Introduction
In December 2025, the new Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) became law. This Act will introduce significant changes to employment law over the next two years.
In addition, there is a new Act called The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA). This law sits alongside the existing UK-GDPR and UK Data Protection Act 2018. The Act intends to make data protection rules simpler for organisations.
(This document is written for SME’s in the UK Television Industry, so it only covers changes that are relevant to those employers. Published 18th February 2026).
Online guidance hub launched (Feb 2026)
A new guidance service has been launched by the UK government to provide support about the ERA for employers and employees. The service can be found at New employment rights: Guidance for businesses and workers, and provides guidance, support and a timeline of changes. It will be updated regularly.
Here is a summary of the key changes from both the Acts that will come into effect in the first half of 2026, which all Employers need to know about.
And also details of the key change to unfair dismissal – this doesn’t come into effect until 1st January 2027 but this will affect PAYE employees that join you in 2026.
| Effective Date of new change: | What is changing: | What does that mean?: | What do Employers need to do?: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19th June 2025 and 5th February 2026 (under DUAA) | Data Protection – Subject Access Requests 1. New Data Search Requirements: Before the DUAA the UK GDPR laws allowed individuals the right to access their personal data that was held by an organisation, but there was no statutory limit on how extensive a company’s internal search for an individual’s data should be. ICO guidance stated that Employers were only obliged to carry out a ‘reasonable and proportionate’ search for data. The new law now makes it a statutory requirement that the search for data can be ‘reasonable and proportionate’. This came into effect on 19th June 2025 and applies retrospectively to SAR’s submitted on or after 1st January 2025. 2. Data subject Access Requests – New timelines: Currently there is a one-month response period to a DSAR and this remains in the new law. However, the new law allows employers to extend this period by up to two additional months for complex or multiple requests. The new Act introduces a “stop the clock” provision which will allow organisations to pause the response time if they need the data subjects to clarify or refine their requests or to provide more information. Date of effect 5th February 2026. 3. There are also changes to Automated decision-making processes from 5th February 2026, which won’t affect you if you don’t use it for recruitment etc. 4. There are also changes to the standards required for transferring data internationally from 5th February 2026. | 1. This means that Employers are not required to undertake exhaustive or disproportionate searches for data, but they must make a genuine effort to locate the relevant personal data; and the scope of any search can be justified based on the context and available resources (i.e. you can take into account the cost, time, difficulty and volume of data involved). The ICO will re-issue their guidance on DSARs (expected early 2026, but not yet published). 2. December 25 ICO guidance on new timelines - https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/right-of-access/ | Employers will need to review and update their DSAR response processes to reflect the "reasonable and proportionate" standard. Employers will also need to document their SAR search – i.e. keep records of search locations and any reasons for excluding certain systems. Employers need to update their data protection policies and all Privacy notices to take into account all of these changes. |
| 6th April 2026 (ERA) | 1. Paternity Leave (of 2 weeks) becomes a Day 1 right (not Paternity Pay). 2. Unpaid Parental Leave becomes a Day 1 right. 3. The restriction on taking paternity leave and pay after shared parental leave will be removed. | 1. An employee will no longer need to have worked for you for 26 weeks before becoming entitled to paternity leave. In adoption cases, the changes only apply to placements starting on or after 6 April 2026. (Statutory Paternity Pay still needs 26 weeks service). 2. An employee will no longer need to have worked for you for 1 year before becoming entitled to unpaid Parental leave. | Handbooks/contracts will need to be updated. (Notice rules to take paternity leave or unpaid parental leave do not change). For everyone who gains the right to parental or paternity leave on or after 6 April 2026, they will be able to give notice to take it from 18 February 2026 |
| 6th April 2026 (ERA) | Paternity Leave will be extended to fathers and partners, where the mother or adopter or surrogacy parent of a child dies in childbirth, or within a year of the birth or adoption. This will be a Day 1 right. | This will be called Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave. Under the new law a bereaved partner can take up to 52 weeks paternity leave in one block. There is no statutory right to pay, that is at the employer’s discretion. | Policies will need to be updated (Paternity leave, any Compassionate Leave, etc) along with Contracts. |
| 6th April 2026 (ERA) | Statutory Sick Pay will be payable to all PAYE workers from the first day of illness and the 3 day qualifying period will be removed. ---------------------------------- In addition, the requirement for a worker to be earning £125 (lower earnings limit) to qualify for SSP will be removed. | SSP will be payable to sick workers straight away. ---------------------------------- Lower paid workers will, from 6th April 2026, either receive 80% of their weekly earnings or the current rate of SSP (£123.25 from April 2026), whichever is lower. | Handbooks/contracts will need to be updated. Clearly more workers will be eligible for SSP. You will have to monitor how this affects you (is sickness absence increasing?) and consider your strategies on how to manage this, including clear sickness reporting requirements, ability to flag any patterns and clear communication with workers. |
| 6th April 2026 (ERA) | Whistleblowing protection for sexual harassment: Sexual harassment will become a qualifying disclosure under whistleblowing legislation. This means employees will be able to benefit from protection against detriment and dismissal following a disclosure about sexual harassment. | The change means that workers will not need to identify an existing legal obligation to make a qualifying disclosure about sexual harassment, provided that they have complied with the other requirements, such as holding a reasonable belief that the issue is in the public interest. | Whistleblowing policies need to be updated. |
| 6th April 2026 (ERA) | Employers will be legally required to retain holiday pay and annual leave records for a minimum of 6 years (from the date they were created). | Currently, employers need to keep records of annual leave taken, but not payments made. (Note: A new Fair Work Agency will be launched in April 2026 which takes on enforcement respon-sibilities that are currently with other bodies (including the HMRC and The Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority). The Fair Work Agency will have the right to inspect your annual leave records (etc.) from this date. Employers who fail to comply will be committing an offence and will be at risk of a fine). | Records need to be maintained and your Data Protection Privacy Notices for staff need to be updated. The records you need to keep: • The amount of statutory annual leave taken by each worker. • The calculation of any holiday pay paid in lieu upon termination of employment. • The calculation of holiday pay and what it includes. It will be up to the employer to decide the format to keep these records. |
