Employment, contingent workforce and immigration | UK Regulatory Outlook July 2026

Employment 

Employment Rights Act 2025: Latest implementation dates and developments  

The next wave of reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) comes into force in October 2026 and January 2027. 

Roadmap: updated implementation dates 

The increase in the Employment Tribunal time limit from three to six months takes effect from 1 October 2026 (9 November 2026 for breach of contract claims in Scotland).  

However, the following measures now take effect on 30 October 2026: 

• The duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. 
• Strengthening trade unions' right of access. 
• Reforms to the recognition and derecognition process, and all remaining trade union recognition measures, including freezing the bargaining unit on application. 
• New rights and protections for trade union representatives. 
• Extended protections against detriments for taking industrial action. 
• A requirement on employers to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment. 
• An obligation on employers not to permit third-party harassment of their employees. 
• A power enabling the minister to make regulations specifying evidence-based steps to prevent sexual harassment (complementing, not replacing, the broader duty). 

October 2026 will also see regulations reinstating the two-tier code on outsourcing (ensuring outsourced private sector employees are offered no less favourable terms than those transferred from the public sector) and regulations establishing the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body in England. 

The strengthening of tipping provisions will now take effect "by December 2026", following withdrawal of a draft revised Code from Parliament in light of objections from trade unions.  

Employers should also be preparing now for changes to unfair dismissal and fire-and-rehire rules, which take effect on 1 January 2027.  

Please speak to your Osborne Clarke contact for further details on our practical tracker and microsite, which set out the associated actions and considerations for each reform.  

New draft code published on Right to Trade Union Access 

The ERA introduces a new statutory right for independent trade unions to access workplaces (physically and digitally) for the purposes of meeting, recruiting, organising and representing workers. Regulations and a draft Code of Practice have been laid before Parliament; subject to approval, the changes take effect on 30 October 2026. 

Unlike statutory recognition requests, there are no minimum membership or support thresholds a union must demonstrate to request access. The right is designed as an early-stage organising tool. Where a statutory request is triggered, a specific procedural timeframe applies which may ultimately result in an access agreement being granted by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) where the parties are unable to reach agreement. Any access agreement granted by the CAC may not exceed two years. 

The code sets out the relevant considerations for employers and unions when entering into an access agreement as well as model terms, to which parties may wish to align.  

A complaint that an access agreement has been breached can be made to the CAC within three months of an alleged breach. If upheld, the CAC can order compliance steps and, for further breaches, impose financial penalties on a tiered basis: 

• First breach following a finding of non-compliance: up to £75,000.
• Second breach under the same agreement: up to £150,000.
• Each further breach under the same agreement: up to £500,000.

The tiered penalties apply even where subsequent breaches differ in nature, provided they arise from the same access agreement. Breaches at multiple workplaces under the same agreement can also be treated cumulatively. The CAC also has power to vary an agreement, order remedial steps and publicise non-compliance. 

Given that requests may be made from 30 October 2026, employers should act now: 

• Identify who will be responsible for handling requests given the strict timeframes. 
• Consider what resources (such as meeting rooms, IT systems) could reasonably be made available and identify any constraints. 
• Establish clear guidelines on handling digital access requests, including email cascades and virtual meetings. 
• Review CCTV use in areas that could be used for access meetings and update policies accordingly. 
• Review internal communications strategies to ensure the organisation's voice is well-established ahead of union activity. 
• Where recognition already exists, consider agreeing or updating a voluntary access arrangement. 
• Train managers, receptionists and security personnel on the new right and internal protocols. 

Updated Acas Code of Practice on Time Off for Trade Union Duties and Activities 

The ERA 2025 amends the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 to require employers, if asked, to provide reasonable accommodation and facilities to trade union officials and learning representatives.  

Following consultation, an updated Acas Code on Time Off for Trade Union Duties and Activities has been laid before Parliament. The updated code provides examples of representatives' duties and training needs, and practical guidance on handling time off requests. 

The code recommends that employers and unions consider entering into a formal agreement on time off, accommodation and facilities, which can reflect specific circumstances, provide a structure for handling requests, identify agreed factors to consider, and set realistic expectations for both managers and representatives. 

The new statutory provisions and code are due to come into force on 30 October 2026. 

New consultation: statutory holiday pay compliance and enforcement by the Fair Work Agency 

On 30 June 2026, the Department for Business and Trade published a consultation (closing 22 September 2026) on holiday pay enforcement by the Fair Work Agency (FWA), which is expected to begin enforcing statutory holiday pay rights from 2027.  

Proposals include: 

• Notices of underpayment carrying civil penalties of up to 200% of arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker. 
• A six-year claim period aligned with the new holiday pay record-keeping requirement. 

Enforcement is targeted at lower-paid and more precarious workers but the approach will provide opportunities for voluntary correction before enforcement action is taken. The enforcement action does not replace an individual worker's right to bring a tribunal claim, although FWA double recovery is not permitted and a tribunal may decline to consider a claim where the FWA is already investigating the same matter. 

