Text you may find useful to adapt for a motion on the Employment Rights Act

We welcome the Employment Relations Act becoming law on 18 December 2025.

We further welcome the measures to come soon under the Act:

• Immediate removal of Minimum Service Level rules for public sector strikes

And from 18 February 2026

• A reduction in the notice period a union must give an employer for industrial action from 14 days to 10 days.

• Threshold of 40% of all entitled to vote for strike ballots in public services removed.

• Strike ballot mandates increase from six months to 12 months.

• Removing the requirement for trade unions to appoint a picketing supervisor.

• Much less information legally required for strike ballot notices.

• Protection against dismissal for all strikers, not just for the first 12 weeks of strike.

• Union political funds become “opt out” rather than “opt in” for new members.

From April 2026

• Union ballots can be electronic or (for strikes) in workplace

• Easing trade union recognition

• Paternity leave becomes a “day one” right (currently: after 26 weeks)

• Ordinary parental leave becomes a “day one” right (currently: after one year)

• Statutory sick pay (SSP) to be paid from the first day of illness (currently: from fourth day), and lower earnings limit removed

• Maximum “protective award” for failure to consult in collective redundancy doubles from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay

• Protection from detriment and unfair dismissal for whistleblowers making a sexual harassment disclosure

• Fair Work Agency set up.

From October 2026

• Protection from “fire and rehire”.

• New negotiating body for adult social care workers

• New duty for bosses to inform workers of their right to join a trade union

• Improved union right of access to workplaces

• Improved rights to facilities for workplace union reps

• Strikers protected against “detriment” (not just “unfair dismissal”)

• Time limit for claim to an employment tribunal up to six months (from, usually, three)

• A public sector outsourcing “two-tier” code

From January 2027

• Unfair dismissal claims after six months (vs two years, but not “day one” as originally drafted)

We note however that many valuable measures in the Act are subject to delay or depend for their value on the detail of future secondary legislation. We call on the government:

• To remove the 50% turnout threshold for strike ballots immediately on the introduction of electronic and workplace balloting

• To work with the affiliated unions to ensure the Act ends up giving strong protection from “fire and rehire” and zero hours contracts

• To give definite dates for the introduction of:

• Zero-hours contracts reform

• Right to be paid if a shift is cancelled

• Stronger protections against dismissal for pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave

• Statutory bereavement leave

We support the call of the Fire Brigades Union for “an ‘Employment Rights Bill 2’ [with] a complete ban on fire and rehire practices, mandatory sectoral collective bargaining, and a single status of workers so all workers are protected regardless of visa status”.

We further call on the government to introduce a single-clause Bill to restore “day one” rights to appeal against unfair dismissal, as were originally in the Employment Rights Bill but dropped to avoid further delay by the Lords on the whole Bill.