On 28 October 2025, the Employment Rights Bill debate resumed in the House of Lords following the House of Commons’ rejection of key amendments made during the last Lords stage. One amendment in particular has proven to be a key point of contention between the Government and the House of Lords – that of day one unfair dismissal rights.
What happened during the debate?
The last time the Bill was before the House of Lords, they amended the provisions relating to day one unfair dismissal rights to insert a six-month qualifying service requirement instead. This was rejected on the Bills return to the House of Commons, but now the Bill has once again returned to the House of Lords the Government has failed to convince them to back down on this and instead, they have stood firm in their stance.
The difference in impact between the opposing views is vast. A day-one right would give 9 million employees, that don’t currently have it, protection from unfair dismissal. A six-month qualifying period, on the other hand, would see this number drop to 6 million.
Additionally, during the debate, the Lords voted for further amendments to zero-hour contract reforms including giving workers a right to “opt out” of guaranteed hours contract offers and defining seasonal workers.
Alongside this, they also affirmed their commitment to rejected amendments on Trade Union political funds and the requirement for 50% turnout on industrial action ballots.
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What happens next?
The Bill will now head back to the House of Commons for further debate, however, with a day-one right to unfair dismissal being a manifesto commitment, it’s unlikely the Government will back down easily. This means the game of ‘ping pong’ between the two houses could drag on, adding to the uncertainty businesses are already facing from a Bill that will require 173 individual pieces of legislation to bring into force in full.
It’s also yet to be seen whether these delays will affect the Roadmap for Delivering Change released by the Government in July 2025.
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