The Employment Rights Bill is nearing the end of its journey through Parliament, meaning that a raft of significant changes to UK employment law will soon be upon us.
With much of the press focusing on the enhanced rights the Bill will give to employees, we also wanted to look into what this means for business owners, as well as internal hirers and recruiters.
With so much noise surrounding the Employment Rights Bill before it even comes into force, here you’ll find the advice of YOONO’s Chief Legal Officer, James Clark, to help you gain clarity about the legislation, and determine how UK businesses can start preparing now.
What is the Employment Rights Bill?
A cornerstone of the UK Labour government’s ‘Make Work Pay’ agenda and currently passing through Parliament, the Employment Rights Bill is designed to protect employees against unfair dismissal from the first day of employment, rather than after the currently legislated two years. There will also be additional benefits for employers under the new Bill, including a ban on zero-hours contracts to agency workers, and guaranteeing sick pay to 1 million of the lowest-paid workers in the UK.
The Bill has been contentious, with worker’s unions largely welcoming the expected changes, while businesses remain uncertain—and in some cases, extremely concerned—about the implications of the legislation.
The five largest UK business groups (the B5 industry groups) warned in an April 2024 open letter to peers in the House of Lords that the Bill ‘will have deeply damaging implications’ for economic growth as it stood, and carried signatures from the British Chambers of Commerce, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the Federation of Small Businesses, and Make UK.
After lobbying efforts, business groups won two major concessions in October 2024 when the Bill was first published, putting forward the inclusion of an up-to-nine-months statutory probation period, and an allowance for zero-hours contracts to continue where employees request them.
When will the Employment Rights Bill come into force?
Following the roll-out of the government’s roadmap for the Employment Rights Bill, which was announced in July 2025, the timetable for the legislation looks to extend into 2027.
The highly-anticipated ‘Day 1’ right for an employee to claim unfair dismissal is now expected to come into force sometime in 2027, which is later than the Autumn 2026 date previously indicated. Other changes, including a ban on fire and rehire, are likely to be phased in over the next two years.
What does the Employment Rights Bill mean for UK employers?
Whilst employees can expect improved rights under the reforms, business owners are generally concerned about the Bill’s implications and in particular how this could impact on their ability to dismiss employees. Of course, this is not the only issue covered by the Bill, but it has quickly become the most discussed aspect of it, within business, unions and the press.
The government has addressed what they have described as ‘misleading reporting’ surrounding the Employment Right Bill, which includes the claim that private firms will be pressured into hiring diversity officers and that the Bill will also impose bans on ‘offensive banter’ in the workplace.
We are not here to add to speculation, but simply to assess the current legislation and likely future reforms, to give you the complete facts and make you aware of possible legislative change that you may need to be aware of.
The ‘Day 1’ right
Under the current law, employees must have a minimum of two years continuous service to obtain protection from unfair dismissal. In other words, before two years service an employee can be fired without needing to show a fair reason or follow a formal procedure. However, certain ‘unfair reasons’ are banned under the current law (such as dismissing an employee for whistleblowing). Other employment rights also have minimum service requirements of varying lengths.
Under the Bill, this will change so that employees automatically receive ‘Day 1’ unfair dismissal rights. As part of this, there will still be a ‘probationary period’ (the length of which is yet to be confirmed, but is likely to be 9 months), under which employers will need to follow a ‘light touch’ process to dismiss an employee fairly.
Under the new reforms, employees will also likely receive the right to paternity and unpaid parental leave rights from the first day of employment. At the moment, there is a qualifying period of 26 weeks and 1 year respectively. From Day 1, employees will also have the right to take bereavement leave, for which there is currently a qualifying period of 6 months.
Changes to zero hours
The Bill is also expected to give zero hours workers the right to request guaranteed hours which reflect hours regularly worked over a 12-week reference period, and to be compensated where shifts are cancelled or curtailed.
For employers, changes to zero hours contracts may entail more administration and paperwork. For example, employers will need to accurately track hours worked by zero hours staff over the reference period, as well as put processes in place to provide reasonable notice of shifts and manage cancellations.
What action can employers take before the Bill is introduced?
With the Employment Rights Bill likely to be phased in over the next couple of years, it’s extremely important that businesses are prepared for changes to employment law, and put steps in place to ensure that they are both compliant and able to manage the transition from a practical perspective.
There is action you can take now, with these tips a good starting point for anticipating the likely changes to legislation in the years ahead:
Automate to administrate
Automated technologies are becoming more commonplace in modern businesses, but these will become even more indispensable in managing the possible increased admin surrounding hiring zero hours employees.
Need help selecting the best automated and AI tech to ease the transition? Discover these HR tech hacks to make time-consuming administrative tasks quick and simple.
Offset Day 1 risk with intelligent screening
The Employment Rights Bill will make it much harder for employers to dismiss workers from the first day, which puts even more pressure on selecting the right hire in the first place.
Whilst traditional background checks cover a range of ground, including potential criminal records or financial discrepancies, it can be difficult to assess if a candidate will be a good long-term fit from CV and interview assessment alone.
New types of intelligent background research, which differ from background checks like DBS, place an emphasis on character and context to ensure the person you hire will be the best match for your business before you even meet them.
A tool like YOONO uses AI-assisted technology to cross-check sources, building a complete timeline of education, employment and company affiliations, while also using intelligence to analyse additional data like tone and sentiment, flagged topics and related people, so you have the complete picture before extending an offer.
Stay ahead of the changes
Take pragmatic action by keeping up-to-date with the Bill, as legislation phases in, to avoid being caught out.
With so much speculation ongoing in the press and amongst businesses relating to the Bill, you can keep a clear head by following the government’s planned roadmap for the Employment Rights Bill on their website here.
The government have admitted that small businesses may be particularly affected, and ‘may need additional, tailored support in order to adapt to changes.’ With this in mind, they have promised to provide ‘sufficient time’ for businesses to adapt to the reforms. Nonetheless, this may still take some businesses by surprise, so make a note of key expected dates and plan accordingly.
A new era for employment law and UK business?
Together with other changes covered by the Employment Rights Bill, this collectively represents the biggest shake-up of employment law in a generation. At a very high level, the overall effect will be that employees receive more rights at an earlier stage in employment, and also make it more difficult for companies to dismiss hires that don’t work out, as well as dealing with difficult or unsuitable employees.
As such, the employer’s focus on hiring the exact ‘right’ candidate is far more sharpened, because there is significant long-term risk in the case of getting it wrong. Dismissing employees—even within an initial probationary period—will be far more difficult. Consequently, it makes sense to invest more effort and to dive deeper during the recruitment process, in order to reduce the likelihood of a bad hire.
One of the strongest messages of the Bill to employers is that a probationary period can no longer be seen as the testing ground it once was. Now, you have to be sure, and hiring with guesswork in mind will undoubtedly lead to serious headaches for business owners down the line. If you want to be certain the people you hire are the best fit for your business from Day 1, a thorough background screening and character assessment is the only practical way to determine their suitability.
You can use YOONO in combination with criminal and financial checks to analyse a huge pool of data relating to a candidate, helping you to assess their background, credentials and character.
Using only publicly available sources, it’s a useful way to perform background research at any stage of the hiring process, with no candidate consent required. Start a search today, and start preparing for Day 1 employment reforms.