UK Employment Rights Bill 2025 Checker

Key Changes in the UK Employment Rights Bill 2025

The UK Employment Rights Bill 2025, introduced by the Labour government in October 2024 and passed into law in 2025, represents the biggest overhaul of UK employment law since the Employment Relations Act 1999. It affects approximately 28.2 million UK workers. The headline changes are: day-one protection from unfair dismissal (replacing the 2-year qualifying period), a statutory right to request flexible working from day one, restrictions on zero-hours contracts, prohibition of fire-and-rehire as a negotiating tactic, stronger trade union recognition rights, and new protections for pregnant workers and those returning from parental leave.

Implementation is phased: some provisions (such as flexible working from day one) were already enacted under the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 in April 2024. Others, including day-one unfair dismissal protection, are subject to government consultation on a new 9-month statutory probationary period and are expected to take effect in 2026.

Day-One Unfair Dismissal Rights — What Changes

Currently, employees need 2 years of continuous employment to qualify for protection from unfair dismissal. Under the Employment Rights Bill, this qualifying period is removed — giving day-one protection. However, the Bill introduces a statutory probationary period (expected to be 9 months) during which a lighter procedural process applies for dismissals. After the probationary period ends, full unfair dismissal protections apply immediately.

This is a major change for short-tenure employees who previously had no recourse if dismissed in their first two years. Employers will need to run proper processes even within probationary periods, making documentation of performance issues and formal conversations during probation more important than ever.

Zero-Hours Contracts — New Worker Rights

Workers on zero-hours or short-hours contracts who have worked regular hours for 12 consecutive weeks gain the right to request a guaranteed hours contract reflecting their average hours. This must be offered automatically — workers will not need to request it. Employers cannot use exclusivity clauses preventing zero-hours workers from working for other employers. Agency workers on zero-hours arrangements gain equivalent protections through the agency.

The fire-and-rehire provisions are particularly significant: the Employment Rights Bill makes it automatically unfair dismissal to sack an employee and re-engage them on worse terms as a negotiating tactic (unless the employer faced genuine financial hardship with no alternative). This was previously allowed in limited circumstances following a 2022 court case involving P&O Ferries.