Implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025
The Department for Business and Trade has published four consultations in relation to the implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025.
1) Make Work Pay: fire and rehire – changes to expenses, benefits, and shift patterns
Fire and rehire refers to the process of an employer dismissing an employee and then re-employing them (or someone else) under a new contract, usually with less favourable terms and conditions. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will, once commenced, make it an automatic unfair dismissal where an employee is dismissed or replaced in order to make changes to core terms in their employment contract (protected as ‘restricted variations’).
The Government is consulting on 2 types of restricted variations in relation to fire and rehire:
- employment expenses and benefits; and
- shift patterns.
Feedback is sought on which expenses, benefits, and shift changes should be covered by these protections. The aim is to protect employees from negative changes to their employment contracts, while still letting businesses adapt when needed. These proposals will need approval from Parliament before taking effect.
The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 1 April 2026 and can be found here.
2) Make Work Pay: recognition code of practice and e-balloting unfair practices
Code of practice on access and unfair practices
The Employment Rights Act 2025 makes several changes to the statutory trade union recognition process to ensure that workers have a meaningful right to organise through trade unions.
Before the changes can come into effect, the code of practice on access and unfair practices during recognition and derecognition process (‘the code’) must also be updated to reflect the legislative changes.
The Government has redrafted the existing version of the code and is now seeking views on these changes before the code is finalised and brought into effect.
Unfair practices in electronic balloting
In the plan to Make Work Pay, the government committed to allow unions to use modern and secure electronic and workplace balloting for statutory ballots, bringing union participation in line with modern voting practices that policies parties and listed companies already use. Those statutory ballots include recognition and derecognition ballots.
Before electronic balloting is allowed for recognition and derecognition ballots, the government wants to ensure that the necessary safeguards are in place to stop interference in these ballots.
The second part of this consultation seeks views on government proposals to legislate for new unfair practices to prevent interference in electronic recognition and derecognition ballots.
The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 1 April 2026 and can be found here.
3) Make Work Pay: modernising the Agency Work Regulatory Framework
The regulatory framework which governs the temporary labour market includes a number of laws:
- the Employment Agencies Act 1973
- the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003
- the Agency Workers Regulations 2010
The Employment Rights Act 2025 will now bring umbrella companies – a type of payment intermediary common in the agency work market – within scope of this framework.
The Government is now seeking views on:
- how the regulatory framework should be adapted to account for the activities of umbrella companies; and
- what broader changes should be considered in order to modernise the rules.
This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 1 May 2026 and can be found here.
4) Make Work Pay: improving access to flexible working
Through the Employment Rights Act, the Government is introducing a new process for employers to follow if they think they might need to reject a flexible working request.
This consultation is being run to ensure this new process meets the needs of both employers and employees.
The consultation seeks views on:
- a proposed new light touch process for employers consulting with employees where a request cannot be immediately agreed;
- what training, resources and support can help businesses navigate flexible working requests; and
- other ways to improve access to flexible working.
This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 30 April 2026 and can be found here.
