Employment Rights Act 2025

| commencement = Various (s 159)

| commencement = Various (s 159)

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| amends = {{ubli|[[Trade Union Act 2016]]}}

| replaces = {{ubli|[[Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023]]|[[Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023]]}}

| replaces = {{ubli|[[Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023]]|[[Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023]]}}

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}}

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The '''Employment Rights Act 2025''' ([https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/contents c 36]) is an [[Act of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] that alters [[UK labour law]]. In 2021, the Labour Party conference launched a ''New Deal for Working People'' that pledged to bring the UK up to international standards, including measures to "ban zero hours contracts", enable workers to claim employment rights on "day one", "outlaw fire and rehire", create a "single status of worker" to protect everyone who works, "establish Fair Pay Agreements across the economy", and create a "single enforcement body" properly funded to "enforce workers' rights".Labour, Green Paper, ''New Deal for Working People'' ([https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Employment-Rights-Green-Paper.pdf September 2022])

The '''Employment Rights Act 2025''' ([https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/contents c 36]) is an [[Act of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] that alters [[UK labour law]]. In 2021, the Labour Party conference launched a ''New Deal for Working People'' that pledged to bring the UK up to international standards, including measures to "ban zero hours contracts", enable workers to claim employment rights on "day one", "outlaw fire and rehire", create a "single status of worker" to protect everyone who works, "establish Fair Pay Agreements across the economy", and create a "single enforcement body", the [[Fair Work Agency]], properly funded to "enforce workers' rights".Labour, Green Paper, ''New Deal for Working People'' ([https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Employment-Rights-Green-Paper.pdf September 2022])

As the 2024 election approached, Labour changed its pledges to a reduced package of reforms in ''Labour's Plan to Make Work Pay''.''Labour's Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering A New Deal for Working People'' ([https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/MakeWorkPay.pdf June 2024]) In particular it postponed the "single worker status" pledge into consultation, and promised only to start a fair pay agreement in adult social care (not all sectors).See also E McGaughey, 'Employment Rights Bill: briefing on 12 key reforms, recommended amendments, and 3 further policies' (2025) [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5034372 ssrn.com] After the election it reduced its commitments further.UK Government, ''Next Steps to Make Work Pay'' (October 2024)

As the 2024 election approached, Labour changed its pledges to a reduced package of reforms in ''Labour's Plan to Make Work Pay''.''Labour's Plan to Make Work Pay: Delivering A New Deal for Working People'' ([https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/MakeWorkPay.pdf June 2024]) In particular it postponed the "single worker status" pledge into consultation, and promised only to start a fair pay agreement in adult social care (not all sectors).See also E McGaughey, 'Employment Rights Bill: briefing on 12 key reforms, recommended amendments, and 3 further policies' (2025) [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5034372 ssrn.com] After the election it reduced its commitments further.UK Government, ''Next Steps to Make Work Pay'' (October 2024)

==Developments after passage==

==Developments after passage==

Much of the Employment Rights Act 2025 did not come into effect immediately, despite being enacted on 18 December 2025, but required the Secretary of State to write further rules, which it had not done 17 months after the July 2024 election. Important examples include the need for the Secretary of State to write rules on when a guaranteed hours contract offer has to be made (in place of zero hours contracts), introduce electronic ballots in union votes, remove of the 50% turnout threshold for strike ballots, or the remit of the Fair Work Agency.

Much of the Employment Rights Act 2025 did not come into effect immediately, despite being enacted on 18 December 2025, but required the Secretary of State to write further rules, which it had not done 17 months after the July 2024 election. Important examples include the need for the Secretary of State to write rules on when a guaranteed hours contract offer has to be made (in place of zero hours contracts), introduce electronic ballots in union votes, remove of the 50% turnout threshold for strike ballots, or the remit of the [[Fair Work Agency]].

In October 2025, the government appointed as CEO of the Fair Work Agency a man named [[Matthew Taylor (political strategist)|Matthew Taylor]], a former Blair adviser, who had worked for the Conservative government on the "[[Taylor Review]]" that maintained the status quo for vulnerable workers.E McGaughey, 'Uber, the Taylor Review, Mutuality and the Duty Not to Misrepresent Employment Status' (2019) [48(2) https://academic.oup.com/ilj/article-abstract/48/2/180/5050118 Industrial Law Journal 180] In April 2026, Taylor announced strategic priorities would include “reducing regulatory burdens”, leading to scathing criticism from across the labour movement, and among labour experts, who described it as a "dead duck" and that "employers face “no credible threat of inspection, investigation or enforcement”.E Mellino, 'Fair Work Agency’s priorities criticised days before its launch' (5 April 2026) [https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/05/fair-work-agency-criticised-launch-dead-duck-employment-rights Guardian], quoting Prof David Whyte, of Queen Mary University

In October 2025, the government appointed as CEO of the [[Fair Work Agency]] a man named [[Matthew Taylor (political strategist)|Matthew Taylor]], a former Blair adviser, who had worked for the Conservative government on the "[[Taylor Review]]" that maintained the status quo for vulnerable workers.E McGaughey, 'Uber, the Taylor Review, Mutuality and the Duty Not to Misrepresent Employment Status' (2019) [48(2) https://academic.oup.com/ilj/article-abstract/48/2/180/5050118 Industrial Law Journal 180] In April 2026, Taylor announced strategic priorities would include “reducing regulatory burdens”, leading to scathing criticism from across the labour movement, and among labour experts, who described it as a "dead duck" and that "employers face “no credible threat of inspection, investigation or enforcement”.E Mellino, 'Fair Work Agency’s priorities criticised days before its launch' (5 April 2026) [https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/05/fair-work-agency-criticised-launch-dead-duck-employment-rights Guardian], quoting Prof David Whyte, of Queen Mary University

==See also==

==See also==