Update on the Employment Rights Bill: September 2025

In our previous update on 4 August 2025, we set out the key non-government amendments to the Employment Rights Bill (the "Bill") agreed at the House of Lords Report Stage which concluded on 23 July 2025.  

The amendments included substantial changes to flagship manifesto commitments, including day-one unfair dismissal rights and the duty on employers to proactively offer a guaranteed hours contract to zero/low hours workers.

House of Commons rejects non-government amendments

Following the summer recess, the Bill returned to the House of Commons on 15 September 2025 for consideration of the Lords’ amendments. Unsurprisingly, the House of Commons rejected the non-government amendments resulting in the following:

• Guaranteed hours contract offers restored: The employer's duty under the Bill to proactively offer a guaranteed hours contract has been restored by the House of Commons. The Lords had voted for a “right to request” a guaranteed hours contact rather than an obligation on the employer to offer one.

• Day-one unfair dismissal right restored: As originally intended, employees will have the right not to be unfairly dismissed from the very start of their employment – a ‘day-one’ right. The Lords had proposed a six-month qualifying period.

• Enhanced whistleblowing protections not progressing: Provisions requiring the Government to create regulations extending unfair dismissal protection for whistleblowers and impose a new duty on employers to investigate protected disclosures will not be taken forwards as the Bill continues its journey to be become law.

• Right to be accompanied remains limited: The current right to be accompanied to meetings will continue to be limited to a trade union representative or a work colleague and will not be extended to include a “certified professional companion”.

• Trade union ballot thresholds abolished: The 50% turnout requirement for industrial action ballots will be abolished. The Lords had voted to retain the 50% threshold.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

As for Non-Disclosure Agreements ("NDAs"), the Government indicated that they "will be moving as fast as possible to consult on the related secondary legislation and commence the measure”. 

The Government has gone on to confirm that it:

“will consult on the regulations that expand the types of individuals and measures that apply beyond those who were within the definition of 'employee' and 'worker', and on the conditions for excepted NDAs”, for example, “where a victim requests one and workers are covered by an excepted NDA, they can speak about the relevant harassment and discrimination to, for example, a lawyer or a medical professional”.

Next steps

The Bill will return to the House of Lords for consideration of the House of Commons’ amendments and/or reasons. Only when both Houses are in agreement will the Bill receive Royal Assent. The effect of Royal Assent is that it confirms the final version of the Bill and sets a specified date on which it will become law. 

It remains to be seen whether the House of Lords will concede to the House of Commons, or the Bill continues to go back and forth between the two Houses, with both making amendments to which the other will not agree for a while longer.  

Given that both Houses will be in recess until 12 October 2025 due to conference season, it is possible Royal Assent will be delayed until end of October 2025. However, as previously set out in our article, relatively few of the Bills’ provisions will come into force immediately. 

As most of the substantive provisions, including changes to fire and rehire, day-one unfair dismissal rights and zero-hours contract reforms are not scheduled to commence until Autumn 2026/2027, any further delay to the Bill receiving Royal Assent is likely to be immaterial.  

Employers should stay informed and continue to think about which of their policies and practices may be impacted by the Bill and what changes may be needed. 

We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the Bill and provide further updates in due course. In the meantime, if you’d like to discuss any of the Bill’s provisions or how we can assist your organisation to prepare, please get in touch.