The Employment Rights Bill – updates and roadmap

• Stronger ‘fire and rehire’ restrictions: It would be automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing changes to core contractual terms (e.g. pay, hours, holidays). Dismissing an employee and replacing them with a non-employee doing substantially the same work would also be automatically unfair, unless there is a genuine redundancy situation.
• Bereavement leave for early pregnancy loss: The right to statutory bereavement leave would be extended to pregnancy loss before 24 weeks (with detailed provisions to follow in secondary legislation).
• Agency worker protections: Agency workers who accept offers of guaranteed hours would be treated as direct employees of the hirer.
• Additional public sector safeguards: These include protections for existing contractual terms and greater parliamentary oversight of relevant codes and guidance.

House of Lords amendments

In July 2025 the House of Lords held the Report Stage for ERB. Several Government amendments were agreed, including changes to the ‘fire and rehire’ provisions and the ban on certain NDAs (see above) and the creation of national negotiating bodies for school support staff and adult social care workers.

However, (perhaps surprisingly) a number of significant non-Government amendments were also approved, including:

• Retain a six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal, blocking the government’s proposal for day-one rights.

• Require new regulations to strengthen whistleblower protections and impose a duty on employers to investigate protected disclosures.

• Permit employees to be accompanied at disciplinary or grievance hearings by a ‘certified professional companion’ (details to be confirmed in future regulations).

• Introduce a statutory definition of ‘seasonal work’ for future ERB regulations.

• Mandate Government consultation with at least 500 SMEs on the impact of ERB provisions.

• Guaranteed hours: Changing the employer’s duty to proactively offer a guaranteed hours contract into a worker’s right to request such a contract. Under the amendment, if a worker makes a formal request for a guaranteed hours contract, employers would be required to offer one.

• Trade union ballot thresholds: The 50% turnout requirement for industrial action ballots would be retained and new members of a union will contribute to the political fund only if they have actively chosen to do so.

• Notice of shift cancellations: Adding a definition of ‘short notice’ (when payment for cancellations will be triggered), so that employers will be exempt from paying employees for cancelled shifts if the cancellation is made with at least 48 hours’ notice.

• Special constables’ leave: special constables will be entitled to time off from their regular employment to carry out police duties.

• Amendments to ensure the proposed School Support Staff Negotiating Body cannot prevent employers from offering improved terms.

That said, it is unlikely the majority of these amendments will survive into the final version of the Bill. Particularly those that weaken key manifesto commitments (such as  day-one unfair dismissal rights and guaranteed hours offers). Ultimately ERB is now likely to move back and forth between the Commons and the Lords until they agree on final wording – but how long that will take is uncertain.