GB
Big changes are on the horizon for UK employment law in 2025.
With the roadmap for the Employment Rights Bill UK 2025 now revealed, it’s essential for businesses to get everything in order. This new legislation will impact everything from probation periods and sick pay from day 1, to flexible working laws, zero-hours contract regulations, and more.
Whether you're a founder, HR lead, legal counsel or ops manager, this employment contract checklist is your go-to guide for preparing your business for the upcoming UK employment law changes.
To make life easier, we’ve broken down the key actions into a friendly checklist. No jargon - just exactly what you need to do to stay ahead of the employment law updates in the UK.
1. Audit your workforce
Take stock of your employment arrangements, contracts, and handbook. Make sure everyone is correctly classified (employee, worker, contractor) and that you understand who qualifies as a zero-hours worker, including agency staff.
2. Refresh your contracts
Review your employment contract templates to include solid probation clauses, and ensure all employees have a compliant agreement in place.
3. Monitor probation periods properly
Start regular 1:1s, track feedback, and keep clear records – consistency is key.
4. Plan ahead for contract changes
Once the Employment Rights Bill kicks in, it’ll be harder to make changes to existing contracts. Start planning the process now, but hold off on any updates to current staff until the final version is confirmed.
5. Prepare for fair consultation
You’ll need a compliant, transparent process to update employee contracts before the new rules come into force.
6. For zero-hours workers
Ensure you’re tracking hours worked, shift notices and cancellations. You’ll need templates for guaranteed hours offers and shift changes once finalised by the government.
7. Extend your document retention
Once the time limit for bringing employment claims extends from 3 to 6 months, update your record retention policy accordingly.
8. Sick pay from day 1
Work out what payroll system updates you’ll need to offer statutory sick pay from the first day of absence.
9. Train managers on sick leave
Train line managers to document sick leave clearly and accurately.
10. Review holiday calculations
Audit your processes for holiday entitlement and holiday pay calculations. Make sure your records are watertight.
11. Flex working – are you ready?
Make sure your policies and response templates reflect the new flexible working law changes, including robust reasoning for any refusal.
12. Policy updates incoming
Start updating policies for:
13. Train up your managers
Everyone involved in HR or management should understand the employment law changes and how to apply them. We're offering workshops to get teams up to speed on this. Contact us to find out more.
14. Bereavement leave
Draft or update your bereavement leave policy so it’s ready when needed.
15. Onboarding & union rights
Update onboarding materials to explain trade union rights to new employees.
16. Sexual harassment safeguards
Review your risk assessments, training, and third-party agreements. Consider an anonymous reporting system for harassment concerns.
17. Redundancy tracking
You’ll need visibility on redundancies across the entire business over a 90-day period. Update systems to support this.
18. Gender pay gap
If you report on this, start internal discussions early and consider creating a gender pay gap action plan.
19. Supply chain compliance
Audit umbrella companies or outsourced suppliers to prepare for new tax compliance obligations.
📩 Need help with employment contracts, policies or preparing for the Employment Rights Bill? We're supporting companies across sectors – drop us a message and we’ll get you sorted.
