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EMPLOYMENT LAW REFORM IN GREAT BRITAIN: CONSULTATIONS AND KEY CHANGES AHEAD

02/11/2026

EMPLOYMENT LAW REFORM IN GREAT BRITAIN: CONSULTATIONS AND KEY CHANGES AHEAD

Employment law reform in Great Britain continues at pace.

Alongside reforms already in force and those awaiting implementation, the UK Government continues to consult on further changes and publish responses to earlier consultations.

Employment law is devolved in Northern Ireland, so reforms applying in Great Britain – unless stated otherwise – do not apply here. Nevertheless, these developments are relevant to employers operating across both jurisdictions and may inform future policy discussions in Northern Ireland.

Recent consultations, government responses and implementation activity cover the following areas:

  • Consultation on employment status reform.
  • Fire and Rehire reforms and proposed restrictions on contractual changes and dismissal practices.
  • Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant employees and new mothers.
  • New whistleblowing protections and reforms.
  • A range of trade union and industrial relations measures (including trade union access).
  • New sexual harassment obligations, including protections against third-party harassment.

CONSULTATIONS AND GOVERNMENT RESPONSES

1.    Employment Status Reform

In Great Britain and Northern Ireland, there are three categories of employment status:

  • Employee
  • Worker
  • Self-employed consultant.

With the growth of the gig economy and other modern working arrangements (illustrated by the landmark Supreme Court decision in Uber), one of the Government’s aims has been to simplify employment status. It is widely recognised that this raises complications because tax law and employment law are intertwined.

On 14 October 2026, the Government published the Make Work Pay: Employment Status Consultation to consider reforming the employment status framework, with the aim of preventing “bogus self-employment”. Originally, the Government proposed reducing the three categories above to two. At this stage, that remains a longer-term goal, while the current proposals focus on clarifying who is defined as a worker or an employee.

The government is consulting on two main proposals:

  • The worker test would place less emphasis on the requirement to provide personal service. Wide substitution clauses that hypothetically allow individuals to provide a substitute, but are rarely or never used, would not, on their own, defeat a finding of worker status.
  • Introducing a presumption of worker status, requiring an employer to demonstrate that the individual is not a worker.

The Government is also considering the Fair Work Agency’s role in enforcing worker status and providing guidance. It currently provides the Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool for tax purposes, and the proposals include improving that tool. Furthermore, an organisation found to have repeatedly misclassified a worker could face a fine of up to £20,000 following successful employment status claims.

There are also proposals aimed at supporting the genuinely self-employed, such as requiring them to be provided with a written statement of key terms, introducing protection against blacklisting and enabling self-employed individuals to become health and safety representatives.

The consultation runs until 8 January 2027.

In Northern Ireland: The Good Jobs Bill also contained a longer-term proposal to keep employment status under review. Given that this area is closely linked to tax, we would expect changes in Great Britain to be adopted in Northern Ireland, although the timing may differ. See: NI Good Jobs: Way Forward Document

2. Fire and Rehire: Revised Code and Further Restrictions

The Government has published two related developments on dismissal and re-engagement, namely:

Under the draft Code, employers would first need to determine whether a proposed contractual change is a “restricted variation”. If it is, dismissal and re-engagement to impose the change without agreement would generally be automatically unfair, unless the employer satisfies the statutory financial-difficulties exception.

Different rules would apply to non-restricted variations. The revised Code also expressly addresses “fire and replace”, while retaining and strengthening the existing emphasis on early information sharing, meaningful consultation and negotiation, consideration of alternatives, and dismissal and re-engagement only as a last resort. In practical terms, the new Code shifts the focus from simply ensuring that employers follow a fair process when using fire and rehire to first determining whether dismissal and re-engagement is legally available at all and, where it is, ensuring that the employer has followed the required consultation process.

Separately, on 22 October 2026, the Government also published its response to the consultation ‘Make Work Pay: Fire and rehire – changes to expenses, benefits and shift patterns’.

The Response confirms the Government’s intended approach to regulations defining which expenses, benefits and shift-pattern changes will be covered as ‘restricted variations’.

  • Expenses and benefits in kind will generally be excluded from restricted variations, with exceptions for certain travel and accommodation expenses and benefits.
  • Changes between day and night working, and between weekday and weekend working, will fall within restricted variations.
  • The Government aims to bring these regulations into force alongside the new fire and rehire protections in March 2027, subject to the parliamentary process.

Once commenced, the new framework will generally make dismissal to impose restricted variations automatically unfair, subject to a narrow financial-difficulties exception. General business necessity alone will not satisfy that exception. Even where the exception applies, the dismissal will still need to be fair in the circumstances.

Employers operating in Great Britain may wish to review and respond to the revised-code consultation before the closing date. They should also review their contractual change and consultation procedures, distinguish current obligations from forthcoming requirements, and prepare for the new framework.

