Over the past year, employers have spent a lot of time preparing for the Employment Rights Act. Now comes the harder part – putting it all into practice.

Are managers confident handling new responsibilities? Are processes being followed consistently? And would your business be able to show it acted fairly if a decision was challenged?

As part of the Shaw Gibbs Group, we’re helping employers, HR teams and managers put these changes into practice and spot where the biggest risks still sit.

In this guide, we’ll look at what we’ve learned so far, the reforms having the biggest impact and what you should be focusing on next.

What Employment Rights Act changes are already in force?

Statutory Sick Pay

Day-one Statutory Sick Pay has been one of the biggest practical changes for employers. This has meant reviewing absence processes, payroll procedures and manager guidance, as well as how sickness conversations are handled.

Now is a good time to check whether absence policies are up to date, managers are handling conversations well and records are being kept consistently. You can read more about this in our blog here.

Day-one parental and paternity leave rights

Day-one entitlement to parental and paternity leave means you need to communicate these rights clearly from the point someone joins the business.

For many businesses, this means reviewing onboarding, eligibility checks, policies, guidance and manager training so requests are handled consistently.

Preventing sexual harassment

Employers are now expected to take reasonable steps to reduce the risk of sexual harassment at work. That means checking whether employees understand expected behaviour, reporting routes are clear and managers know how to respond.

Redundancy and collective consultation

The increased protective award for failing to properly consult on collective redundancies has doubled – this exposure means you are under greater pressure than ever to ensure consultation processes are robust and well documented.

Getting redundancy decisions wrong can create significant financial, legal and reputational risks, so seeking HR advice early can help ensure the process is handled fairly and compliantly.

Fair Work Agency

The creation of the Fair Work Agency has changed the way employment law risk should be viewed. Increased enforcement means businesses need to show they are following good employment practices consistently, from paying employees correctly to keeping accurate records and applying policies fairly.

A common link between all these changes is greater emphasis on fairness, transparency and consistency. Your policies may now reflect the legal changes, but have managers had guidance on how to apply them in real situations – and are they doing that fairly and consistently?

What changes are still to come?

Unfair dismissal

One of the key upcoming changes is the reduction in the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection. The planned change, due in January 2027, means more employees will gain protection earlier in their employment.

Fair processes will become even more important from the beginning of employment.

January is not far away, so you should use this time to review recruitment decisions, probation processes and performance management. You can still manage performance and make decisions where needed, but you must be able to show decisions are fair, reasonable and supported by evidence.

Our blog ‘Unfair dismissal and the Employment Rights Act’ explores this in more detail.

Fire and rehire restrictions

Dismissing someone then rehiring them on worse terms, known as ‘fire and rehire’, will become automatically unfair in most cases from January 1 2027. Where businesses need to change terms and conditions, you will need clear business reasons, proper consultation and careful communication.

Zero-hours contracts and flexible working arrangements

From January 2027, workers on zero-hours contracts will have the right to guaranteed working hours if they want them. Employers using flexible arrangements should check contracts are clear, working patterns are fair and managers are applying processes consistently. Our blog looks at this in more detail here.

What should employers focus on next?

If the new reforms are not applied consistently, you could face tribunal claims, enforcement action, financial penalties and potential damage to trust and reputation.

To reduce this risk, you should keep reviewing policies, training managers, communicating clearly, checking processes and seeking HR advice if in doubt about how the new legislation should be put into practice.

Future tribunal claims are likely to focus less on whether businesses know the law and more on whether they apply it fairly and consistently.

Join our Employment Rights Act webinar

If you would like a clearer understanding of what you should be focusing on now, join our upcoming webinar. On Thursday, September 17, we will cover the changes already affecting employers, the biggest practical challenges, what to review now and how to reduce risk.

You can register your free place here.

Download our compliance checklist

We’ve also developed a free 2026 Compliance Checklist that lets you work through your current practices and compare them against the new requirements. It highlights gaps, and gives you a clearer picture of what needs attention, including if any of your practices are putting you at risk.

Completing the checklist is a solid starting point for planning next steps, whether that’s updating policies, training managers, or reviewing processes.

Download the checklist here.

We can talk through your checklist results and discuss next steps. We’ll explore what support, if any, would be helpful.

If you would like help reviewing the checklist, your HR processes, updating policies or supporting managers with these changes, our team would be happy to help. Contact me or the team on 01256 328428 or email info@realityhr.co.uk.