New consultation: workplace monitoring technologies 

The government has published a consultation on the fair, transparent and responsible use of workplace monitoring technologies (tools used to collect, track, analyse or make decisions based on information about workers and their activities). The consultation (closing 30 September 2026) seeks views on eight principles reflecting the government's pre-consultation view of good practice: purpose and rationale; transparency and understanding; worker engagement and voice; fairness and equality; necessity, proportionality and privacy; human oversight and accountability; dignity and wellbeing; and accuracy, reliability and review. 

The consultation considers three potential interventions: 

• A statutory code of practice plus guidance. 
• A legislative duty to consult with trade unions or elected representatives. 
• Non-statutory guidance. 

The government will draw on consultation responses and available evidence before deciding whether any intervention is justified. 

New consultation: equal pay and pay discrimination 

The government has launched a consultation on equal pay and pay discrimination (closing 27 October 2026), proposing a two-phased reform programme. 

Phase 1 - fixing the system 

Phase 1 aims to make the existing regime more effective and less dependent on complex individual litigation. Proposals include: 

• A statutory requirement to include pay information in job adverts, or to provide it in writing before interview where no advert exists; detailed requirements (for example, salary range vs. fixed figure) to be set out in regulations. 
• Reintroduction of the statutory questionnaire procedure for pay discrimination disputes on an optional basis, with adverse inference powers for failures to respond. 
• Narrowing exceptions to equal pay audits, so tribunals must order an audit following a breach unless the employer has conducted a compliant audit within the previous three years; tribunals would also be required to order a non-discriminatory job evaluation scheme where a breach is found and none is in place. 
• A new equal pay regulatory and enforcement unit (potentially within the EHRC, FWA or a new body) with powers to require disclosure of pay data, job evaluation schemes and audits, and to require organisations to report on implementation of recommendations. 
• Formal reviews of Employment Tribunal rules for pay discrimination claims and the independent panel of experts used in equal value claims. 

Phase 2 - broadening protections 

Phase 2 proposes broadly aligning the Equality Act 2010's protections against pay discrimination on grounds of race and disability with the existing sex-based equal pay scheme. Key proposals include: 

• Enabling tribunals to determine race and disability pay claims where work is rated as equivalent or of equal value, to modify discriminatory contractual terms, and to require equal pay audits and job evaluation schemes in appropriate cases. 
• Allowing limited use of hypothetical comparators in two defined scenarios within the sex-based scheme, and giving tribunals a "just and equitable" discretion to extend time limits. 
• A new duty on all parties in contractual outsourcing arrangements to take all reasonable steps to uphold pay equality, enforced by the new unit. 

The government has committed to an extended implementation period before any measures are commenced. 

EHRC evidence review: taking steps to prevent workplace harassment 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published a rapid evidence review on workplace harassment on 25 June 2026, offering employers a practical, evidence-based framework as they prepare for the October 2026 reforms under the ERA. October will bring the strengthened "all reasonable steps" duty to prevent sexual harassment and a new obligation to prevent third-party harassment. 

The review confirms that low reporting rates do not indicate an absence of harassment, but rather a workplace in which employees feel unable to come forward. No single intervention is sufficient. Training must be behaviour-based, interactive and scenario-driven; general, one-off training cannot drive sustained behavioural change. Multiple reporting routes, including anonymous and digital options, should be available. The study cautions against treating anti-harassment measures as a tick-box compliance exercise. 

See Osborne Clarke's dedicated microsite which looks at each reform in detail, including actions for consideration. 

Contingent workforce 

Extended right to work checks for staffing supply chains take effect on 1 October 2026 

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 has expanded the scope of the UK's right to work (RTW) scheme, extending compliance obligations beyond traditional employment relationships to businesses that engage workers under service contracts, use individual sub-contractors or operate digital matching platforms. The changes take effect on 1 October 2026. 

Civil penalties of up to £60,000 per worker apply under an extended liability regime capable of reaching any party in a staffing supply chain. A statutory defence is available to those who can demonstrate that the prescribed requirements have been met: written contractual protections with the next party in the chain, substitution controls and proportionate identity verification processes. The Home Office published a draft code of practice in June setting out how those requirements operate in practice. 

The changes will be felt most acutely in sectors with high levels of flexible or subcontracted labour, including logistics, construction, hospitality and platform-based work. Businesses across staffing supply chains should act now to identify who holds the engagement in respect of each supplied worker, update contracts to include the five required contractual terms, and ensure that identity verification systems are operational before the October deadline. Read a full analysis of the new regime and the practical steps businesses should be taking. 

ERA consultation on reforms of zero-hours and similar contracts  

A reminder that the government's ERA consultation on zero-hours contracts and guaranteed hours rights for directly engaged zero-hours workers and agency workers closes on 25 August 2026. Anyone involved in the use, supply or payment of zero-hours or agency workers is encouraged to respond to the consultation. 

Immigration  

Extended right to work checks for staffing supply chains take effect on 1 October 2026 

See contingent workforce above.