Updated 23 October 2026. The government republished its timetable on 22 October 2026 with new dates. Fire and rehire protections move from January to March 2027, the stronger tipping law takes effect on 1 January 2027, flexible working is October 2027, umbrella company regulation is December 2027, and the guaranteed-hours rights for zero-hours and agency workers no longer carry a year at all. The employment status consultation opened on 14 October and the whistleblowing consultation on 12 October, both closing on 8 January 2027. The 30 October commencement regulations are in force. This page lists every date that matters to a recruitment agency, with the government source for each, and is reviewed every week against gov.uk, legislation.gov.uk and Acas.
What does the Employment Rights Act 2025 mean for recruitment agencies?
It means a longer tail on every placement decision, a new duty towards the workers you put on a client’s site, and from January a shorter road to an unfair dismissal claim for your own staff. Since 1 October 2026 a worker or candidate has six months rather than three to bring most tribunal claims, so the file on a placement, a pay decision or a dismissal has to be complete and findable for twice as long (section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Act, commenced by SI 2026/954). Since 30 October 2026 every employer, an agency included, must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its staff and must not permit harassment of them by third parties, which for an agency means its own consultants and every worker it places on someone else’s premises (sections 20 and 21, commenced by SI 2026/1065). From 1 January 2027 the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months and the compensatory cap goes, so the probation review becomes the second hiring decision, and the written statement of the right to join a trade union arrives the same month, with fire and rehire protections following in March 2027 (the GOV.UK timeline update, 22 October 2026). Through 2027 come bereavement leave in April, flexible working in October and umbrella company regulation in December, and the guaranteed-hours rights for agency workers are still to be dated. The Fair Work Agency, open since 7 April 2026, enforces the pieces that fall within its remit, and the government opened a consultation on 14 October 2026 that would create a presumption of worker status and put control beside personal service in the worker test, which reaches every contractor desk. Each date is set out below with its source.
What changed for recruitment agencies on 1 October 2026?
Two changes landed on 1 October 2026 and one more set landed on 30 October. None of them is the agency-worker rights on guaranteed hours and shift notice, which the government has not yet dated.
- Employment tribunal time limits doubled. Since 1 October 2026 the time limit for bringing most tribunal claims is six months rather than three, for acts on or after that date. For breach of contract claims in Scotland the change comes on 9 November 2026. An agency’s records of a placement, a dismissal or a pay decision therefore need to be kept, and findable, for longer. (Source, the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/954, and the GOV.UK timeline update.)
- Right to work checks widened. Since 1 October 2026 the Right to Work Scheme covers people engaged under a worker’s contract, individual sub-contractors and people supplied through an online matching service, not only employees, for engagements that began on or after that date. An employment business is the employer of its temporary workers for the Scheme and is responsible for the check. The civil penalty is £45,000 for each illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat breach within three years. (Source, the Home Office employer’s guide to right to work checks in force from 1 October 2026 and the code of practice on preventing illegal working, gov.uk.)
- Since 30 October 2026 employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment, are liable for harassment by third parties such as clients unless all reasonable steps were taken, and face the updated rules on a trade union’s right of access to the workplace. (Source, SI 2026/1065, made 1 October 2026, and Acas, Employment Rights Act 2025.)
- Not 1 October. The six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal and the duty to tell workers of their right to join a union are 1 January 2027, and fire and rehire protections are March 2027. Guaranteed hours, shift notice and shift-cancellation pay for zero-hours and agency workers have no date yet, with the timing to be set after consultation. (Source, the GOV.UK timeline update of 22 October 2026.)
Where things stand
The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. The government’s timetable page was updated on 22 October 2026 and now dates almost every remaining measure. Three September announcements filled in the 2027 detail, the flexible working response on 15 September, the bereavement leave date on 22 September and the union statement decision on 25 September, the written ministerial statement of 13 October 2026 gave flexible working its season, and the 22 October update moved fire and rehire to March 2027, set the tipping law for 1 January 2027, put flexible working in October 2027 and umbrella regulation in December 2027, and took the year off the guaranteed-hours rights. The responsible department publishes as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
Already in force
From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is paid from day one and the lower earnings limit has gone, a direct cost on temp books. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights and the collective redundancy protective award doubled. Holiday records must be kept for six years from the same date. On 7 April the Fair Work Agency launched as the single enforcement body. On 25 August electronic and workplace balloting for trade union ballots took effect. On 1 October the tribunal time limits doubled and the right to work checks widened, as set out above.
