UK Employment Calendar: Upcoming 2026 developments

With the summer holidays fast approaching, now is a good time to take stock of the employment law developments coming your way in the second half of 2026. Our June–December 2026 calendar gives a concise snapshot of the key UK employment developments to have on your radar.

October 2026 brings a wave of new reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025, including the enhanced duty to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of employees, a new obligation on employers not to permit harassment of their employees by third parties, and new rights and protections for unions and their representatives. Employers should be preparing now for the expected increase in workplace union involvement that will come with enhanced union access rights. 

Looking ahead to 2027, the calendar flags important changes on unfair dismissal, fire and rehire, and collective redundancies. In particular, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal will reduce, and the compensation cap will be removed, for dismissals with an effective date of termination on or after 1 January 2027. 

In short, there is plenty coming down the track. The attached calendar is intended to be a practical prompt for planning, risk assessment and workforce strategy discussions over the second half of 2026.    

Please do get in touch with your usual A&O Shearman contact if you would like to discuss what any of these developments may mean for your organisation.
 

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