The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal assent in December last year, bringing with it a range of changes that have implications for schools.

It has been called the “most significant update to employment law in decades”.

To make sense of how this will affect schools, Tes spoke to lawyers about what leaders need to know for the coming academic year.

Some of the changes have already come into effect, but with legal experts raising concerns about them getting overlooked amid the onslaught of new legislation schools are already dealing with, we have included these, too.

Organised by the date that the change applies from, here’s everything from the Employment Rights Act that may have an impact on schools - and how to prepare for it.

February 2026

• The amount of notice trade unions have to give before they begin industrial action is reduced to 10 days

“We’ve got huge volumes of industrial action occurring both regionally and potentially in individual trusts,” says Sarah Linden, legal director at Browne Jacobson.

“Changing from two weeks to 10 calendar days to actually prepare for what could potentially be a school closure can be a significant difference for schools.

“The most effective things schools and trusts can do right now is invest in the quality of their relationships with trade unions before any dispute arises.

“Where significant changes affecting staff are being planned - whether that relates to pay, working conditions, restructuring or otherwise - proactive and meaningful engagement with unions at an early, formative stage is far more likely to prevent a dispute than reactive consultation once decisions have already been made. This is not simply good practice - in the current legislative landscape, it is a strategic necessity.”

April 2026

• Statutory sick pay is payable from the first day that an employee is ill rather than the fourth day

Schools and trusts should make sure they have updated their policies, handbooks and internal procedures to reflect paying statutory sick pay from an earlier date, Linden advises.

• Paternity leave becomes a “day one” right, meaning fathers are entitled to this from the first day of service rather than them having to work somewhere for 26 weeks before they are eligible

Again, schools and trusts should make sure this is reflected in their policies and procedures.

• The maximum protective award for collective redundancies doubles to 180 days

“This is an amount an employee receives from an employment tribunal if their employer fails to meet their collective redundancy consultation legal obligations,” Linden says.

Currently, if an employer is making 20 or more employees redundant within any 90-day period at a single establishment (meaning single school rather than trust), it must consult with trade union or elected employee representatives - or with staff if there are none.

“It sounds very technical, but for a lot of schools it could come into play. There are all sorts of reasons why lots of academy trusts and maintained schools are having to look at restructuring and making redundancies,” Linden explains.

“If you get this wrong, with the doubling it can get very expensive very quickly.”

• Protections strengthened for employees who whistleblow on sexual harassment

Schools should make sure their whistleblowing policies are updated to include sexual harassment as a qualifying disclosure.

• Requirement to maintain records of holiday

School systems should be updated to make sure they are maintaining records of staff holidays, the amount of holiday pay, and when payment is made in lieu of holiday.

This can be a particular issue for schools when it comes to part-time staff or term time-only staff, Linden says, and it could leave schools vulnerable to holiday pay claims if they are not on top of this.

• Trade union recognition process simplified

Some academy trusts have chosen not to voluntarily recognise trade unions for collective bargaining (unions negotiating with employers on behalf of members), Linden explains.

Recognition of a trade union either happens voluntarily by schools or it can sometimes be forced through legally.

The process being simplified will make it easier for unions to apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to get recognition under a statutory procedure if a trust is holding back on negotiating voluntary recognition.

Voluntary recognition of unions is often the most constructive route to maintaining positive relations, Linden says.

“However, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every trust operates in a different context, with different workforce dynamics, and the decision should be considered carefully in light of the specific circumstances.

“What matters most is that, whatever formal arrangements are or are not in place, the quality of the relationship between management and staff representatives is genuine and constructive.”

• Fair Work Agency established

This new body will essentially create another mechanism for enforcement of things like holiday rights and statutory sick pay, Linden says, so schools could face enforcement action from it if they are getting employee rights wrong.

See the points above on the changes to make sure your policies and procedures are compliant.

August 2026

• Electronic and workplace balloting introduced for statutory trade union ballots

This is another mechanism that could potentially make it easier for industrial action to happen, Linden says. While schools do not need to do anything in response to this change, it is worth bearing in mind that it might make strikes more common.

October 2026

• Employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of employees and not permit harassment of employees by third parties

Schools are hopefully already very alive to their duties to prevent harassment, says Jean Boyle, head of the employment team at Stone King.

“That said, there’s a risk that schools might just rest on their laurels and think, ‘That doesn’t really happen here,’ when it could,” she adds.

Schools may want to revisit the training they provide to their staff, particularly managers, on this, Linden advises, and make sure they have specific policies in place that are clear about what their expectations are.

