Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update
Published 3 February 2026
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Background
The government is delivering its Plan to Make Work Pay (MWP) to bring employment rights legislation into the 21st century, extending employment protections already given by the best British companies to millions more workers across the country.
The reforms within the Plan to Make Work Pay, including reforms introduced through the Employment Rights Act 2025, will be delivered in phases so that employers, businesses and workers have time to plan and prepare.
Consultation
The government continues to undertake extensive engagement and consultation on the implementation of the Plan to Make Work Pay and the Employment Rights Act 2025 to ensure that these changes work for both workers, and businesses of all sizes. View a full list of the consultation documents.
Timetable for changes being introduced in 2026
To give workers, employers, and businesses confidence about upcoming changes, the latest timetable for changes being introduced in 2026 is set out in this document.
We continue to work towards the timetable set out in the roadmap for measures being introduced throughout 2027. We will continue to keep these timings under review as we consult and develop the details of these policies.
Measures that took effect at Royal Assent, December 2025
- the repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023
Measures that will take effect on 18 February 2026
- the repeal of the great majority of the Trade Union Act 2016, thereby simplifying requirements on trade unions, including in relation to industrial action and political funds
- removing the 10-year ballot requirement for trade union political funds
- simplifying industrial action notices and industrial action ballot notices
- protections against dismissal for taking industrial action
- employees that are newly eligible for ‘Day 1’ Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave can give notice
Measures that will take effect on 6 April 2026
- collective redundancy protective award – doubling the maximum period of the protective award
- ‘Day 1’ Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave
- whistleblowing – strengthening protections for workers who ‘blow the whistle’ on sexual harassment
- Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave – (non-MWP measure) will enable bereaved fathers and partners to take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of the child’s life
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – removing the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) and waiting period
- action plans on gender equality and supporting employees through the menopause (voluntary)
- menopause guidance
- simplifying trade union recognition process
Measures that will take effect on 7 April 2026
- the establishment of the Fair Work Agency
Measures that will take effect no earlier than August 2026
- electronic and workplace balloting for Statutory Trade Union Ballots
Measures that will take effect in October 2026
- bringing forward regulations to establish the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body in England
- procurement – two-tier code
- tightening tipping law
- the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union
- strengthening trade unions’ right of access
- requiring employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees
- introducing an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties
- introducing a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as ‘reasonable’, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
- unfair practices in the trade union recognition process
- new rights and protections for trade union representatives
- extending protections against detriments for taking industrial action
Measures that will take effect no earlier than October 2026
- employment tribunal time limits
Measures that will take effect in December 2026
- commencement of the Mandatory Seafarers’ Charter
Measures that will take effect in January 2027
- reduction of unfair dismissal qualifying period to 6 months, for dismissals from 1 January 2027, and uncapping compensatory awards
- fire and rehire protections
Measures that will take effect in 2027
- action plans on gender equality and supporting employees through the menopause (mandatory)
- enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers
- specifying steps that are to be regarded as ‘reasonable’, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
- extending blacklisting protections
- industrial relations framework
- regulation of umbrella companies
- collective redundancy – collective consultation threshold
- flexible working
- bereavement leave including pregnancy loss
- ending the exploitative use of zero-hours contracts
- electronic and workplace balloting for recognition and derecognition ballots