October 2026: Major employment law reforms take effect including tribunal time limits
A significant package of Employment Rights Act reforms come into force on 1 October and 30 October 2026, including extending employment tribunal time limits from three to six months and strengthening union access rights, harassment protections, and tipping regulations.
What's Changing and When
The next significant phase takes place in late 2026, with electronic and workplace balloting due by 31 August, employment tribunal time limits increasing from 1 October, and a major package of trade union and other measures taking effect on 30 October 2026.
Employment Tribunal Time Limits (1 October)
The time limits to bring most claims to the employment tribunal will be increased from three to six months, with the government publishing draft regulations that will bring into force on 1 October a limited roll out of the extension.
Workplace Harassment and Union Rights (30 October)
Major trade union reforms, including strengthened union access rights and workplace harassment reforms, will take effect on 30 October 2026, including the new duty on employers to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment and third party harassment protections.
Employers must take 'all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment of their workers and will be liable for harassment from third parties, for example customers or clients, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.
Additionally, trade union changes on 30 October 2026 include updated rules on a trade union's right of access to the workplace, an updated Code of Practice on trade union recognition, new rights for some trade union representatives around facilities and time off for duties, and protection for workers taking part in industrial action against being treated less favourably by their employer.
Employer Impact
Several measures in relation to the Employment Rights Act have already taken effect, including reforms to statutory sick pay, day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, trade union law, whistleblowing protections linked to sexual harassment, and collective redundancy protective awards.
If you are working in the UK or planning to take a job, these changes strengthen your legal protections: you have longer to bring a complaint to tribunal if something goes wrong, your employer must now actively prevent harassment (including by customers), and if you join a union, your representative has expanded rights to access your workplace. If you experience harassment or discrimination, document it carefully and know that you now have six months (not three) to escalate a claim.
Sources
Independent app, not a government. General information, not advice. The official source:
