New Amendments to the Employment Rights Bill (as of July 2025)

The Employment Rights Bill has undergone various amendments during its passage through the House of Lords and it’s many, many readings. The report stage is due 14 July so there may be even more changes, but we’ve set out below some of the key amendments and how they may effect the Higher Education sector

1. Collective Redundancy Consultation

• The obligation to collectively consult is now triggered either by 20 or more redundancies at a single site or by a new threshold across the entire institution (to be consulted on). For large and/or multi-campus universities, this may make triggering consultation more likely.
• The maximum protective award for failure to consult collectively has been doubled from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay.
• There is clarification around the consultation process - employers do not need to consult all employee representatives together or reach the same agreement with all representatives.

2. Zero Hours and Variable Hours Contracts

• Employers must offer guaranteed hours to staff on zero-hours contracts, reflecting the actual hours worked during a reference period. This will affect thousands of academics and support staff, requiring institutions to audit and potentially convert many casual contracts to more secure ones.
• Employees must receive reasonable notice of shifts, and compensation is due if shifts are cancelled at short notice. This will complicate rota management, especially for roles that rely on flexibility, (particularly at student unions) and could increase administrative and payroll costs.
• These protections are extended to agency workers, meaning universities using agencies for teaching or support roles will face new obligations and potential costs.

3. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

• Employees will have the right to SSP from the first day of sickness absence.
• Employees will receive either 80% of their normal weekly earnings or the current SSP rate, whichever is lower.

4. Family Rights and Protections

• The Bill gives the government powers to introduce regulations preventing dismissals (not just redundancies) during pregnancy, maternity leave, and for six months after returning to work. This will also cover adoption, shared parental, neonatal care, and bereavement leave.
• Entitlements to paternity and unpaid parental leave will be available from day one of employment and there are new rights to unpaid bereavement leave for employees experiencing pregnancy loss.
• Strengthened right to request flexible working, with employers required to provide reasonable grounds for refusal.

5. Trade Union and Industrial Action Reforms

• New protections against detrimental treatment (short of dismissal) for taking part in protected industrial action and there will be a new statutory role for union equality representatives, with rights to paid time off and reasonable facilities.
• Blacklisting protections have been extended to cover discriminatory actions by bodies other than employers or agencies.

6. Fire and Rehire

• Dismissing employees for refusing contract changes is now automatically unfair, except in cases of severe financial distress for the employer.

• The two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal is replaced with a shorter Initial Period of Employment (around nine months), after which full rights apply.

• The government decided not to introduce interim relief as a remedy for breach of fire and rehire obligations.

7. Enforcement and New Agency

• A new ‘Fair Work Agency’ will be established to consolidate enforcement of employment rights, aiming for more effective and accessible support for workers. We would expect this agency to have enforcement powers for National Minimum Wage purposes

8. Harassment Protections

• Employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent workplace harassment, including by third parties – which includes students. This will require policy reviews, additional training, and potentially more reporting and compliance measures, especially in light of new OfS conditions on harassment and sexual misconduct.

Implementation Timeline

• Many of these changes will be implemented in phases, starting from Royal Assent in 2025, with key measures coming into force in 2026 and 2027.
• Further consultations will define details for several provisions, particularly around redundancy thresholds and family rights

In summary
The amendments will substantially increase employment protections, administrative complexity, and financial risk for all employers. Universities should review their use of casual contracts, update HR policies, and prepare for more rigorous consultation and compliance standards to incorporate these changes.