UK government forges ahead with ERA despite delays

The government updated its ERA roadmap on 4 February setting out implementation dates for a series of reforms that will transform the employment landscape in England, Scotland and Wales throughout 2026 and 2027.

This follows the announcement last month that the current cap on unfair dismissal compensatory awards will be lifted on 1 January 2027 alongside the lowering of the one year unfair dismissal minimum service qualification period.

• Employment Rights Act: implementation for UK employers in 2026 and beyond

The revised roadmap contains several other amendments to the two-year implementation timeline. For example, the government will implement the ERA’s restrictions on ‘fire and rehire’ later than planned, pushing the start date from October 2026 to January 2027.

Although it does not specifically mention the new ‘fire and replace’ measures, it is envisaged that the government will also delay these until January 2027 to align with the complementary ‘fire and rehire’ reforms.

There are also a number of notable changes for trade unions. From October 2026, the government will extend the prohibition on unfair practices to apply across the entire recognition or derecognition process. Other planned changes to trade union recognition will still take effect earlier, in April 2026.

New measures for workplace and electronic statutory trade union ballots will be introduced during August 2026. This is expected to affect industrial action ballots only, but excludes statutory recognition and derecognition ballots, which will follow later, in 2027.

Although the new roadmap does not mention repealing the 50% industrial action ballot turnout threshold, the government is expected to remove this at the same time as bringing in electronic balloting for industrial action in August 2026.

Sue Gilchrist, an employment law expert with Pinsent Masons, said the revised timeline would have a minimal impact on the time employers have to prepare and get their house in order. “Overall, these measures slightly slow certain aspects of the ERA’s implementation. Employers may particularly welcome the delayed rollout of the ‘fire and rehire’ reforms as they evaluate where they need greater contractual flexibility,” she said.

“However, the slightly longer timelines do not give employers much room to ease off their preparations. Most implementation dates remain unchanged, and the government continues to signal a firm commitment to delivering the ERA as planned.”

The revised roadmap does not provide a fixed implementation timetable for several measures. For example, there is no reference to when pay gap reporting will be extended to outsourced workers, but this is expected to coincide with broader reforms in the, as yet unpublished, draft Equality (Race & Disability) Bill. The government confirmed it will provide a timeline for this work soon.

It is also still unclear when the government will bring in the prohibition on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) related to harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Gilchrist said this may depend on the wider NDA review announced in 2025 for victims and witnesses of crimes.

Although neither the reintroduction of legal aid for Employment Tribunal claims nor the requirement for employers to keep annual leave compliance records for six years are mentioned, she said the implementation of these measures may also be reliant on further input from the Fair Work Agency.

Separately, the government has published new consultations covering four different areas within the ERA.

Two consultations relate specifically to ‘unfair dismissal’: Fire and rehire: the scope of ‘restricted variations’ (PDF 48 pages / 577 KB) and Fire and Rehire: changes to expenses, benefits, and shift patterns.

Another consultation concerns unfair practices related to union recognition and puts forward a revised draft code of practice governing access and unfair practices during the recognition and derecognition process, replacing the 2005 code, and questions whether the current statutory list of unfair practices provides enough protection to prevent interference in electronic recognition and derecognition ballots.

A consultation paper on flexible working has also been published, which outlines a new proposed process which must take place before a flexible working request is rejected under the new ERA framework.

The government is also looking at introducing new consultation requirements for employers when amending or developing their tipping policies, and the practical operation of the statutory code of practice.

All these consultations close on 1 April 2026.