In Northern Ireland: The Good Jobs Bill also proposes to introduce laws to make it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee to alter the terms of their contact. Whilst further detail of how this will operate was not provided in NI Good Jobs: Way Forward Document that the approach would align to the proposals In GB.

3. Pregnancy, Maternity and Other Family Leave: Enhanced Dismissal Protections

On 22 October 2026, the Government published its response to the Consultation on enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant employees and new mothers. It intends to introduce the measures next year in October 2027.

The planned framework will strengthen the test for a fair dismissal during the protected period. Employers will need to show that dismissal is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, rather than relying on the usual ‘band of reasonable responses’ test. The existing potentially fair reasons for dismissal will remain available.

  • The enhanced protection will be a Day-One Right, with no qualifying service requirement;
  • For pregnancy and maternity, the protected period will begin when the employer is informed of the pregnancy and continue throughout maternity leave and for six months after it ends;
  • Comparable protections will extend to adoption leave and to specified circumstances involving Shared Parental Leave, Neonatal Care Leave and Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave.
  • Implementation is intended for October 2027, with Regulations and supporting Guidance to follow.

Employers should prepare to demonstrate that they have properly considered reasonable alternatives before dismissing an employee covered by the enhanced protections. Existing dismissal and discrimination protections will continue to apply in the meantime.

In Northern Ireland: The NI Good Jobs: Way Forward Document confirmed that the Department will enhance protections for pregnant employees and those who have recently returned to work following maternity, adoption or six or more weeks of Shared Parental Leave.

Employees will be protected from redundancy from the point at which they inform their employer that they are pregnant.

The redundancy protection period will be extended to 18 months from the child’s birth, stillbirth, expected date of birth or placement for adoption. This period will include any relevant maternity, adoption or qualifying Shared Parental Leave.

Although the GB measures go further than the proposals for Northern Ireland, it is intended that employees here will have rights broadly in line with those being introduced in Great Britain through Make Work Pay. The implementation timetable in Northern Ireland remains uncertain and may differ from that in GB.

4. Whistleblowing Reform

The UK Government is consulting on the operation of the Whistleblowing Framework and options for reform. The review only applies to England, Wales and Scotland.

On 12 October 2026, the Government published the Whistleblowing Consultation, which closes on 8 January 2027. Options for reform includes:

  • Who should be protected as a whistleblower, including whether the categories of protected individuals are appropriate.
  • The public-interest test, including how well the current requirement that a worker reasonably believes their disclosure is in the public interest operates.
  • What types of wrongdoing qualify for whistleblowing protection.
  • Removing the substantially true requirement, when a worker is making a disclosure to a prescribed person
  • Employer policies and procedures considering a new statutory duty requiring an organisations to have a policy and requiring them to follow up on disclosures
  • Interim relief applications in whistleblowing claims must currently be lodged within seven days. The proposal would extend this deadline to 14 days.

Separately, a proposed Serious Fraud Office (SFO) financial reward scheme would reward people who provide information about economic crime. The SFO has jurisdiction in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not Scotland. However, eligible individuals could potentially receive a reward regardless of their location or where the information originated.

In Northern Ireland: There are no current proposals for a wider review of whistleblowing legislation. The only proposal in the NI Good Jobs: Way Forward Document concerned expanding the categories of prescribed persons. Wider reforms may be considered in the next mandate.

2.    Recap: Reforms Scheduled for 30 October 2026

The Government updated its Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update confirming dates of measures that are in force and have yet to come into force.

A further package of reforms came into force on Friday 30 October 2026 which included:

Trade Union Reform Measures

The changes include:

  • A new statutory framework for independent trade unions to access workplaces and communicate with workers, in person or virtually; we are already aware of members in Gb having received an access request.
  • Further reforms to recognition procedures, including earlier union access during the recognition process.
  • Strengthened rights for workplace representatives, including paid time off and access to facilities.
  • Protection against detriment connected with participation in industrial action.

Sexual Harassment Reforms

From 30 October 2026, employers will face enhanced obligations in relation to workplace harassment, including:

  • A requirement to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.
  • New duties relating to harassment by third parties.
  • A framework allowing ministers to specify evidence-based preventative measures that employers may be required to implement in future.

These developments build on the growing expectation that employers take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to preventing workplace harassment.

Other Changes

The Government will also move forward with regulations establishing the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body in England.

What Does This Mean for Northern Ireland Employers?

These changes only apply to Great Britain. Businesses with operations in both jurisdictions may need different policies and procedures to reflect the relevant legal requirements.

The volume of consultation and implementation activity underlines the importance of monitoring developments separately in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Employers should distinguish between measures already in force, consultation proposals and reforms awaiting commencement.

We will continue to monitor consultation outcomes and implementation regulations and provide updates as the picture develops.