Employment Rights Act 2025

A consultation is asking what types of detriment should be prohibited as part of the government’s plan to provide greater protection for workers taking official industrial action.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces s. 236A into the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, prohibiting the use of ‘detriments of a prescribed description’ for the sole or main purpose of deterring, preventing or penalising a worker from taking part in official industrial action. The Act enables the government to set out the detriments which are to be prohibited in regulations. The aim is to bring the relevant provisions into force in October 2026.

The consultation (which closes on 23 April 2026) canvasses two options:

1. prohibit all detriments that a worker can be subjected to for the sole or main purpose of penalising, preventing or deterring them from taking industrial action (the government’s preferred option), or
2. create a list of detriments in secondary legislation that employers are prohibited from imposing for the sole or main purpose of penalising, preventing or deterring a worker from taking industrial action - the list could prescribe specific detriments or types of detriments

The consultation also proposes adding s. 236A claims to the list of those claims in Sch. A2 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 for which a tribunal uplift of 25% can be awarded. This would mean that if a claim was brought by an individual claiming that they had experienced a detriment for taking industrial action, if the employer had unreasonably failed to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures where it applied, the amount the employer would have to pay in awards for a successful claim could be increased by up to 25%. If the employee had unreasonably failed to follow the code, the award could be reduced by up to 25%.