legal update / 2nd Jul 2025
SECTION GUIDE
In July 2025, the UK Government published its roadmap for implementing the remaining elements of the Employment Rights Bill. These changes are wide-reaching and will affect how you recruit, manage, support, and dismiss employees.
Some changes are already live. Others are confirmed for the coming year. For SMEs, this is the time to take action—not wait until changes are enforced. Failing to plan could lead to legal claims, reputational risk, and extra cost. Preparing now will give you confidence and a competitive edge.
This article provides a full summary of what’s new in the roadmap, practical steps to stay compliant, and how impact HR can support your business through these changes.
| Change Area | What Employers Should Do |
|---|---|
| Harassment Prevention | Review policies, train staff, keep records |
| Sick Pay | Update payroll & policies for Day One eligibility |
| Casual Work | Audit zero-hours contracts and notice practices |
| Fire & Rehire | Use lawful consultation, avoid coercive tactics |
| Redundancy | Monitor total headcount across all sites |
| Bereavement Leave | Add policy, train managers, support employees |
| Dismissals | Implement probation policy, document reviews |
| Union Access | Understand recognition process, review comms |
| Enforcement | Prepare for inspections, maintain documentation |
One of the most significant upcoming changes is the introduction of a new legal duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
This means it won’t be enough to respond when something goes wrong—you’ll be expected to take active, preventative steps to stop harassment from happening in the first place. If an employee brings a claim, tribunals will look at what you’ve done to comply with this duty.
impact HR can review your current policies and provide tailored harassment awareness training to meet this new requirement.
The roadmap confirms that SSP will become available from Day One of absence, removing the previous waiting days and minimum earnings threshold.
This means more workers will qualify for sick pay, including those on low or variable incomes who were previously excluded.
This change will support employee wellbeing—but will also require you to manage absences and sick pay costs more closely. We can help you update your documentation and track entitlement correctly.
The Government has committed to improving fairness and transparency for people in casual, zero-hours, and unpredictable work. Draft guidance is expected later this year, with legislation likely in 2026.
While the detail is still to come, we know the direction of travel: fair contracts, reasonable notice for shifts, and stronger protections for insecure workers.
If your business relies on flexible workers, now’s the time to get ahead of these changes. Kingswood can review your contract templates and shift allocation practices.
The roadmap confirms that exploitative use of fire and rehire tactics will be outlawed. This refers to situations where employers dismiss staff only to offer re-engagement on less favourable terms.
While the ability to make lawful changes to employment contracts remains, the process must be genuinely consultative and based on business need, not used as a threat.
Recommended actions:
Kingswood’s employment relations experts can guide you through change processes safely, ensuring fair treatment and legal compliance.
Currently, the legal requirement to collectively consult applies when 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days. This will now be expanded to include redundancies across multiple sites.
This means if you operate in different locations but plan to restructure across them, you could still hit the threshold requiring formal collective consultation with employee reps or unions.
We can support you with restructuring plans, redundancy consultations, and communicating with affected employees.
The Government will introduce a Day One entitlement to one week of unpaid bereavement leave for employees who experience the loss of a close relative.
Currently, bereavement leave is limited and often left to employer discretion. This change brings a clear baseline across all businesses.
If you’d like to go further and offer enhanced leave or support, we can help design a policy that reflects your company culture.
The Employment Rights Bill will remove the current two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection. All employees will gain this protection from Day One of employment.
However, the Bill also introduces a structured probationary framework, allowing for performance-based dismissal within a set period—provided the employer follows a fair process.
Kingswood can provide probation policies, templates, and training to help your managers handle these early decisions properly.
The roadmap includes a commitment to simplify and modernise how workers access trade union representation. This may involve easier recognition processes, digital ballots, and enhanced protection for union reps.
For employers with unionised environments—or where a request for recognition may arise—this could shift the balance of power.
We can support with consultation strategy, negotiations, and internal comms to ensure your relationships with staff and representatives stay constructive.
A new Fair Work Agency will be given extensive powers to enforce workplace rights. This includes the ability to enter business premises (with a warrant), issue fines, and investigate practices, including in-home working environments where necessary.
This confirms a clear shift toward proactive enforcement, especially in areas like:
Kingswood’s HR audit service is designed to help SMEs identify gaps and get fully compliant—without disrupting your day-to-day operations.
We know this is a lot for busy business owners to manage. That’s why we’ve designed a full suite of services to help you stay on the front foot—compliant, confident, and prepared.
Our support includes:
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