Employment Edit: 3 September 2026

An employer’s guide

For more info on trade union access in the meantime, this guide explains what constitutes “access”, how trade unions can make a request, how employers can respond, and how the new regime will be enforced.

TLDR

If you’re looking for a quick read, in this at-a-glance update we pick out four key points every HR team should know about trade union access.

Preventing harassment

The other key ERA changes coming into force this October relate to the prevention of workplace harassment. From 30 October 2026, the duty to prevent sexual harassment will be amended to require employers to take “all” reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. On the same date, a new type of harassment claim will be introduced which will enable workers to bring a claim where they were harassed by a third party and their employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent that third party harassment. The new third party harassment claim extends beyond sexual harassment and covers harassment on the grounds of relevant protected characteristics.

The risk assessment review process should already be an evolving one but, with the above reforms on the way, it is particularly important for employers to identify and revisit potential risk areas now (both relating to sexual harassment and third party harassment) and take all reasonable steps to mitigate those risks. In the following on-demand webinar discussion and articles, we look more closely at these reforms and how employers can prepare.

From policy to prevention

In this article, we explore what prevention looks like in practice and the steps employers can take now to prepare for October’s changes.

Lesser-known aspects

Whilst most employers are aware that anti-harassment laws are changing, some of the implications may be less familiar. In her recent blog post, Kate Redshaw highlights some of those lesser-known aspects.

Right to work obligations

Away from the ERA, important changes to the UK’s regime to prevent illegal working are on the way this autumn. Obligations to carry out right to work checks will be extended and a new concept of “extended liability” (which pushes liability for such checks up the supply chain in certain contracting and labour supply situations) will be introduced. In the article below, our business immigration team has written more about these changes and how to prepare, including reviewing your workforce arrangements, onboarding processes, and contracts with labour providers now to identify what changes you need to make before October.

Unfair dismissal

Although technically not coming into effect this autumn, we couldn’t leave out January’s unfair dismissal changes – from January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims will reduce from 2 years to 6 months and the compensation cap on such claims will be scrapped. These are both major changes and preparing for the new unfair dismissal world will be a key area of focus for most organisations between now and December (and beyond).