UK employment law in October 2025: Legal changes people professionals need to know

Employment Rights Bill - ‘to do list’ 

October has seen the release of a series of consultations for legal changes proposed under the Employment Rights Bill. Members can view and contribute to these consultations on the tracker. 

In addition, with the imminent passing of the Employment Rights Bill into law, and ahead of the extensive changes coming into effect in April 2026, there are several practical steps that all people professionals can take. 

Before or immediately upon Royal Assent: 

• Audit existing trade union agreements to ensure compliance with new requirements. 

• Provide training to those involved in trade union negotiations. 

• Review dismissal procedures relating to dismissal for taking part in industrial action. Update manager training in this area. 

Refer to the recent report on UK Industrial Relations, which provides actionable insights for employers on steps to take. 

Before the end of March 2026:  

• Review trade union recognition and access agreements, including any templates used. 

• Update short-term absence policies and pay procedures to reflect new entitlements. 

• Inform finance and payroll teams of changes to:  

• Statutory Sick Pay 

• Lower Earnings Limit 

• Review collective redundancy processes to ensure they are sufficiently detailed. 

• Include training for managers who may be involved in these processes. 

• Update and reissue paternity and unpaid parental leave policies, as enhanced rights begin in April 2026. 

• Review whistleblowing policy documents, ensuring the scope of protected disclosures is clearly defined. 

• Make yourself aware of the extended enforcement powers granted to the Fair Work Agency and communicate this to the business. 

• Optionally, consider reviewing approaches to:  

• Gender pay gap action plans 

• Menopause action plans 

Please note, this overview outlines possible approaches. Each business must determine its own response based on its structure and needs. A detailed tracker outlining the changes under the Employment Rights Bill is available for CIPD members. This provides further guidance on how to prepare and an overview of the planned legislative changes. 

Fair dismissal for working two jobs 

In a headline grabbing case that returned in late September a tribunal ruled that a cleaner was fairly dismissed after secretly working two jobs – and breaching the Working Time Regulations.  

The facts of the case of Ms M Ogumodede v Churchill Contract Services (2024) can be found on the tribunal documents. What is notable for people professionals, when considering day-to-day practice, are elements of the reasons that the dismissal was found to be fair. The reasons included:  

• When taking the second role, the claimant had “knowingly misrepresented her employment situation”  

• The health and safety concerns of the respondent were well-founded; especially relating to the risk to the individual and to wider society (such as the greater risk of making mistakes in day-to-day life)  

• The process the respondent used prior to the dismissal was fair. For example, the respondent repeatedly attempted to come to a solution with the claimant where both jobs could be maintained. In addition, the claimant did not engage reasonably with these discussions. 

Reasonable adjustments 

In an interesting consideration about reasonable adjustments, a claimant won their case (on both injury to feelings and failure to make reasonable adjustments grounds) after the employer – who was aware of the claimant’s dyslexia – would not provide a Bluetooth headset for him to hear food orders that he was unable to read. The points of the case can be found on People Management. For people professionals it is worth considering comments from lawyer Niamh Hogg, employment lawyer at Freeths, who emphasised that employers should be able to accommodate “simple and inexpensive” adjustments such as a Bluetooth earpiece and that tribunals would consider an employers’ resources when considering the reasonable adjustments that they were able accommodate  

People professionals can check the law in this area, and how case law has interpreted challenges to the law, on the dedicated Disability Discrimination content.  

And finally... 

Look out for the Autumn Budget on 26 November...