30 October 2026
Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, and must not permit harassment of their employees by third parties. For an agency this applies twice. Once to your own consultants, and once to every worker you place on someone else’s premises. If the clause is not in your client terms yet, put it in now. The same regulations bring in the updated rules on a trade union’s right of access to the workplace, the remaining recognition changes and new rights for union and equality representatives. (Source, SI 2026/1065.)
Regulations setting up the adult social care Fair Pay Agreement negotiating body in England were timetabled for October 2026, with the body expected to be in place by the end of the year, and the stronger tipping law takes effect on 1 January 2027, with the revised code laid before Parliament after the consultation that closed on 29 September.
January 2027
From 1 January 2027 the qualifying period for unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months, and the cap on the compensatory award is removed, for dismissals taking effect on or after that date. The qualifying period for the right to written reasons for dismissal falls to six months too, and the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract stays a dismissal. Anyone you hired on or before 1 July 2026 will have six months’ service on the day. Fire and rehire protections follow in March 2027. From then, dismissing an employee for refusing changes to core terms, or to replace them with someone else on changed terms, which can include an agency worker, becomes automatically unfair. From the same date employers must give every worker, new starters included, the government’s written statement of their right to join a trade union, with existing workers given it, or told where to find it, by 5 April 2027 and once a year after that. The regulations are expected in November. Expect clients to ask. (Sources, business.gov.uk, unfair dismissal rights, updated 1 October 2026, and HCWS372, 13 October 2026.)
April 2027, bereavement leave
On 22 September the government confirmed a new right to bereavement leave from April 2027 for employees who lose a spouse or partner, parent, adult child or sibling, including step, half, adoptive, kinship care and foster relationships. Women and their partners who experience a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks will be entitled to up to two weeks’ leave. The leave is unpaid, can be taken as single days within 56 weeks of the loss, needs notice only as soon as reasonably practicable in the first eight weeks, and no one can be asked for evidence. Taking it is protected from detriment and dismissal. The detail comes in regulations next year. Your own staff handbook and your absence policy will need a line.
October 2027, flexible working
The written ministerial statement of 13 October 2026 says the flexible working reforms “will take effect in autumn 2027”, and the timetable update of 22 October 2026 gives the month, October 2027. Two things change then. An employer may refuse a statutory request only where it is reasonable to do so, by reference to the eight business reasons already in the law, and a statutory process must be followed before any refusal, with the employee given a clear explanation. The rules today already give every employee a day-one right to make two requests a year, a decision within two months and a discussion before a refusal. (Sources, HCWS372 and GOV.UK, flexible working.)
Later in 2027
Guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts and payment for shifts cancelled at short notice are still to be dated, including for agency workers, with hirers responsible by default for the offer. The timetable of 22 October 2026 says the timing will follow the consultation. The consultation closed on 25 August and the response is awaited. BIOR submitted a full response.
Holiday pay enforcement. The consultation on how the Fair Work Agency will enforce holiday pay closed on 22 September. BIOR responded on 3 September. Enforcement will not start before April 2027.
Umbrella company regulation in December 2027, mandatory action plans for larger employers in April, stronger protection for new mothers in October, the collective redundancy threshold in April, the regulations on non-disclosure agreements in September and the minimum wage enforcement transfer to the Fair Work Agency also follow during 2027. The consultation on modernising the agency work framework (the 1973 Act, the Conduct Regulations and the AWR, with umbrella companies brought in) closed on 1 May 2026 and its response is awaited.
Open now
Employment status. The government’s consultation on employment status reform and protections for the self-employed opened on 14 October 2026 and closes at 11:55pm on 8 January 2027. It proposes a presumption of worker status at tribunal, so the business that engages a person would have to show they are not a worker. A worker test in which significant direction or control counts beside personal service, so a substitution clause would no longer settle the question on its own. Heavier penalties where a business keeps misclassifying people after a ruling. A role for the Fair Work Agency in bringing status cases. And a written statement for the self-employed. Any agency with a contractor, PSC or umbrella desk should read it.
