Employment Rights Bill: Royal Assent delayed

Parliamentary ping-pong

The reason for the delay is that the House of Commons and House of Lords cannot agree on a final version of the Bill. We are currently at the stage of Parliamentary “ping pong”. This means that the Bill goes back and forth until an agreement is reached. Broadly, there are still four areas of dispute between the House of Commons and House of Lords.

• Day-one unfair dismissal rights was a Labour party election commitment. The House of Lords amended the Bill requiring a six-months’ qualifying period because of widely-held concerns that the day-one right will have a detrimental impact on recruitment and the economy. On three occasions, the House of Lords has rejected the key proposal of day-one protection from unfair dismissal.
• Regarding guaranteed hours contracts, the Bill originally placed an obligation on employers to offer such a contract. Instead, the House of Lords amended the Bill whereby employers will notify workers of their right to have a guaranteed hours contract and if the individual declines the offer, they can then opt-out of receiving further offers. There is also a dispute about the provisions relating to “seasonal work” and how it is defined.
• As for industrial action ballots, the House of Lords wants to retain the 50% threshold.
• The House of Lords also objects to trade union members being opted-in for trade union political funds contributions.

There is little compromise so far by either House and the ping-pong process is illustrated by the recent timeline:

• On 15 September 2025, the House of Commons rejected the House of Lords amendments to key measures in the Bill such as the proposal that there should be a six months’ qualifying period for unfair dismissal rights.
• On 28 October 2025, the House of Lords rejected the House of Commons proposals and voted again for certain changes to the Bill.
• On 5 November 2025, the House of Lords changes were rejected again by the House of Commons.
• On 17 November 2025, back in the House of Lords, it voted down the House of Commons proposals in relation to the measures still in dispute.

The next stage is another vote in the House of Commons (before the Bill returns to the House of Lords) and we do not have a date for this yet. The House of Commons Christmas recess begins on 18 December 2025 and ends on 5 January 2026. Unless the next vote in the House of Commons is arranged fairly soon, Royal Assent might not be given this year after all. Delay in the Bill receiving Royal Assent could then mean some of the phased implementation dates set out in the Government’s Roadmap, published on 1 July 2025, slipping.

For more details of the Roadmap and the phased approach to consultation and implementation see our article Employment Right Bill roadmap published.

In theory, the “ping-pong” process can go on indefinitely until both Houses resolve their disagreements about the final text of the Bill. If they can’t, the Bill could fail or it could be forced through by the Government through specific Parliamentary procedures. Due to an unwritten constitutional convention however, the House of Lords is likely to concede. This is because it is an unelected body unlike the House of Commons. In addition, the House of Lords is unlikely to continue to resist a key election pledge of the Government such as day-one unfair dismissal rights. It remains to be seen if, and when, the House of Lords reaches that point.

Consultation papers published

Even though we are still waiting for the final stage of the Parliamentary process to be completed there have been other important developments regarding the Bill, specifically the publication of a number of consultation papers.

We know from the Government’s Roadmap that it will take a phased approach to implementation of the Act, generally between 6 April 2026 and 2027 and a phased approach to consultation from summer 2025 to early 2026. These consultation papers are important because they provide more details of the proposals. This is what has been published so far and the dates when the consultation periods end and see the links at the end of our article for more details:

• 11 June 2025 consultation on reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) in England and the consultation ended on 18 July 2025.
• 30 September 2025 consultation on Fair Pay Agreements for the Adult Social Care sector in England ending on 16 January 2026.
• 23 October 2025 consultation on Leave for bereavement (including pregnancy loss) ending on 15 January 2026.
• 23 October 2025 consultation on Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women ending on 15 January 2026.
• 23 October 2025 consultation on Rights of trade unions to access workplaces ending on 18 December 2025.
• 23 October 2025 consultation on Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union ending on 18 December 2025.
• 19 November 2025 consultation on a draft Code of Practice on electronic balloting and workplace balloting for statutory trade union ballots ending on 28 January 2026.

According to the Roadmap, a number of consultation papers are expected in autumn and winter 2025 and see our article for more details. Employment Right Bill roadmap published.

Interestingly, of the three measures to be consulted on in “summer/autumn 2025” the only one not published in the summer (and still not published) relates to employees’ protection from unfair dismissal from day-one including the dismissal process in the statutory probation period. As this is still a highly contested issue between the House of Commons and House of Lords it is unsurprising that the consultation paper has been delayed.

Links to the consultation papers:

• SSSNB
• Adult social care
• Leave for bereavement (including pregnancy loss)
• Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers
• Right of trade unions to access workplaces
• Make Work Pay: Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union
• Consultation paper on Draft Code of Practice
• Draft Code of Practice