Employment law changes from October 2026: what employers need to do now

In April this year, we wrote about the legislative changes being introduced by the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 2025. In this latest update, we provide an overview of the changes in the ERA that will take effect in October 2026.

Employment Tribunal time limits

Under current rules, most claims must be filed with the Employment Tribunal within three months from the date of dismissal or, in other cases, the date of the act complained of.

From 1 October 2026, that time limit increases to six months (although the ACAS early conciliation period, which requires a claimant to first notify ACAS of their claim remains unchanged at 12 weeks). The practical impact of this is that UK employers are potentially stuck with a window of up to 10 months in which a claimant can bring employment tribunal claims against them. Time will tell whether this will result in an increase in claims, but many commentators consider that it will.

What this does mean is that employers potentially have a longer window in which to try to resolve disputes internally before they are put to the trouble and expense of having to defend an employment tribunal claim. Given the trend for longer and more complex grievances, this additional time may be much needed.

Harassment: preventing sexual harassment and third-party harassment

Preventing sexual harassment

A proactive duty for employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment at work was introduced in October 2024, but critics complained that this did not go far enough. So, from 30 October 2026, the ERA will enhance this duty and require employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment at work.

The UK government is yet to clarify what “all reasonable steps” means. This will be specified in regulations which are not expected to come into force until 2027 or 2028. In the meantime, it is expected that employment tribunals will consider the following  when deciding whether or not an employer has complied with this duty:

• Risk assessments for any work-related event
• Development of sexual harassment prevention plans
• Reporting mechanisms and complaints procedures; and
• Codes of conduct for both internal staff and external third parties.

From April 2026, a report that an act of sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur, became a qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing purposes. This means that failure to properly deal with a complaint of sexual harassment may also result in a whistleblowing claim.

While compensatory awards for successful sexual harassment claims are uncapped, the potential financial exposure is greater as employment tribunals can increase a compensatory award by up to 25% if it is established that an employer failed to comply with the duty to prevent sexual harassment.

Third party harassment

Employers will also be liable for harassment by third parties unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it from happening. Third parties include any people who have contact with their staff, so employers should now:

1. Identify which third parties their workforce come into contact with
2. Identify when and how those interactions occur; and
3. Determine what steps they will take to prevent harassment from occurring.

Typical third parties could include customers, clients, visitors, suppliers, and contractors, but there may be many others, depending on the industry sector in which the employer operates.

Take steps now to prevent harassment and respond to it appropriately if it occurs

Employers should be:

• Reviewing their anti-harassment and anti-sexual harassment policies
• Holding organisation-wide training programmes to ensure that all staff members are fully aware of what harassment is and how complaints should be handled
• Reviewing procedures for dealing with harassment allegations; and
• Reviewing third-party contracts and adding a clause to confirm that harassment against their staff will not be tolerated. It will be a matter for businesses as to whether they go further than this and include some form of penalty where harassment occurs.

Trade union right of access to the workplace

From 30 October 2026, trade union representatives will be able to request physical and/or virtual access to a workplace. The precise details of how this right operates will be set out in regulations and there is also a code of practice (’Code’), all of which are currently before Parliament. The draft regulations confirm that it is expected that employers will cooperate with allowing trade unions to access their workplaces. Employers will not be able to refuse or delay access by raising logistical or security issues, except in very limited circumstances, such as on national security grounds.

An access agreement lasts for two years from the date the access agreement is finalised, unless the parties agree otherwise.

The Code sets out the following procedure:

• A trade union should submit a written access request to the employer. The Code provides a standardised access request form, but trade unions are not legally required to use it.
• The union must provide the employer with at least 5 working days’ notice before the first access date takes place.
• Employers have 15 working days to respond to a formal access request.
• Employers and trade unions then have a further 25 working days to negotiate the terms of trade union access, if either party does not accept the proposed access arrangements in full.
• If the trade union and the employer cannot agree terms, then the matter can be referred to the Central Arbitration Committee (‘CAC’).
• The CAC will determine whether access should be granted and, if so, on what terms.
• If an employer does not comply with the access arrangements, the CAC can impose large financial penalties of up to £500,000, in the case of significant and repeated breaches.

Businesses with fewer than 21 workers in total, across multiple sites, are exempt.

Consider what mechanisms your business has to allow staff to raise issues

Many businesses have good relations with the trade unions they recognise, whereas some are concerned by the prospect of having to recognise a trade union for collective bargaining purposes. For those that are, they may wish consider what forums they have in place (or consider introducing them), and whether they provide an effective means for staff to genuinely raise collective concerns.

How Hamlins can help

If you would like to discuss how these changes may affect your business or how to ensure compliance, please get in touch with Penny Hunt, Head of our Employment team.

Our Employment team advises both employers and employees on all aspects of employment law, providing support and guidance on the full range of employment issues which arise during the employment life cycle, from recruitment through to redundancies, performance dismissals and executive exits.