms to protect employees against harassment. The site will be updated with more guidance in due course.

The campaign hub also includes details of open consultations to which employers might want to contribute. Current consultations include: 

 

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