It seems like every few months there is another addition or change in employment law. Just as we all accepted the changes in April this year such as day 1 rights to paternity leave and parental leave, changes to compensation for failing to collectively consult in redundancy situations and SSP becoming a day one right (which I personally agree with), there are a whole host of further updates and changes coming into place from October (and even more coming in from January 2027).
So what are the changes?
Employment tribunal time limits
At present, an employee has 3 months to bring a claim in the employment tribunals. This covers unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing amongst others. From 1st October 2026, the time limit will increase to 6 months.
Employers will need to keep records for longer now in case a claim is brought against them.
Given that the Tribunals are completely swamped as it is and new claims are already taking around six months to process, businesses can no longer get to 6 months and think that they’re “safe” from a claim coming down the tracks. In reality businesses will have to wait around 12 months before they can breathe a sigh of relief!
Sexual harassment
In October 2024, the law changed to put more pressure on businesses to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. This included a provision for businesses to have to take “reasonable steps” to ensure that sexual harassment doesn’t happen in the workplace.
From October 2026, businesses have to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment. Guidance will be published in early 2027 as to what this actually entails but it’s likely to involve risk assessments to show that the likelihood of sexual harassment has been evaluated, policies about what to do in the event of sexual harassment and how to report it if you are the victim of sexual harassment or if you witness it.
You may think that’s not that much of a change but it could be quite onerous. If a business has taken some steps for example they’ve put a policy in about sexual harassment and they’ve carried out a risk assessment, but the policy doesn’t go far enough or the risk assessment is considered as ‘light’, then it’s likely that a Tribunal will conclude that the business hasn’t taken “all reasonable steps”.
Given that the guidance won’t be released until some months after the law has changed, it will be difficult for businesses to second guess what they actually need to do. I also believe that
The changes go further to put the onus on a business to prevent third party sexual harassment, for example from customers or clients. I’m sure we are all scratching our heads thinking “how on earth can you stop a third party?” Again, it’s difficult to say but I would imagine this could include something like a sign in the workplace saying “we do not tolerate any abuse or harassment of our staff and will take any reports of this type extremely seriously”.
I think it will also be about ensuring that your sexual harassment policies have clear guidance on reporting sexual harassment by third parties.
Changes relating to trade union rights
From 30th October 2026, businesses will have to ensure that their staff know that they have the right to join a trade union (TU) and they will have to allow TU’s access to the business to recruit members. This doesn’t mean that the business has to hold coffee mornings for example, but they will have to permit TU’s to recruit members.
The contracts of employment we draft confirm whether there are any collective agreements which affect their employment. Going forward, it may be advisable to add something along the lines of that the employer acknowledges the employee’s right to join a union and the employer will allow access to trade unions to recruit members.
It may also be a good idea to communicate that to staff generally.
If all of this blows your mind and you don’t where to start, why not drop us a line or even better, let’s grab a coffee – we are always up for a coffee!!
Written by Daniel Meyer-Lopez
Director & HR Consultant/Solicitor
Hybrid HR Limited
Note: the views of what may happen are the views of the writer only.
