Employment Edit: 15 October 2026

Legal updates

Employment Tribunal time limits

The time limit for bringing an employment tribunal claim has changed. For dismissals or alleged incidents occurring on or after 1 October 2026, the time limit to bring an employment tribunal claim is now six months.

It will take a little while for the impact of this change to be felt on the ground, particularly as the previous three-month time limit continues to apply to dismissals or incidents that occurred prior to 1 October 2026. Employers should make sure that relevant staff, such as your HR and People teams, are aware of the change and know when to take advice on which time limit applies – for example, where the claim relates to a series of acts over a period.

We shared our thoughts on the time limit change and its practical implications (covering issues such as witness evidence and document retention procedures) with online HR resource Brightmine.

Right to work checks

Important changes to the UK’s regime to prevent illegal working also came into effect on 1 October 2026. In this article, we look at what has changed and how organisations need to adapt their processes to comply.

If you would like advice on how to update your processes and contracts, please get in touch with your usual Burges Salmon contact or a member of the business immigration team.

Employment status review

Yesterday, the government launched a consultation into employment status reform and new protections for the self-employed.

Employment status is currently split into three groups – employees, workers and the self-employed. In its 2024 Plan to Make Work Pay, Labour included plans to move towards a single status of worker. Under that proposal, the status of “employee” would be scrapped (effectively merging workers and employees into the same group), and all workers would benefit from the same employment law rights. In yesterday’s consultation paper, the government indicated that creating a single status of worker is a longer-term goal.

In the shorter term, the government plans on targeted reform of employment status to tackle the most pressing issues. Some of the key proposals outlined in the consultation (which closes on 8 January 2027) include:

• A presumption of worker status – Currently the burden of proving worker status is on the individual. The consultation proposes to reverse this burden so that worker status is presumed and it falls on the employer to prove that the claimant is not a worker.
• Control is key – When determining employment status, tribunals would place less emphasis on the requirement for “personal service” and would focus more on how much control a business has over the individual. The objective would be to reduce the potential impact of broad substitution clauses allowing the individual to provide a substitute.
• New protections for the self-employed – The government proposes to introduce new protections for the self-employed, including the right to a written statement of key terms, protection from blacklisting and better health and safety protection.

Non-compete reform

Last week, in a speech at the Innovation Nation Summit, the Prime Minister announced that the government intends to legislate to ensure that non-compete clauses “will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most promising startups and scaling firms”. He also announced plans to ensure that workers in the foundational, everyday economy are not prevented from moving jobs.

A non-compete clause prevents an employee from working for, or setting up, a competing business for a period after the termination of their employment with the relevant employer. To combat concerns that such clauses are a barrier to innovation, the government published a working paper in November 2025 exploring different options for reform. These options included a statutory limit on the length of non-compete clauses, banning non-compete clauses in employment contracts or banning non-compete clauses below a certain salary threshold.

In his speech, the Prime Minister did not give any details on which of these (or other) options would be implemented or when the reforms might take effect. Employers who rely on non-compete clauses (or their deterrent effect) will need to keep a close eye on developments and, in the meantime, may want to start considering how to build business protection into their employment terms in other ways, such as via non-solicitation clauses.

Whistleblowing review

Earlier this week, the government kicked off a new consultation into the UK’s whistleblowing framework. The consultation (which closes on Friday 8 January 2027) seeks views on whether the framework is effective and, if not, how it should be reformed.

So, what’s on the table? Here are some of the most noteworthy questions posed in the consultation:

• Should protection cover a wider group of people, such as certain self-employed individuals?
• Should any changes be made to the types of wrongdoing that can be reported through the whistleblowing framework? For example, are the existing categories of wrongdoing broad enough to cover disclosures relating to misuse of public money and risks arising from AI technologies?
• Should employers be required by law to have whistleblowing policies and procedures in place?

Flexible working

Acas has launched a consultation into a new draft Code of Practice on requests for flexible working, with the consultation set to close on 17 December 2026.

The draft Code includes updates to reflect the flexible working reforms contained in the Employment Rights Act 2025 – namely a new reasonableness test and a new process for consulting with employees about their flexible working request. For more information on these reforms and their planned implementation in autumn 2027, check out our ERA hub page on flexible working.

The draft includes guidance on how an employer can find and use evidence (such as workforce, service delivery and customer data or views from staff) to make a decision about a request. It also includes more detail on the steps that an employer should take to consult with the employee, including a recommendation to discuss whether the requested working arrangement may be needed as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010.