30th October 2026: five significant changes for HR
For HR professionals, the 30th October marks another significant implementation date for the Employment Rights Act 2025. This tranche of reforms focuses principally on harassment and trade union rights – and some of the changes are more significant than their relatively technical wording might suggest.
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Sexual harassment: from “reasonable” to “all reasonable” steps
Since October 2024, employers have been under a proactive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. From 30 October, that becomes a duty to take “all reasonable steps”.
Employers will no longer be able to choose between a number of reasonable preventative measures: the expectation is that all steps which are reasonable in the particular circumstances should be taken.
There is no universal checklist. What is reasonable will depend on factors including size, sector, resources and working environment. Risk assessments should therefore be living documents, supported by meaningful training, effective reporting mechanisms and analysis of complaints and trends. Employers should also document why particular potential measures were – or were not – considered reasonable.
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Third-party harassment: liability returns
The Act also reinstates employer liability for third-party harassment, but on significantly different terms from the old ‘three strikes’ regime abolished in 2013.
An employer will be liable where a third party harasses an employee in the course of their employment and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. The protection is not confined to sexual harassment: it applies to harassment within the Equality Act 2010 framework more generally.
That makes sector-specific risk particularly important. Employers should identify where employees interact with customers, clients, patients, service users, contractors and other third parties and consider preventative measures ranging from contractual provisions and customer notices to reporting arrangements, security measures and escalation procedures.
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A new statutory route for union access
Independent trade unions gain a statutory right to request physical and/or digital workplace access for purposes including meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting and organising workers and facilitating collective bargaining.
Crucially, this is not limited to recognised unions or workplaces where the union already has members. Employers with fewer than 21 workers are exempt.
Where agreement cannot be reached, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) can determine access arrangements. For HR, advance planning is essential: identify who will receive and manage a request, establish escalation procedures and understand the statutory timetable before a request arrives.
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Recognition and representative rights are strengthened
The statutory recognition regime also shifts further in unions’ favour. The rules on access and unfair practices will apply from the point at which the CAC accepts a recognition application, rather than only during the ballot period. Once an application is received, the bargaining unit is effectively frozen for recognition purposes, preventing subsequent recruitment from diluting union support.
Separately, rights to facilities for union officials and learning representatives are strengthened, while equality representatives of recognised unions gain statutory rights including paid time off and reasonable facilities.
This is an area where manager training matters: poorly judged communications, inducements or pressure during a recognition campaign can now create risk at an earlier stage.
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Protection from detriment during industrial action
Workers will also gain express protection against detriment short of dismissal where the main purpose is to prevent, deter or penalise participation in protected industrial action. This provision is a direct legislative response to the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer. The Court held that the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 was incompatible with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights as it protected employees against dismissal for taking protected industrial action, but did not protect from detriments short of dismissal.
The change does not prevent employers responding operationally to industrial action, and deductions from pay for time spent striking remain permissible. However, measures such as disciplinary sanctions or withdrawal of overtime opportunities will require particularly careful scrutiny.