22 January 2026 
Emma Walton-Pond, Communications Officer
The Employment Rights Act, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, will have a significant impact on HR practices and governance in Higher Education.
The reforms will be delivered in phases across a two-year period with common commencement dates being used for the majority of the changes (i.e. 6th April and 1st October).
In this Blog, we look at what the key changes are, when they will come into effect and what universities should be doing to prepare.
Short-term planning priorities – in force from 6 April 2026
Statutory sick pay and absence
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) will be payable from day one of sickness absence and the lower earnings limit will be removed, meaning universities may face higher absence costs and will need to update their sickness absence policies.
Trade unions
The Act strengthens the rights of trade unions, making it easier for the unions to take industrial action and more difficult for universities to manage. In April, recognition procedures will be simplified and electronic balloting introduced. Some changes (e.g. changes to ballot and notice requirements) will already have taken effect in February, and others will be brought into force in October (e.g. duty to inform employees of the right to join a union and strengthened rights of access). Universities will need to review and amend their industrial-relations frameworks accordingly.
Fair work agency
A new Fair Work Agency will be established to enforce workers' rights. It will bring together the work of existing agencies and enforce rights such as holiday pay, statutory sick pay and the national minimum wage. It will also have wide-ranging powers, including to require information, enter premises, issue penalties and to bring claims on behalf of workers.
Day-one family rights
Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become day-one rights.
Collective consultation - protective award
The maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult will be doubled from 90 days' to 180 days' pay per employee. In doing so, the government aims to stop it being financially beneficial for employers to "buy-out" employees’ rights.
Medium-term planning priorities – in force from 1 October 2026
Harassment
Employers will need to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, therefore creating a higher threshold for universities to meet.
The Act will also impose new liability on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent third-party harassment occurring in the course of employment, which applies in relation to all protected characteristics, not just sexual harassment.
Fire and rehire
It will be automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing to agree to a "restricted variation" to their contract. Restricted variations will cover pay, pension, hours of work and holiday entitlement, and any term that would permit an employer to vary these without the employee's consent.
Tribunal time limits
The time limit for workers to bring claims in the Employment Tribunal will increase from three to six months from the effective date of termination.
Longer-term planning priorities – in force 2027
Unfair dismissal rights
From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period to claim ordinary unfair dismissal will be reduced from two years to six months and the current cap on compensatory awards for unfair dismissal will be removed. This means it will be even more important for universities to recruit the right people from day one and then effectively manage performance and probationary procedures early on in employment.
Flexible working
Under the Act, employers will still be able to refuse flexible working requests on specified business grounds, but there will be a new requirement for any refusal to be "reasonable". Universities should check and update flexible working policies and ensure managers receive training on how to handle requests.
Pregnancy and maternity
It will be unlawful to dismiss a new mother for any reason, for an extended protected period of six months following her return to work, except in specific circumstances.
Bereavement leave
Bereavement leave (currently available following the death of a child under 18 or a stillbirth) will be extended to a more general entitlement to unpaid bereavement leave following the loss of a family member, including bereavement leave for pregnancy loss (i.e. before 24 weeks). Where the deceased is a child, leave remains at two weeks. In all other cases, the leave will be limited to one week.
Zero hours and “low hours” contracts
Zero/low hours workers will have a right to be offered a contract reflecting their regular hours. If the worker's hours regularly exceed the zero/minimum hours over the reference period (expected to be 12 weeks), then they will have to be offered a new contract reflecting regular hours.
Workers, including agency workers, who work under zero hours or low hours arrangements will also have a right to reasonable notice if they are required to work a shift or if a shift is cancelled or changed. Compensation will be payable for shifts that are cancelled or changed at short notice.
Given the use of such atypical contractual arrangements in the sector, the outcome of the consultation on the detail of this provision and how it will work in practice will be keenly anticipated.
Collective redundancy consultation
Collective consultation obligations will be triggered if either there are 20 or more redundancies at one establishment or the number of redundancies across the employing entity meets a different "threshold number", which will be set out in secondary legislation.
Equality reporting
Employers with 250+ employees will be required to produce a gender pay gap action plan to accompany their gender pay gap reports and will also be required to produce action plans on how they support employees through the menopause.
What should universities be doing to prepare?
Universities would be wise to plan early for the changes to ensure a smooth transition when they come into effect.
Practical steps that universities can be taking now include:
Tom Long, Partner
Susannah Nicholas, Professional Support Lawyer
