Employment Law Coffee Break: Update on employment law reforms, competition authority scrutiny, and immigration changes

Employment law reforms: Employment Rights Bill update and NDAs

Royal assent expected soon and further consultations announced

The Employment Rights Bill is due to return to the House of Lords on 28 October for further consideration of amendments. The House of Commons has rejected amendments proposed by the House of Lords (and not backed by the government) but some further movement on specific provisions should not be ruled out. It is widely anticipated that the bill will receive royal assent in early November.

In line with the government roadmap, many of the reforms in the bill will not come into force at royal assent but will be gradually introduced during 2026 and 2027.

The government has made it clear that it will be consulting on the detail of many of the reforms which will be set out in regulations. In line with this, it has today published four consultations on:

• the duty to inform workers of right to join a union;
• trade union right of access;  
• enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers; and
• leave for bereavement including pregnancy loss.

The government has not announced any changes to its proposed timeline for implementation in the roadmap. Employers should note that the proposed reforms around non-disclosure agreements and discrimination and harassment were introduced into the Employment Rights Bill after the roadmap was published but the government has indicated that the change is a "priority" and confirmed that it will be "moving as fast as possible to consult on the related secondary legislation and commence the measure".  

Legislative change to ensure NDAs do not silence victims and direct witnesses of crime

The government has also announced this week it will make an amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill to widen the existing statutory provision relating to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) so that victims and direct witnesses of crime "whether inside or outside the workplace – can share their experiences with anyone, for any purpose, including family, friends, employers and journalists, without fear of legal repercussions". 

This change will replace the existing narrower provision in the Victim and Prisoners Act 2024, which came into force on 1 October 2025, under which NDAs cannot be used to stop victims of crime from reporting crimes to the police and from accessing legal advice and other support, including victim support services. See our earlier Coffee Break.

However, the announcement confirms that the government recognises "that in some cases both parties may genuinely wish for confidentiality about certain details. The amendment will therefore give the Secretary of State powers to set criteria for 'excepted NDAs' in limited, legitimate circumstances" while specifying situations where disclosures will always be allowed, even if an "excepted NDA" exists.

The announcement states that "the change aligns with reforms in the Employment Rights Bill; which will void NDAs designed to silence workers about work-related harassment or discrimination". It will also not affect existing laws protecting sensitive information, such as the whistleblowing provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996.   

CMA scrutiny on employment practices with new non-competition guidelines

On 9 September 2025, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published new guidance entitled "Competing for Talent", providing advice on how competition law applies to recruitment, retention and remuneration practices. The guidance sends a clear message to businesses: agreements or practices between firms on how they hire or set pay can be anti-competitive, with potentially significant financial and reputational consequences for both the businesses and the individuals involved.

What may be anti-competitive behaviour

The guidance highlights three forms of anti-competitive behaviour for employers and also looks at  the employment practices of benchmarking and collective bargaining.

No-poaching agreements

No-poaching agreements are where a business agrees not to hire or poach another business's employees and can include no-hire agreements, agreements not to solicit another business's employees, or agreements not to approach or hire another business's employees without consent – all of which are seen as anti-competitive in reducing market mobility, affecting employees' abilities to negotiate higher salaries and their career development. Such agreements do not have to be mutual to constitute anti-competitive behaviour.

The guidance distinguishes time-limited non-solicitation agreements – commonly used in commercial contexts such as secondment or consultancy arrangements – provided they are proportionate and the duration does not go beyond what is reasonable and necessary to achieve the agreement's objective.

Wage-fixing agreements

Wage-fixing occurs when businesses that compete for the same type of employees agree between themselves to fix pay, benefits, or other terms and conditions of employment (including where this is conducted indirectly via a third party). This includes agreeing the same wage increase rates or setting caps on pay.

Examples of agreements likely to constitute illegal wage-fixing given in the guidance include where several companies agree among themselves at an industry forum to limit salary increases for certain roles at a set percentage or where a trade association was circulating lists of recommended pay rates to its members for roles in a particular sector.

Exchanging competitively sensitive information

Sharing information that reduces uncertainty in the market or could influence the competitive strategy of other businesses, such as future pay intentions or current salary data, can breach competition law. This can include unilateral sharing of information.

The guidance gives examples of HR professionals from competing companies agreeing to limit salary increases and/or align pay rates with each other, sharing information about the status of pay negotiations and/or pay rates in a social setting or being party to "benchmarking" exercises involving only a small number of employers.

Benchmarking and collective bargaining

However, the guidance is careful to highlight that not all employment practices will necessarily be considered anti-competitive. For example, it does not prohibit benchmarking activities outright. The CMA recognises that benchmarking activities are common in labour markets and it is more likely to permit benchmarking activities where a company benchmarks against publicly available data, or where benchmarking data is prepared by a third party and reports only aggregate, anonymous information.

