Guidance

Employment Rights Act 2025: impact assessments

Impact assessments and analytical documents relating to the Employment Rights Act 2025.

• From: Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, Department for Business and Trade, Cabinet Office, Department for Transport and Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 21 October 2024
• Last updated: 7 January 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 7 January 2026

     Title of webpage changed from 'Employment Rights Bill' to 'Employment Rights Act 2025'. A link to the research paper 'Assessing the legal and economic implications of the Employment Rights Act 2025' added. Impact assessments 'Employment Rights Act 2025: economic analysis' and 'Enactment impact assessment: dismissal for failing to agree to variation of contract (fire and rehire)' updated.

  2. 17 July 2025

     'Impact assessment: Contractual duties of confidentiality relating to harassment and discrimination' added to page.

  3. 7 July 2025

     Impact assessment: Amending new right to unpaid bereavement leave to include pregnancy loss added.

  4. 9 June 2025

     Number of small and micro business employees amended from 13 million to 9 million in 'Employment Rights Bill economic analysis' to mirror the figure used in the Summary Impact Assessment annex of the same document.

  5. 4 March 2025

     Minor changes made to the Day 1 parental leave and paternity leave Impact Assessment, correcting typos, figures and applying consistent decimal points and rounding. Minor updates made to Employment Rights Bill economic analysis to account for these changes. Impact assessment: Employment tribunals time limits added. Impact assessment: Mandatory seafarers’ charter added. Impact assessment: Implementing international conventions added.

  6. 21 October 2024

     First published.

Read further documents in support of the Employment Rights Act 2025.

The research paper Assessing the legal and economic implications of the Employment Rights Act 2025 outlines the legal and economic implications of the act.

Employment Rights Act 2025: economic analysis and enactment summary impact assessment

Employment Rights Act 2025: economic analysis (PDF, 2.96 MB, 173 pages)

Department for Business and Trade (DBT) impact assessments

Impact assessment: Making flexible working the default (PDF, 529 KB, 32 pages)

Impact assessment: Protections against dismissal for pregnant workers (PDF, 405 KB, 31 pages)

Enactment impact assessment: dismissal for failing to agree to variation of contract (fire and rehire) (PDF, 673 KB, 44 pages)

Impact assessment: Day 1 unfair dismissal rights (PDF, 586 KB, 35 pages)

Impact assessment: Establish a fair pay agreements process in the adult social care sector (PDF, 761 KB, 30 pages)

Impact assessment: Repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 (PDF, 588 KB, 42 pages)

Impact assessment: Repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 (PDF, 417 KB, 30 pages)

Impact assessment: Strengthening workers’ rights to trade union access, recognition and representation (PDF, 630 KB, 47 pages)

Impact assessment: strengthening collective redundancy rights (PDF, 436 KB, 28 pages)

Impact assessment: Whistleblowing protections against sexual harassment (PDF, 356 KB, 21 pages)

Impact assessment: ZHCs - Right to Guaranteed Hours (PDF, 498 KB, 37 pages)

Impact assessment: ZHCs - Right to Reasonable Notice of Shift Patterns and Payment for Shifts Cancelled, Moved or Curtailed at Short Notice (PDF, 517 KB, 35 pages)

Impact assessment: Strengthen existing tipping law (PDF, 274 KB, 21 pages)

Impact assessment: Establish the Fair Work Agency (FWA) to bring together existing state enforcement functions (PDF, 797 KB, 27 pages)

Impact assessment: Day 1 right to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave (PDF, 604 KB, 36 pages)

Impact assessment: New right to unpaid bereavement leave (PDF, 668 KB, 38 pages)

Impact assessment: Employment tribunals time limits (PDF, 505 KB, 48 pages)

Impact assessment: Amending new right to unpaid bereavement leave to include pregnancy loss (PDF, 513 KB, 21 pages)

Impact assessment: Contractual duties of confidentiality relating to harassment and discrimination (PDF, 383 KB, 15 pages)

Cabinet Office impact assessments

Impact assessment: Enabling regulations to specify specific steps employers must take to prevent sexual harassment (PDF, 321 KB, 43 pages)

Impact assessment: Ensuring outsourced workers are included in gender pay gap reporting (PDF, 320 KB, 35 pages)

Impact assessment: Require employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees (PDF, 323 KB, 40 pages)

Impact assessment: Requiring employers to not permit the harassment of their employees by third parties (PDF, 357 KB, 39 pages)

Impact assessment: Requiring large employers to publish Equality Action Plans (PDF, 336 KB, 40 pages)

Department for Transport impact assessments

Impact assessment: Declaring collective redundancy for seafarers (PDF, 241 KB, 16 pages)

Impact assessment: Mandatory seafarers’ charter (PDF, 265 KB, 16 pages)

Impact assessment: Implementing international conventions (PDF, 324 KB, 19 pages)

Department for Work and Pensions impact assessment

Impact assessment: Improve access to Statutory Sick Pay by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period (PDF, 522 KB, 36 pages)