| 19th June 2026 (under DUAA) | Data Protection - New right to complain: employees will have new a statutory requirement to complain directly to their employer first, if they believe their employer has breached their data protection rights, rather than approach the ICO first. (All ‘data subjects’ have this right, any individual, not just employees). This will come into effect on 19th June 2026. | Employees must complain first to their employer (data controller) and only after that can they complain to the ICO. From this date Employers must have a process in place to handle complaints from data subjects, which includes: • helping employees make complaints about how their data is being used (such as providing electronic complaints forms); • acknowledging any complaint within 30 days; • taking ‘appropriate steps’ to investigate each complaint without undue delay; • notifying the complainant of the outcome of their investigation. While the new law introduces new employer obligations, it also provides an opportunity to resolve concerns internally before escalation to the ICO. The ICO’s new Complaints guidance is currently being consulted on and new guidance is expected in winter 2026. | Employers should review their internal complaints procedures in advance of the new statutory right to complain. Data Protection Policies and Staff Privacy Notices will need to be updated, and possibly Contracts. |
| From October 2026, date tbc (ERA) | Fire and rehire practices will no longer be permitted (i.e. re-contracting existing employees onto new, usually worse, terms). | More details to follow. | |
| From October 2026, date tbc (ERA) | The time limit for an employee to make an Employment Tribunal claim will increase from 3 to 6 months. | More details to follow. | |
| From October 2026, date tbc (ERA) | There will be an extension of the requirements for employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace – employers will need to take “all” reasonable steps rather than just take “reasonable” steps. Employers can also be held liable for third-party harassment of their staff (e.g. by customers) from this date. | There will possibly be new Regulations in 2027 to specify the steps regarded as ‘reasonable’. | Sexual Harassment policies will need updating. Staff training may need to be considered, and risk assessments done. |
| From October 2026, date tbc (ERA) | Now, Employers must give all their PAYE workers a written statement (contract) before they start work. The new law requires that this Statement must also include an explicit statement that the worker has the right to join a trade union. | The specific new content for contracts that’s needed will be set out in future secondary legislation. | Contracts will need amending when it’s clear what they need to include. |
| From 1st January 2027 (ERA) | 1. Currently an employee (PAYE) needs to have 2 years service with you before they can claim unfair dismissal at an Employment Tribunal (unless they have a reason to claim automatic unfair dismissal, e.g. for dismissal for pregnancy or whistleblowing). From 1st January 2007, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal changes from 2 years to 6 months. 2. There is currently a cap on compensation a Tribunal can award for a successful unfair dismissal claim, which is £118,233 or 52 week’s pay. This cap will be removed. 3. Currently, PAYE employees can also bring a claim in respect of an employer’s failure to provide a written statement of the reasons for their dismissal provided they have at least two years’ service. This will be reduced to 6 months. 4. In addition, Employees who fail to disclose a Spent criminal conviction are currently required to have at least two years’ service to bring an unfair dismissal claim. This qualifying period will be completely removed. | 1. You need to consider now how you will manage this, because this change affects PAYE employees you employ now, if they are still employed on 1st January 2027. The Government have adopted what is called a ‘commencement approach’ which means that any employee who has at least six months’ service on 1st January 2027 will have unfair dismissal protection from that date. So, anyone you employ from now on will have 6 months service at January 2027 and will therefore be covered by this change. Employee’s you take on later this year, e.g. on 1 December 2026 will qualify for the right not to be unfairly dismissed on 31st May 2027. And so on…. The Acas Code on Disciplinaries and Dismissal, will be updated. It’s unlikely that the entitlement to receive statutory redundancy pay would be reduced to under 2 years service (although it’s probably that any unfair dismissal through an unfair redundancy procedure would still kick in at 6 months from 1st January 2027). | 1. This creates a far more challenging environment for early stage dismissals. Employers may need to: • tighten up their recruitment practices, taking of references etc. • You can make changes to the notice period during prob-ationary periods, and you should consider what probationary period length will suit you best so an employee who is not a good fit for the job can be actively ‘managed’ and assessed before the 6 months is up (and if necessary, terminate their employment in good time before the first 6 months are up). • For example, you could reduce prob-ation periods to three months with limited ability to extend (by say no more than a month) so that the decision as to whether some should remain in their role is made much earlier. You may need to update any probation policies and procedures to ensure concerns are docu-mented properly with regular meetings to discuss progress and that the employee is clear on any areas of concern. You will need to be careful though with new employees who take any type of ‘family’ leave early on their employment – i.e. how can you assess their performance if they are away? Their taking the leave will not ‘stop the clock’ on their unfair dismissal qualifying period. Dismissing them without a proper process may leave you with a discrimination claim. You also need to be careful of dismissals because of ill health/ absence in the early months. Dismissing them without a proper process may leave you with a discrimination claim. (2. Practically, the removal of the compensation cap may only affect high earners if their employment is term-inated, in terms of settlement agreement £). |
| During 2007, all dates tbc: (ERA) | Further reforms on: Gender equality and supporting employees through the menopause; Enhanced dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers; Bereavement leave including pregnancy loss; Flexible working; Guaranteed hours contracts and shift change notices for zero and low hours workers. | Further details to follow! A new requirement that large employers with more than 250 staff must produce Gender Pay Gap Action Plans and Menopause Action Plans. This is voluntary from 6th April 2026, but mandatory from 6th April 2027. |