New Consultations launched on Employment Rights Bill proposals

While the Employment Rights Bill is expected to pass this year, the government is still looking to consult with employers in respect of key aspects of the Bill before these proposals are implemented. The government has published four consultations which are open for employers to provide their views on. We have set these out below:

Bereavement leave

The Employment Rights Bill proposes to create a general right for bereavement leave, which will also include the right to take leave for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. While parental bereavement leave will continue to be paid leave there is no provision in the Bill for any other form of bereavement leave to be paid.

The consultation seeks views on a number of questions:

• Eligibility:
  • Which sort of relationships should be covered by bereavement leave (e.g. should it cover only immediate family or extend to aunts, uncles or grandchildren or should it extend further to close friends?).
  • What sort of pregnancy loss should be covered (e.g. should it cover only miscarriage or extend to IVF transfer loss or terminations?).
• When and how leave is taken?
  • What should the duration of bereavement leave be?
  • Should the duration be the same for all types of bereavement?
  • Should the leave be taken in a single block or should it be possible to split the leave?
• Notice requirements:
  • How much notice should be given?
  • Should the notice be written or via informal means like a telephone call?

The Consultation closes on 15 January 2026 and you can provide a response here.

Enhanced dismissal protection for employees taking family leave

The government’s intention is to provide pregnant employees and new mothers protection from dismissal for any reason until they have been back at work for at least 6 months with limited exceptions. The Employment Rights Bill contains provisions for Regulations to increase the protection for those taking family leave, but the Consultation looks to formalise the approach to be taken in legislation and seeks views on:

• Whether the existing five reasons for dismissal should continue to apply to pregnant women and expectant mothers, but with a stricter standard for dismissal; or
• Whether the five existing reasons for dismissal should be narrowed or removed altogether for pregnant women and expectant mothers.

The Consultation also looks at how long protection should last and when it should run from as well as whether the protection should extend to those taking other forms of family leave such as adoption leave and shared parental leave.

The Consultation closes on 15 January 2026 and you can provide a response here.

Trade union access to workplace

The Employment Rights Bill will provide trade unions with the right to access workplaces for the purposes of collective bargaining or representing and recruiting workers. This will require trade unions and employers to enter into access agreements. There will also be a process for deciding the terms of an access agreement via the Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC”) if agreement cannot be reached.

The Consultation covers:

• How access requests from trade unions should be dealt with and negotiations between the employer and trade union, including:
  • The information to be included in a request for access, how long the employer will have to respond to this request, the period for negotiation between the employer and the trade union and the process for notifying the CAC if negotiations are successful or unsuccessful.
• The factors the CAC should consider when deciding whether and how to grant access (including the notice to be given by a union for access to the workplace).
• For repeated breaches of the access agreement, what the level of fine from the CAC should be on what factors influence the level of fine.

This Consultation closes on 18 December 2025 and you can provide a response here.

Right to join a trade union

The proposal in the Employment Rights Bill is for employers to give workers a written statement advising them of their right to join a trade union. The Consultation is looking for views on the following:

• What should be included in the content of this statement.
• Whether the form of the statement should be provided by the government or drafted by employers (the government’s preference is for the latter).
• How the statement should be delivered to new and existing employees.
• The frequency of providing this information (the government’s preference is for an annual reminder).

This Consultation closes on 18 December 2025 and you can provide a response here.