Piecing Together Key Changes For HR In 2016

The Employment Rights Act 2025 brings sweeping reforms to UK employment law that will fundamentally reshape workforce management in the hospitality industry. From expanded sick pay entitlements and enhanced parental leave to new protections for zero-hours workers and revised unfair dismissal procedures, these changes demand immediate attention from hospitality employers. Are you ready to navigate these transformative legal requirements?

UK employer right to work checks are expanding on 1 October 2026 to cover workers, subcontractors, and gig economy arrangements, with civil penalties of up to £60,000 per worker extending beyond direct employers through contractual chains. Businesses must now review their engagement models, update contracts, and implement new verification systems to avoid liability for workers they may never have directly engaged.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 has been described as the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. It contains a number of reforms, the breadth and complexity of which will have a significant impact on employers.

Acas has published a draft Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures for consultation, its first full rewrite since 2009. Nothing has changed yet. The consultation closes on 23rd September 2026, Acas will then decide whether and how to take the draft forward, and any final version still needs government approval before it takes effect. What the draft does, regardless of its eventual shape, is reveal the thinking that underpins Acas’s proposed approach to workplace conflict.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 promised an end to one-sided flexibility in the labour market, but it left the hardest questions unanswered. How many hours is too few before a worker deserves a guaranteed offer? What counts as fair notice of a shift? Those questions, and dozens like them, are now the subject of a government consultation that opened on 2nd June 2026 and runs until 25th August 2026.

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that vicarious liability owed to third parties does not transfer under TUPE. We explore the impact for both transferors and transferees.

Workplace falls remain a significant cause of injury across all sectors, with HSE data revealing that slips, trips and falls on the same level account for 30% of employer-reported non-fatal injuries, while falls from height continue to be the leading cause of fatal workplace accidents. Understanding the common hazards—from wet floors and obstructed walkways to unsafe ladders and unprotected edges—is essential for employers seeking to meet their legal duties and reduce the risk of serious harm.

The unfair dismissal regime is undergoing significant changes from 1 January 2027, removing the compensation cap and reducing the qualifying service period from two years to six months. Employers planning dismissals or redundancies before this deadline must carefully navigate the interaction between the 1 January cutoff and statutory notice periods, which can extend an employee's effective termination date by up to 12 weeks regardless of payment in lieu arrangements.

The government has recently launched a consultation on pay transparency proposals. Principally the government is seeking to ‘fix’ the equal pay system. Amongst the proposals, the government is consulting on whether employers should be required to include salary information in job adverts and to provide written salary information before an interview if the role is not publicly advertised. Ministers have argued that greater pay transparency will help candidates navigate the job market and that this could prevent future discrimination claims.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces one of the most consequential changes to the law of unfair dismissal since the right was first created. Whilst much attention has focused on the reduction of the qualifying period for bringing a claim, employers should be equally alert to another reform that could prove far more expensive: the removal of the statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensation.