On 18 December, after a year of political and legal wrangling between the Houses of Parliament, the Employment Rights Act 2025 finally passed into law. Putting in place the Government’s pre-election promises from its Plan to Make Work Pay and significantly change the law, this is one of the biggest legal updates in a generation.
For more information, catch up on our GLU webinar:
Employment Rights Act 2025: what's changing first?
As per the Government’s Roadmap, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 has already been repealed. This happened on 18 December 2025, on the same day as the ERA 2025 came into law. Other changes that will come into effect from 18th February 2026 include:
Repeal of current trade union legislation
The majority of the restrictions placed on industrial action and picketing in the Trade Union Act 2016 will also be removed. This will include repealing the requirement for 50% turnout on industrial action ballots and 40% support for industrial action ballots affecting important public services.
Alongside this, the time limit on a mandate for industrial action will be extended to 12 months from six months.
Political fund changes
The Act will remove the requirement for trade unions to carry out a ballot every 10 years with their members regarding their political fund.
Instead, unions will have to remind their members every 10 years that they can opt out.
Industrial action processes
The Government will reduce the amount of information required in ballot notices. Unions will no longer have to provide information on the number of employees in each category or workplace or explain how the total number was determined. Unions will also no longer have to disclose the number of employees expected to take part in industrial action, making it harder for employers to plan during these periods.
Additionally, the notice period for industrial action will reduce from 14 days to 10 days.
Enhanced unfair dismissal protections
Currently, dismissing an employee for taking protected industrial action will be deemed as automatically unfair provided the industrial action is official and both of the following apply:
- the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal is that the employee took protected industrial action
- one of the following applies to the dismissal:
- the date of the employee’s dismissal fell within the “protected period” (usually the 12 weeks starting with the day the employee first took part in industrial action)
- the date of the employee’s dismissal is after the end of the protected period and the employee had stopped taking protected industrial action before the end of the protected period
- the date of the employee’s dismissal is after the end of the protected period, the employee had not stopped taking protected industrial action before the end of the protected period, and the employer had not taken reasonable steps to resolve the dispute to which the protected industrial action related.
The provisions of the ERA 2025 will remove point two entirely, meaning that the protection from dismissal will apply for the full duration of the strike and after. Once these changes come in, as long as the principal reason for dismissal is that the employee took protected industrial action, the dismissal will be deemed as automatically unfair.
Takeaway
Whilst the above changes are significant, they will not impact day-to-day management of employees, and there is relatively little that can be done to prepare for these changes coming into force.
The next phase however, in April 2026, will bring major changes into law that will impact all employers, including reforms to Statutory Sick Pay. Look out for our next feature in this series for more information on the details of these changes.
Check out our GLU webinar catch up for more information on what the changes mean for you:
What the new Employment Rights Act 2025 means for you
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Peninsula Team
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