Rights Bill halted by the House of Lords

The much anticipated Employment Rights Act 2025 is currently in a holding pattern, because certain key provisions have been rejected by the House of Lords.

What changes have the House of Lords requested?

• Day one unfair dismissal rights
  The Lords are pushing instead for a six-month qualification period.
• Guaranteed hours
  The Lords would prefer employees to be able to opt-out of continuous review of hours and periodic offers of guaranteed hours if they’re happy to continue on a zero hours basis.
• Seasonal workers
  The Lords want assurance that seasonal workers will be taken into consideration before passing regulations on guaranteed hours.
• Trade union funds
  New trade union members should be allowed to choose whether or not to opt in to a union’s political fund.
• Ballots for industrial action
  The Lords don’t agree with the Government’s proposal to remove the requirement for at least 50% turnout in a ballot for industrial action.

What next for the Employment Rights Bill?

The Bill has been sent back to the House of Commons for further consideration of these contentious points – all part of a parliamentary process known colloquially as ‘ping pong’.

The Bill will bounce between the two Houses until an agreement is reached. Unfair dismissal as a day one right is strongly opposed by the House of Lords, which means that it may be several months yet before the Bill passes into law.

Further reading

• Revised rollout of the Employment Rights Bill
• Read the implementation document in full.
• Employment Rights Bill – Top 8 significant changes – Hunter Law
• Employment Rights Bill: factsheets – GOV.UK
• Post General Election update – How will a Labour Government impact your workplace? – Hunter Law