Two dismissal changes employers need to know about
Just when employers thought they had the Employment Rights Act 2025 implementation timetable mapped out, the Government has moved the goalposts again.
Its updated roadmap, published on 22 October, confirms that the new fire and rehire protections will now take effect in March 2027, rather than January 2027 as previously indicated. Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers are meanwhile scheduled for October 2027. The Government cautions that future dates remain subject to the parliamentary process.
Fire and rehire: a little more breathing room
Under the ERA, dismissal to force through changes to certain core contractual terms will become automatically unfair, subject to a narrow exception where an employer is experiencing severe financial difficulties and specified conditions are met.
We now also know more about which contractual changes will be caught. Following consultation, the Government intends to include changes between day and night working and weekday and weekend working within the protected shift-pattern provisions. Most expenses and benefits in kind will be excluded, although certain travel and accommodation arrangements will remain protected.
A revised statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement is also now out for consultation, closing on 17 December 2026.
The delay to March gives employers a little more time, but businesses contemplating contractual changes should not waste it.
Pregnancy and maternity: a much tougher dismissal test
The Government has also published its long-awaited response on enhanced dismissal protection.
Perhaps the most significant development is the decision to replace the familiar “band of reasonable responses” test during the protected period with a proportionality test. Employers will need to show that dismissal was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate business aim and will ordinarily need to demonstrate that reasonably viable alternatives were considered first.
The protection will be a day-one right, beginning once the employer is informed of the pregnancy and continuing throughout maternity leave and for six months afterwards. Comparable protection will extend to adoption leave and, subject to the qualifying leave requirements, shared parental, neonatal care and bereaved partner’s paternity leave.
For HR, the message is familiar: the detail matters, and the timetable keeps evolving. Policies are important, but these reforms will also require managers to understand when dismissal decisions need substantially greater scrutiny – and to evidence the alternatives considered before reaching them.
