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The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026

S.I. 2026/559 · Made 26 May 2026

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Made 26th May 2026

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 155 and 159(3) and (4) of the Employment Rights Act 2025f1.

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

2025 c. 36.

Contents

  1. 1Citation and interpretation
  2. 2Provisions of the 2025 Act coming into force on 1st July 2026
  3. 3Provisions of the 2025 Act coming into force on 1st January 2027
  4. 4Transitional and saving provisions
  5. Signature
  6. Explanatory note

1Citation and interpretation

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026.

(2)

In these Regulations “the 2025 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 2025.

2Provisions of the 2025 Act coming into force on 1st July 2026

The following provisions of the 2025 Act come into force on 1st July 2026—

(a)

section 25(5) (right not to be unfairly dismissed: qualifying period and compensation), to the extent that it relates to the provision specified in paragraph (b);

(b)

paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 (power to make further consequential amendments).

3Provisions of the 2025 Act coming into force on 1st January 2027

The following provisions of the 2025 Act come into force on 1st January 2027, subject to the transitional and saving provisions in regulation 4—

(a)

section 25, to the extent not already in force;

(b)

Schedule 3 (minor and consequential amendments relating to section 25), to the extent not already in force.

4Transitional and saving provisions

(1)

The amendments made by section 25(2) and (3) of, and paragraphs 1(2), 1(3)(a), 1(4) to (7), 1(9), 2(3) and 4 of Schedule 3 to, the 2025 Act—

(a)

have effect in any case where an employee is dismissed before 1st January 2027 but the effective date of termination falls on or after that date;

(b)

do not have effect in any case where the effective date of termination falls before 1st January 2027.

(2)

In this regulation “dismissed” and “the effective date of termination” have the same meaning as in Part 10 of the Employment Rights Act 1996f1 (see sections 95f2 and 97f3 of that Act).

(3)

The amendment made by section 25(4) of the 2025 Act does not affect any regulations made under subsection (5) of section 209 of the Employment Rights Act 1996f4 as that subsection had effect immediately before the coming into force of that amendment.

Signature

Kate Dearden

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Business and Trade

26th May 2026

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations commence section 25 of, and Schedule 3 to, the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) (the “2025 Act”), which relate to unfair dismissal. Section 25(5) of the 2025 Act is partially commenced, and paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the 2025 Act is commenced, on 1st July 2026. This is to enable the power in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the 2025 Act to be exercised from this date. It enables further consequential amendments to be made when exercising the power in section 154 of the 2025 Act (power to make consequential amendments) in order to make amendments in consequence of the repeal of section 124 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) by section 25(3) of the 2025 Act. The remainder of section 25 of, and Schedule 3 to, the 2025 Act are commenced on 1st January 2027. Regulation 4 of these Regulations contains transitional and saving provisions in relation to cases where the effective date of termination falls either on or after, or before, 1st January 2027.

The impact assessments completed for the Employment Rights Bill, introduced to Parliament on 10th October 2024, contain an assessment of the effect that the reforms to employment law and industrial relations law will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector. They are available at: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3737/publications. They are supplemented by economic analysis and enactment summary impact assessments published on 7th January 2026 which take account of changes during Bill passage. They are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. Printed copies of all of the documents mentioned in this paragraph can be obtained from the Department for Business and Trade, Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London, SWIA 2DY.