For us employment law geeks, it’s probably fair to say that the twin peaks of 2025 to date have been a lengthy Bill in progress and a Supreme Court judgement. 

Employment Rights Bill 2024

We have had amendments as this Bill has progressed through parliament, lengthy debates and more recently a road map to implementation, yet no detail to give substance to its bare bones. 

At the time of writing, it is awaiting its report stage in the House of Lords and all commentators are saying, considering the Parliamentary summer break, that it will not reach the statute books until the autumn. 

The Roadmap published by the Government on 1 July 2025 has provided some guidance as to implementation dates and you can read more in our update here.  Some relief for employers that the day one unfair dismissal rights will not be in force until 2027, likewise, the right to a guaranteed hours offer for zero-hour workers.  

For more information on the Bill’s progress, catch up with our updates here. If you haven’t already, sign up for our Employment Rights Bill hub subscription service here for commentary, links and updates.  

As we head into the autumn and a period of intensive consultation (if the roadmap is to be followed), this subscription service and hub will provide all the updates and practical implications to keep ahead of the Bill and its many and varied provisions. 

Supreme Court Judgement – For Women Scotland

The ruling in April by the Supreme Court that the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex was an important but complex one. For some, it’s the ruling that protects women-only spaces and for others, it’s the ruling that undermines the dignity and safety of trans women and trans men. 

My colleague, Jackie Morris, legal director in our team, published this thoughtful and practical blog for employers as they seek to understand the implications for their organisation.  We await the EHRC's new code of practice for service providers and associations – the consultation period ended on 30 June.  

However, it’s important to note that this does not relate specifically to the duty on employers but rather to service providers. We understand the EHRC has no plans to update its employment code, which leaves employers rather in the dark.  It has, however, updated its interim statement here to include reference to the need for employers to follow the requirements outlined in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. 

What else?

In any mountain range, there are always other features worthy of note in between the peaks, and so it is with employment issues this year.

Pensions

This year has seen a range of developments in the pensions landscape, from structural innovation to regulatory adjustments. The introduction of the UK’s first Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) scheme marks a shift in how pension benefits may be delivered, while employer practices around salary sacrifice and national insurance continue to evolve. 

Recent increases to the Local Government Pension Scheme contribution levels and the freeze on auto-enrolment thresholds also reflect ongoing efforts to balance sustainability with accessibility. We explore these themes further in the Passles linked below.

• Pensions Trust to offer collective defined contribution schemes 
• Less than half of employers offsetting national insurance costs with salary sacrifice
• LGPS – changes for a new year
• Auto enrolment – freeze on thresholds

Discrimination

We started the year with news that the then-new President of the USA was scaling back on ED&I projects and big multinationals were following that lead.  In our blog at the start of the year here we reflected on how the then new Labour Government was not following this pathway but rather digging in with new measures to prevent sexual harassment and plans to re-introduce protection from third party harassment for employees into the Equality Act 2010.   

This was further reiterated by reports later in the year that the EHRC had investigated and acted upon repeated reports of sexual harassment of staff at McDonalds. Our blog looked at what employers should be doing to avoid such EHRC investigations and protect their staff from sexual harassment.   

In the final instalment of the Higgs v Farmor School case, the Court of Appeal ruled that if an employer is going to curb the right of one of its employees to manifest their belief, that this limiting of their right must be a proportionate response to the manifestation. The Court found in Ms Higgs’ favour, ruling that her dismissal was not a proportionate response to her Facebook posts. 

A useful case for employers in April prompted our blog on the guidance from the EAT on what actions employers need to take to satisfy the ‘all reasonable steps’ defence. Clear demonstration and communication of your organisation’s values, mandatory training and performance assessments measured against those values were noted by the EAT as key. 

And finally, in this section, the issue of ‘overheard conversations’ and third-party harassment – could employers be liable? Concerns in the press about the new third-party harassment provisions in the Employment Rights Bill led to ‘outrage’ at this alleged curbing of rights to have a private conversation. Our blog unpacked the outrage and gave some clear legal and practical guidance for employers. 

 Other notable cases we reported on were;

• Blacklisting Regulations apply to strike action even when it is not protected as lawful strike action 
• TUPE objections – guidance for employers in handling any objections to a transfer 
• In light of Gary Lineker’s departure from the BBC, we looked at whether you can dismiss an employee for social media posts
• The prohibition on employers passing on immigration fees to sponsored workers 

If you would like further information or training on any of the issues noted above, please do contact any member of the team. 

We can write bespoke training courses for your organisation, focusing on the issues that are most key to you and your staff.  So far this year, we have rolled out the following training courses.

• The Employment Rights Bill and how it impacts your business
• ED&I training for trustees 
• Investigations and disciplinary meetings
• Understanding employment contracts 

Save the date

21 October 2025 is our annual Employment Law Update – watch out for further details and booking information.