The guidance also acknowledges that collective bargaining plays an important role in labour markets and will generally fall outside the reach of competition law. This protection extends to both employed and self-employed workers, reflecting the shift in labour markets and the rise of self-employed people in the gig economy. The CMA will not seek to enforce competition law whenever workers and companies come together to reach a genuine collective bargain, irrespective of whether workers are employed or self-employed. However, the guidance highlights the potential risk of wage-fixing, such as where employers in a particular sector collude not to offer more than the recommended minimum wage, meaning that it becomes the norm across the sector.

CMA enforcement

That the CMA is prepared to take robust action against anti-competitive practices is highlighted by the fact that, in March 2025, it imposed fines totalling over £4 million on five businesses in the sports content production and broadcasting sector for unlawfully sharing sensitive information about pay for freelancers working on their coverage of live sports events.

The case involved the businesses exchanging competitively sensitive information about the fees paid to freelance workers, including camera operators, sound engineers, and other technical staff. The companies shared this information bilaterally and through industry meetings, which enabled them to coordinate their approach to setting freelancer rates. This conduct reduced competition in the labour market and limited freelancers' ability to negotiate better terms.

The CMA found that this information sharing constituted a breach of competition law, despite the absence of any formal agreement in place.

What does this mean for employers?

The publication of this guidance sends a clear message to employers operating in the UK that this is an area of significant interest to the CMA. As well as the reputational and employee relations damage that may arise, a business breaching competition law may be fined up to 10% of their annual worldwide turnover and may be prevented from bidding for public contracts. Individuals may also face prosecution with the prospect of up to five years' imprisonment and, where they are a company director, disqualification for up to 15 years.

Employers should also be aware that in line with how competition authorities have stated that they will assess potentially anti-competitive behaviours, references in the guidelines to pay will be to total remuneration rather than purely salary/wages.

With the rise of digital technology and the ease at which information can be shared and obtained, employers must take steps now to ensure compliance:

• Ensure that all staff involved in recruitment and HR, including managers, understand how competition law applies to their activities, including the risks of information discussions with other businesses, including training to enable situations where competition law may be relevant to be recognised and responded to appropriately.
• Regularly review recruitment and pay processes to confirm that no arrangements with other organisations are in place which restrict hiring or set pay rates and which would be viewed as anti-competitive.
• Ensure that there are clear procedures in place for reporting and addressing concerns over potential breaches. Employees and whistleblowers can report concerns to the CMA, and the CMA operates a leniency policy which may provide immunity or reduced penalties for businesses that come forward. It may also offer rewards to informants in certain circumstances.
• Review and update regularly compliance policies to cover HR-related competition risks.

International picture

The CMA's focus also reflects the wider international picture with competition authorities globally intensifying their scrutiny of anti-competitive practices within labour markets. Employers operating across jurisdictions should therefore take steps to ensure that they understand the different compliance picture across jurisdictions and that they do not inadvertently fall foul of anti-competition laws. Earlier this year the European Commission published a decision fining two businesses active in the food delivery sector a total of €329 million for non-poach agreements and exchanges of competitively sensitive information, among other conduct. Additionally, the Commission is investigating possible collusion in the form of no poach agreements between companies active in the data centre construction sector. This investigation was launched in November 2024. For context, investigations in the food delivery sector cartel were carried out in June 2022 and November 2023, approximately two years before the infringement decision was issued.

In the US, the relevant competition authorities issued guidelines on Business Practices That Impact Workers on the 16 January 2025. These guidelines were published despite a 3-2 split in the Federal Trade Commission, with President Trump appointees Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson dissenting. As a result it still remains to be seen whether the guidelines will be withdrawn or the agencies of approach will change.

Next steps

If you wish to discuss the impact of the CMA guidance on your organisation or the approach of competition authorities to employment practices across other jurisdictions, please contact your usual Osborne Clarke employment contact or Simon Neill, Marc Shrimpling and Katherine Kirrage, partners in our competition team.

Immigration changes: watch our latest webinar

Our recent webinar looked at the latest immigration changes and the steps UK employers can take now to manage risk and maintain recruitment and mobility plans including:

• The confirmed changes to work routes and sponsor compliance.
• Intended policy shifts and timelines based on current government announcements.
• Implications of the home secretary’s recent statements for recruitment, right to work checks, salary thresholds, dependants, and indefinite leave to remain.
• Impact on workforce planning, onboarding, visa extensions and global mobility programmes.
• Immediate actions for HR/sponsor licence holders and risk management.

If you missed the webinar, you can catch up here.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the changes further, please do contact your usual Osborne Clarke contact or Gavin Jones, head of our immigration team.