• The time limit in which an employment tribunal claim can be made increases from three months to six months (this change comes in “no earlier than October 2026”)

“Across the board we’ve seen a huge rise in the number of employment tribunal claims being brought,” Linden says. “This could bring another surge, as employees will have longer to organise themselves and bring a claim.”

Schools and trusts may find themselves in front of an employment tribunal because internal processes were not followed quickly, she adds, and she advises investing in training for managers to make sure procedures are applied consistently.

• The duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union is introduced

“I think in this sector, we’re quite good at that,” Linden says.

However, she recommends checking employment contracts to make sure that this is stated.

January 2027

• The qualifying period to claim for unfair dismissal reduces from two years to six months, and the cap on unfair dismissal compensation is removed

This change could have a big impact on schools, Boyle says.

“Schools sometimes recruit people into fixed-term roles for, say, a year and then just see how they get on,” she explains. “Continuing with this approach is risky, because if the fixed term takes them over six months, the employee will have unfair dismissal rights.

“Schools will also need to be really careful in how they recruit, and work through their probationary periods really carefully and effectively, to make sure that the person is right for the role quite early on.

“It will mean some more pressure on schools and middle management to make sure these things are happening.”

Boyle adds that the removal of the cap on compensation in unfair dismissal cases is also likely to have a significant effect.

“The main reason for this is due to the public sector pension schemes, which schools participate in. Currently schools can be assured that compensation for unfair dismissal claims is limited and pension loss very rarely comes into play.

“However, with the removal of the cap, pension loss has the potential to form a major part of the compensation awarded and can often far exceed any other types of compensation a tribunal can award”.

• Fire and rehire protections introduced, so it becomes automatically unfair in any circumstances (bar a few exceptions) to dismiss an employee for not agreeing to a change in their contract

Most schools are unlikely to be affected by this, Boyle says. But it could potentially be an issue if a school wanted to change terms and conditions to, say, change the length of the school day, and an agreement could not be reached.

2027 (the exact dates of these changes below are yet to be confirmed)

• Changes to low- and zero-hour contracts that introduce a right to guaranteed hours and to compensation if shifts are cancelled or cut short

Staff such as exam invigilators, peripatetic music teachers, sports coaches and people providing wraparound care before and after school may be on these kinds of contracts, Linden says.

Schools will have to provide these staff with guaranteed hours if the employee requests it.

She advises schools to look at sensible baselines for the hours for these sorts of positions.

• Employers considering rejecting a flexible-working request must follow a new process to first consult the employee, and if they decide to reject the request, they must explain why that is a reasonable decision

Eight justified reasons for saying no to a flexible-working request are already set out in legislation (for example, the additional cost burden or the inability to reorganise work among existing staff). Schools rejecting requests will have to set out why their decision is reasonable on the grounds of one of these.

Most schools will already be thinking about flexible working and likely have had to reject requests, Boyle says, as they deal with the relative difficulty of implementing it compared with other sectors.

“Schools are often behind the curve on this, and it does have an impact on recruitment and retention,” she adds.

Where they can and aren’t doing so already, schools and trusts should think about how they can be on the front foot with flexible working, Linden advises.

• The introduction of enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant employees and new mothers, and the right to bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss

Currently, employees on maternity leave have an enhanced protection whereby if they are selected for redundancy, they have to be given any suitable alternative post. This right is now extended to pregnant employees and new mothers (for at least six months after they return to work).

The government is currently analysing responses to a consultation related to this.

• Employers must have action plans on gender equality and supporting employees through the menopause

Many schools already have menopause policies in place, Linden says. But they may want to start thinking about putting together action plans, setting out the practical steps they are taking to support employees and how this will manifest in their policies.

• The thresholds for triggering collective consultation for redundancies change

Currently, when an employer proposes to make redundant 20 or more employees at one site, it has to consult with representatives at least 30 days before the first redundancies take effect. If it is proposing making 100 or more employees redundant, this increases to 45 days.

The details of this change haven’t been finalised yet, but “we’re anticipating in mid 2027 we will see the trigger clarified trust-wide, so academy trusts may go over the threshold if they’re proposing to make 20 or more employees redundant aggregated across their school sites”, Linden says.

As detailed above, as of April 2026, if schools do not properly collectively consult, the protective award for violating this has doubled.

• The introduction of regulations to specify the steps regarded as “reasonable” in determining whether employers have taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and any provisions in a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) seeking to prevent workers from speaking out about harassment or discrimination are to be void

As set out above, employers will have to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent harassment from October 2026.

After consultation, the government will set out regulations defining reasonable steps, which may include things like carrying out specified assessments.

The NDA change will mean that any provision in an NDA that prevents a worker from speaking out about harassment or discrimination will be void. Proposals around how this will work are still being consulted on.