Consultations galore! Headlines for employers

The government has announced a flurry of new policies, consultations, or responses to consultations. These cover a range of issues, including whistleblowing reform and restricting non-compete clauses, to name a couple. Here are our key takeaways.
                

FIRE & REHIRE

Restrictions on dismissing an employee for refusing to agree a variation to their contract of employment will come into force in March 2027 (delayed from January 2027).

Following a consultation, the government has recently announced that variations to contractual entitlements to travel expenses (including mileage), accommodation expenses, and accommodation as a benefit in kind will attract the highest level of protection under the new rules.

See our article Fire and rehire restrictions delayed until March 2027 for more detail, including why these rules have wider effect than you might think, and practical steps.
               

WHISTLEBLOWING

On 12 October 2026, the government published a consultation on whistleblowing reform. Broadly speaking, the consultation is aimed at ways to improve the existing regime, with some expanded scope. The most striking element is a proposed financial incentivisation scheme for whistleblowing in relation to economic crime. This would be similar to an existing scheme in the USA.

Another interesting suggestion in the consultation is a statutory requirement on employers to have whistleblowing policies and procedures. This could look similar to the requirement in the EU, under the Whistleblowing Directive, to have whistleblowing reporting channels; or it could be structured similarly to existing FCA requirements.

For more detail, see: The UK Government’s new consultation on whistleblowing and Proposals to financially reward economic crime whistleblowers.
                

FLEXIBLE WORKING

We have known for some time that the rules on flexible working requests are due to change. In short, a refusal of a flexible working request will have to be reasonable, and the employer will have to explain why. The government has recently confirmed that these requirements will come into force in October 2027.

In September 2026, the government published its response to a consultation on some procedural matters. Broadly speaking, there will be an express requirement for a meeting to discuss the employee’s flexible working request and, if the request is not feasible, potential alternatives. There will be an overarching requirement to undertake the meeting with a view to reaching agreement.

Full details will be contained in regulations.
         

ENHANCED PROTECTION FROM DISMISSAL FOR NEW MOTHERS AND OTHER FAMILY LEAVE RETURNERS

Pregnant employees and new mothers already have a range of protections from dismissal where, for example, the reason is their pregnancy or the fact that they are taking or have taken maternity leave.

The government has now published its response to a consultation on creating enhanced protections in “ordinary” dismissal contexts, such as a capability or redundancy reason. From October 2027, an employer will have to show that a dismissal in this context was “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.” Without going into legal nuances, this legal test will place more onus on an employer to justify the dismissal than at present. The protection will apply from the moment the woman notifies her employer of her pregnancy and will last until six months after the end of her maternity leave.

This new protection, in a redundancy context, will sit alongside the existing duty to give priority to a woman on maternity leave for suitable alternative vacancies.

The new rules will also apply to employees who take adoption leave, shared parental leave, neonatal care leave or bereaved partner’s paternity leave, provided that, in the latter three cases, the employee took at least six weeks’ continuous leave.
                  

NON-COMPETES

In the Budget, on 28 October 2026, the government confirmed that it is considering imposing restrictions on the use of non-compete clauses. No detail has been published as yet; this is due early next year. However, previous suggestions have included an outright ban or a maximum duration of, say, three months. If your organisation currently relies on non-compete clauses for leavers, now is a good time to review your contracts and think about other ways to protect the business.
                    

WORKER STATUS

Successive governments have toyed with reforming the current three tiers of employment classification in employment law: employee, worker and self-employed (which is in contrast to the binary classification in taxation law: employee or self-employed). However, despite several consultations or policy suggestions, no reforms have occurred to date.

The current government has now launched a fresh consultation. Its suggestions would not scrap the three-tier classification but instead would potentially make it easier for an individual to show worker status, thereby gaining minimum employment law protections such as the right to paid holiday.

These proposals are likely to be of most significance to businesses with a large contingent workforce. However, it will likely be some time before the proposals are implemented, if at all.
                   

…AND DON’T FORGET

Although the following items are not new consultations, we thought it would be helpful to mention them again here:

• Collective redundancy consultation – threshold: From April 2027, the trigger threshold for the duty to collectively consult in a redundancy situation is due to change. At present, the duty is triggered if an employer is proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at an establishment in a 90-day period. The reference to establishment usually means a physical location. If a company operates out of many locations, each of those might count as a separate establishment. So, if the employer is proposing fewer than 20 redundancies in each location, currently the collective consultation rules might not be triggered.
  

  The change in April will allow counting across establishments, meaning the duty is more likely to be triggered. Despite the relative proximity of this change, we do not have the detail of the new threshold yet. There was a consultation in spring 2026 but we await the outcome. One possibility is that the duty could be triggered by reference to a percentage of the workforce, across all the employer’s establishments.
  

  This is definitely an area to watch. And employers should remember that the maximum penalty for failure to comply – called the protective award – increased in April 2026 from 90 days to 180 days’ pay per affected employee.

• Equal pay and transparency: A consultation took place in summer 2026. One of the many suggestions is pay transparency measures that would give employees the right to ask for information about their peers’ salary. We await the outcome.

• ACAS code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures: This was another consultation that took place in summer 2026, for which we are also awaiting the outcome. The proposed changes include a requirement to attempt informal resolution. See: Potential new requirement for informal resolution in disciplinary and grievance procedures.
                           

HOW CAN WE HELP?

The Employment team at Stephenson Harwood is actively engaging with the impacts of the government’s employment law reform agenda. We would be delighted to assist you with any queries you might have about the developments mentioned in this round-up or any other employment law matter.