The Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) is currently in the final stages of progression through Parliament and is expected to become law in late 2025. The Bill is a significant development to UK employment rights and offers a broad range of new worker protections, including expansion of unfair dismissal rights, changes to Tribunal time limits, widening of access to family leave and strengthening of protections against harassment and discrimination.

On 15 September 2025, MPs considered the significant amendments to the Bill which had been put forward by the House of Lords and, as published on 16 September 2025, rejected the majority of the Lords’ suggestions. This indicates a strong commitment to the original rights proposed by the Bill.

What are the implications of these changes?

As noted in a press release from the Government on 15 September 2025, the amendments proposed by the House of Lords were considered to dilute the protections offered to workers under the Bill and, as a result, have broadly been rejected by the House of Commons.

The most significant of the Lords’ proposals was the removal of protection against unfair dismissal as a planned ‘Day One’ right, and replacement of this with a reduced qualifying period of six months (compared to the current two years’ service requirement).

They had also proposed limiting the new obligation to offer guaranteed hours contracts to zero or low-hours workers to situations where the employee had made a request for such a contract, and allowing exceptions to this entitlement for those undertaking seasonal work.

Other amendments were additionally suggested to the right to be accompanied, whistleblowing protections and the planned trade union reforms. 

All of these amendments were rejected, meaning that the stronger protections for employees as originally contemplated by the Bill have been reinstated – most notably the protection against unfair dismissal from the first day of employment.

However, two proposals were accepted to some extent by the Commons and will now feature in principle in the next version of the Bill. The effect of these changes is as follows:

• It has been confirmed that the prohibition of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) concerning harassment and discrimination is accepted in principle by MPs, having been proposed as an amendment to the Bill by a Labour Peer earlier this year. It has also been clarified that this prohibition will extend to concerns regarding a failure to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. Please see our full briefing here for further guidance on the effect of these changes on NDAs.

• A provision will be inserted requiring a review of the extent of the right to time off for public duties, including specifically whether employers should be required to permit time off for performing the functions of a special constable. This acknowledges the Lords’ proposal to introduce a new express right to time off for special constables, but falls short of introducing such a right.

What’s next for the Employment Rights Bill?

The Bill will now return to the House of Lords for consideration of the MPs’ amendments, on a date yet to be scheduled. It will then progress to receiving Royal Assent this Autumn.

For an updated outline of the changes planned under the Employment Rights Bill and the expected timeline for implementation, please join our webinar “The Employment Rights Bill: Where are we now?” on 7 October 2025.

BDBF is a leading employment law firm based at Bank in the City of London. If you would like to discuss any issues relating to the content of this article, please contact Rose Lim (RoseLim@bdbf.co.uk), Amanda Steadman (AmandaSteadman@bdbf.co.uk) or your usual BDBF contact