New Harassment And Trade Union-related Rights And Duties Will Come Into Force On 30 October 2026

Several measures under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) were scheduled for October 2026, without specifying the precise date.

The government has now confirmed they will come into force on 30 October 2026. The measures are:

• The duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees (changing from the current duty to take reasonable steps). The government will also have the power to specify what steps employers must take.

• Protection from third party harassment. As previously advised, now is the time to update your contracts with any third parties to address this risk and apportion liability where possible.

• The duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. The content and form of the statement, as well as the manner and frequency of delivery, remain to be confirmed.

• Granting trade unions a right of access to the workplace (both physical and by communication) to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, or to facilitate collective bargaining. This will essentially be a right to request access, followed by a process to agree the terms of access, with a right to refer the issue to the Central Arbitration Committee. The right of access will not include access for the purposes of organising industrial action. Again, this is something to be considering now. Having your response to any such requests prepared in advance is essential.

• Various changes to the trade union recognition and derecognition process, and new rights for trade union representatives.

The above are in addition to extended protections against detriments for taking industrial action, which were already confirmed for 30 October 2026.

Between now and 30 October, there are two other ERA 2025 changes to note:

• Provision for electronic and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots, which is due by 31 August 2026.

• The time limit for employment tribunal claims will increase from three months to six months, taking effect on 1 October 2026.

Reforms to tipping laws were anticipated for October 2026 but have recently been rescheduled to later in the year.

If you would like to know more or discuss any of these issues, or other ERA 2025 changes, please contact Paul Reeves.