The UK employment landscape is currently undergoing one of its biggest expansions in a generation, as a result of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA). So far, ERA has made a number of key changes to areas such as Statutory Sick Pay, whistleblowing and family leave rights, including the introduction of a day one right to paternity and parental leave.
October is fast approaching meaning further changes are set to come into force. We have outlined these upcoming changes and we explore what these changes mean in practical terms, and what employers can do to get ahead.
Extended employment tribunal time limits
Under the current rules, employees generally have three months to bring most claims before an employment tribunal. For dismissals or acts of discrimination occurring on or after 1st October 2026, this time limit will increase to six months less one day. The changes will apply to most claims, including, unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, breach of contract and unlawful deduction from wages.
A claim brought on 1st October 2026 may therefore still be subject to the previous three-month limitation period. This will depend on when the alleged mistreatment occurred and whether it forms part of a continuing act of discrimination. Employers should also pay attention to acts which occurred before 1 October 2026 because these may be subject to a shorter time limit (unless it forms part of a continuous course of conduct).
Certain claims, including statutory redundancy pay and equal pay claims, are already subject to a time limit of six months less one day. The October changes will not affect the limitation period for these claims. The changes will also not impact the tribunal’s existing discretion to permit claims to proceed out of time in limited circumstances.
This change therefore provides employees with more time to seek advice before pursuing a claim, and for parties to explore alternative resolution beforehand. Employers, however, will be faced with a greater period of uncertainty regarding whether a claim will be brought against them. The Ministry of Justice recently published the annual employment tribunal statistics and the upward trend in the number of new claims is continuing to accelerate, along with a growing backlog. The backlog issue is likely only going to be exacerbated when the employment tribunal time limit is extended.
What can employers do to prepare for this change?
Inevitably, employees have longer to bring a claim. This directly reinforces the importance of employers thoroughly documenting any disciplinary, dismissal or grievance decisions in writing so that potential claims can be readily identified and dealt with. Employers should also make sure to retain these documents for at least 6 months to reflect this extended time limit to place themselves in a strong position for defending potential claims.
Strengthened duty to prevent harassment
The current requirement is that employers have a duty to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment. From October, ERA will strengthen this duty by requiring employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent harassment. This vastly expands the duty on employers, meaning the threshold for prevention and protection will be much higher to adhere to.
What are ‘all reasonable steps?’
Unhelpfully, what is to be classed as ‘all reasonable steps’ has not yet been prescribed within legislation, and these regulations are not expected to come into effect until 2027. This means employers will be operating within an information gap until this is rectified.
Despite the lack of current guidance, employers will be required to take, not only the steps listed in the regulations, but also other preventative measures which may be deemed reasonable in the circumstances.
It is likely that what constitutes ‘all reasonable steps’ will depend on the specific circumstances of the employer. For example, their resources, size, sector, working environment etc to determine what was reasonable in the circumstances.
Remedies for non-compliance
Despite the October changes, the remedies for non-compliance remain unchanged.
Employees cannot bring a standalone tribunal claim for an employer’s breach of the duty to take all reasonable steps. Instead, they must first bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal for sexual harassment.
If the claimant is successful and compensation awarded, a breach of the preventative duty will then automatically be investigated. A 25% uplift to compensation may then be awarded if it is found that the employer failed to take all reasonable steps.
Harassment from third parties
The duty also extends to harassment by third parties. For the purposes of ERA, a third party is someone other than the employer or one of its employees. This may therefore include customers, clients, contractors etc.
Importantly, harassment from third parties does not just apply to sexual harassment. It applies to all seven protected characteristics that relate to harassment; which are age, gender reassignment, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Certain professions, such as hospitality, retail, security services and construction, will inevitably be at greater risk, thus requiring greater protection from their employer. This is likely to pose practical challenges for employers as, generally, there is less control over third parties, and steps employers can take in respect to third parties are much more limited than in relation to their own employees. However, employers will not be penalised for failing to take unworkable or impractical steps.
What should employers be doing ahead of this change?
First and foremost, employers should be updating their anti-harassment policies to explicitly cover third-party conduct.
It may also be useful for employers to undertake risk assessments, engage and train their staff, ensure effective reporting and complaints systems are in place, and evaluating steps taken on an ongoing basis.
New Trade Union Rights
Expanded trade union access to workplaces
From 30 October 2026, section 59 of the ERA will also introduce the right for qualifying trade unions to access workplaces.
This right, along with the regulations, will enable trade unions and employers to enter into access agreements for union officials to access an employer’s workforce for various purposes.
In short, this allows unions to present an access request to the employer, who may respond. If the employer does not respond or refuses access, the union may apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).
Reasonable accommodation and facilities
From the same date, there will also be a new requirement for employers to provide reasonable accommodation and facilities for trade union representatives carrying out their duties.
The finer details of these changes- such as what is meant by ‘accommodation and other facilities’- can be found in the updated Acas Code of Practice on time off for trade union duties and activities. This code aims to summarise the new rights and how they will work in practice (including practical examples). For those who are interested, the draft code is accessible here. At the time of writing this code has still not received parliamentary approval but this is expected to come prior to the deadline.
Practical steps for employers
To sum up, even if a workforce is non-unionised, employers will need to update any onboarding documentation and employee handbooks to include a statement of the right to union membership.
Employers should review their existing facilities agreements and consider their approach to union engagement proactively rather than reactively.
It should be noted that the above information is correct at the time of writing, but the government has amended its implementation timetable on multiple occasions. However, we have detailed the most recent changes in another article which we recommend that you consult to keep up to date with the expected changes.
If you require any further information on the October changes, or if you would like our assistance in implementing any of the changes or reviewing any workplace policies, please contact us at employment@berrysmith.com or on 02920 345 511.
Please note the contents of this article do not constitute legal advice.