The Government has proposed a series of amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, following the publication of its Roadmap for Delivering Change in July 2025 which set out planned implementation dates for the reforms in the Bill.
Which are the first laws to change when the Employment Rights Bill is introduced?
The proposed amendments include extending unpaid bereavement leave in the Bill to include a day one right to time off work to grieve a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. The Government will consult on the details of the entitlement, including eligibility, length of leave (which will be a minimum of one week’s leave), and the types of pregnancy losses within scope of the new legislation.
It has been clarified that restrictions on the use of dismissal and re-engagement (also known as fire and re-hire), which will make dismissals for failing to agree to variation of terms unless in specific financial circumstances automatically unfair, will only apply to ‘restricted variations’ to contracts such as changes to pay, bonuses, pensions, total hours worked, shift timings, and annual leave allowances.
Other amendments include banning the use of NDAs in harassment and discrimination cases and prohibiting employers from replacing dismissed staff with agency workers in a redundancy situation.
Further changes to the Bill could still be made as it progresses in the House of Lords. We will have to wait and see if these latest amendments make it into the final version of the Bill and become law.