Whistleblowing. The consultation on the Employment Rights Act 1996 framework, and on a Serious Fraud Office scheme to reward people who report economic crime, opened on 12 October 2026 and closes at 11:59pm on 8 January 2027.
Equal pay. The consultation on pay in job adverts and the wider pay discrimination framework closed at 5pm on 27 October 2026. BIOR responded on two points, the advert duty where an agency advertises for a client and proportionate steps for intermediaries, and the government is now considering the responses.
Enforcement is not waiting
On 3 September 2026 the first minimum wage naming round since the Fair Work Agency was set up named around 660 employers, with about £4 million repaid to more than 27,000 workers and £7 million in penalties. The list includes businesses that supply staff. On 15 October 2026 the Agency published “Spot the signs of labour exploitation”, with its reporting routes, the online form, 0800 432 0804 and contact@fairworkagency.gov.uk.
This timeline is reviewed weekly.
Related BIOR guides
- Fair Work Agency explained
- The FWA compliance checklist
- Disputes and tribunals
- Agency workers and temp desks
- The Key Information Document for agency workers
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Dates marked as planned or expected depend on regulations still to be made. Check the current government guidance and take advice from your own solicitor where a situation is complex or high-risk.
One step you can take today. Work through the 12-point FWA compliance checklist at ior.org/fwa-compliance-checklist. BIOR Agency Membership includes the Agency Compliance Pack and the monthly Client Briefing, and membership includes the certification assessment. See ior.org/agency-membership. Check any recruiter at ior.org/certified.
Questions people ask
What does the Employment Rights Act 2025 mean for recruitment agencies?
Three things in the next three months and more through 2027. Since 1 October 2026 claims can be brought for six months rather than three, so files must last longer. Since 30 October 2026 an agency must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of its staff and must not permit harassment by third parties, which covers the workers it places on client sites. From 1 January 2027 its own employees can claim unfair dismissal after six months’ service rather than two years, with no cap on the compensatory award. In 2027 come bereavement leave in April, flexible working in October and umbrella regulation in December, and the guaranteed-hours rights for agency workers are still to be dated. Sources, the GOV.UK timeline update of 22 October 2026 and HCWS372 of 13 October 2026.
What changed for recruitment agencies on 1 October 2026 under the Employment Rights Act?
The time limit for most employment tribunal claims rose from three to six months, and, separately from the Act, the right to work checks widened to workers, individual sub-contractors and online matching services with a penalty of £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 for a repeat. The harassment and trade union access changes followed on 30 October 2026. The six-month unfair dismissal period and the union statement are 1 January 2027, fire and rehire protections are March 2027, and the guaranteed-hours rights for agency workers are not yet dated.
When does the unfair dismissal qualifying period drop to six months?
On 1 January 2027, for dismissals taking effect on or after that date. The cap on the compensatory award is removed the same day, and the right to written reasons also starts at six months. Anyone hired on or before 1 July 2026 will have six months’ service by then. Source, business.gov.uk, unfair dismissal rights, updated 1 October 2026.
When do the new sexual harassment duties start, and do they reach agency workers on a client’s site?
They started on 30 October 2026. Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers and are liable for harassment by third parties, such as clients, unless all reasonable steps were taken. For an agency the duty applies to its own consultants and to the workers it places on a client’s premises, so the client terms and the placement paperwork should say what each side does. Source, SI 2026/1065, made 1 October 2026.
When do guaranteed hours for agency workers start?
The government has not yet dated the guaranteed-hours, shift-notice and shift-cancellation rights for zero-hours and agency workers. Its timetable of 22 October 2026 says the timing will follow the consultation. The consultation on how they apply to agency workers closed on 25 August 2026 and the response is awaited. Source, the GOV.UK timeline update.
When do the flexible working changes start?
In October 2027, under the written ministerial statement of 13 October 2026 and the timetable update of 22 October 2026. From then an employer may refuse a statutory request only where it is reasonable to do so, and must follow a set process before refusing. The day-one right to request, two requests a year and the two-month decision already apply. Sources, HCWS372 and GOV.UK, flexible working.
Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 30 October 2026. Sources, gov.uk, legislation.gov.uk, business.gov.uk and parliament.uk, checked that day.