With effect from 30 October 2026, new regulations bring into force more changes from the Employment Rights Act 2025.There are two main areas of change.
1. Protection from Discrimination and Harassment
Currently an employer must take reasonable steps to prevent their workers from sexual harassment. From 30 October 2026, this onus on employers will be strengthened and they must now take all reasonable steps. ACAS guidance is that some of the steps an employer can take to prepare for this change include reviewing and updating existing policies, ensuring workers have more than one way to report sexual harassment and providing sexual harassment training that is suited to the organisation. What is reasonable will of course depend on the employer’s circumstances and ACAS acknowledge that the larger an organisation, the more steps they will likely need to take.
These regulations also bring into force the Government’s power to prescribe the reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The regulations detailing the steps are expected to come into force in 2027/28 after consultation and to include carrying out specified assessments, publishing specific plans, measures relating to the reporting of sexual harassment and the handling of complaints.
Employers will also now be obliged to take all reasonable steps to prevent any third party from harassing their employees. This harassment can be in relation to any protected characteristic. For this third-party harassment to be proven, the employee alleging the harassment must show that their employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the behaviour. A third party is anyone an employee encounters during their work ranging from members of the public to guests at a conference arranged for clients. These encounters can be virtual or in person. This duty is onerous on the employer. ACAS has published guidance around what all reasonable steps could be in practice including regular risk assessments, the monitoring and recording of incidents and actions taken and ensuring that client contracts include relevant policies.
2. Trade Unions
These changes are implemented through amendments to the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992.
Qualifying Trade Unions will now have the statutory right, supported by an access agreement, to enter a workplace or communicate with workers. Trade unions can rely on these agreements to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers. It can also be to facilitate collective bargaining. However, the reason for this access cannot be to organise industrial action. The union and employer can negotiate the terms of the union’s access following a specified procedure which will then become the access agreement. If an employer fails to respond to the union’s request to negotiate access terms an application can be made to the Central Arbitration Committee who can then determine the access terms.
An employer when allowing a union or learning representative time off to carry out their duties, upon request must now provide accommodation or other facilities as is reasonably required by the employee’s role. An employee can bring an employment tribunal complaint for an employer’s failure to provide the requested time off or facilities. In a complaint regarding requested time off, it is for the employer to show that the requested time off was unreasonable.
Trade Union equality representative’s may now also request time off from their employer to carry out duties related to their role. As with the union and learning representatives, the employer must also provide accommodation or other facilities as is reasonable, upon request.