The Employment Rights Bill is now in the final stages of its journey to become law. And after a quiet summer due to Parliament’s recess, the debates now continue.
After passing its third reading in the House of Lords, the Bill made its way back to the House of Commons where MPs were tasked with reviewing the amendments made by the Lords. This is called the ‘consideration of amendments’ stage.
Consideration of amendments
On 15 September 2025, MPs in the House of Commons considered the key amendments made to the Employment Rights Bill during the report stage in the House of Lords before Parliament’s summer recess.
Deciding to reject all non-governmental amendments made in the Lords, MPs have confirmed that the Bill will move forward with provisions making unfair dismissal protections a day-one right.
Other changes that will now not be made to the Bill include altering the requirement for employers to offer a guaranteed hours contract to zero-hour, low hour and agency workers to a right for workers to request one.
It has also been made clear that the extension of the right to bereavement leave covering miscarriages in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy will be included in the Bill and a ban on NDAs in harassment and discrimination situations will also be introduced.
Now, the Bill returns to the House of Lords where it will decide whether to accept the Bill as it currently stands or challenge the changes. If that happens, it could result in a back and forth between the House of Parliament.
With this being a flagship Government Bill, it is unlikely these changes will be successfully challenged.
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Other news on the Bill
The debate also included comments from the Government that provide some insight into the next stages and implementation of the Bill.
- The Government reaffirmed its commitment to consult on the Bill’s key measures with 13 individual consultations set to run in the coming months.
- To implement the measures in the Bill, it’s been identified that around 80 separate pieces of legislation will be required.
- Regarding statutory probationary periods (referred to as the “initial period of employment” in the Bill), during which the rules on unfair dismissal will be relaxed in cases that do not involve redundancy, the Government’s preference is that they will last for up to nine months, allowing for a six-month probation period with an optional extension to nine months.
Whilst we don’t know exactly how long this current stage will last for, the Government also made it very clear that the Roadmap for Delivering Change, published in July 2025, will “stand as is”, outlining their commitment to deliver on the timeframes included in the roadmap.
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