Don’t panic, Captain Mainwaring
The Employment Rights Act finally received Royal Assent just before Christmas, after a ground-breaking tripartite engagement between business, trade unions and government crafted a compromise agreement that provides for unfair dismissal protection to kick in after six months of employment.
This is a hugely significant development, demonstrating that the social partners can and should work together on the details of the implementation of the Act, ensuring that it meets the needs of employees and business alike. This collaboration going forward will be essential if the Act is to fulfil its aim of improving employee rights.
It provides grounds for optimism that the many remaining issues of contention in the Act, including reform of so-called ‘fire and rehire’, reforming zero hours contracts and trade union access to workplaces can be similarly addressed. There are going to be more than 25 consultations on different aspects of the Act; the government’s road map for implementing the headline provision in the Act sets out the timetable which goes well into next year.
There is no doubt that the haste with which the Bill was introduced and the wide-range of individual and collective rights it includes, has found business on the defensive. But as the details of the Act are hammered out is it vital that all sides keep a sense of proportion as well as a commitment to implementation.
As the government points out, many of the provisions in the Act are already standard good practise for many employers. That is one key reason why many large employers have been sanguine about the proposals, as the CIPD’s research has demonstrated.
Nonetheless there are large swathes of the private sector, particularly small and medium size businesses, for whom the added rights for individual employees – improved paternity leave, improved protection against sexual harassment, action on gender pay equality, flexible working, bereavement leave among others – will require significant adjustments, a real challenge for SMEs with small or non-existent HR departments.
There is no doubt that the Act seeks positively to increase collective bargaining by recognised trade unions – and these proposal have produced the most alarming and alarmist reactions. It is noticeable – and in my view regrettable – that many commentators, including some in the legal profession are predicting Armageddon, emphasising the risks to business rather than the opportunities for better engagement with their workforce.
While there may be one or two public spats ahead from those spoiling for a fight, I do not think this will be the prevailing approach from either business or trade unions.
There are just too many challenges facing businesses – from the introduction of AI, the arrival of new production processes, the changing demands of customers and consumers, the geopolitical disruption to markets, the challenge of improving productivity – which require collaboration and deep engagement with the workforce for a kamakazi approach to collective engagement to make business sense.
The government now needs to play its part in ensuing the engagement happens in the right spirit, by setting out what positive industrial relations looks like – collaboration, sweet spot engagement where commitment to the success of the enterprise is paralleled by commitment to fair and equitable treatment of the workforce – with collective engagement helping to negotiate that balance.
The IPA has long promulgated this partnership approach to industrial relations, and we are here to support employers as they navigate post Act. Just as tax apparently doesn’t have to be taxing (although it surely felt that way to many as the 31 January deadline approached) so industrial relations doesn’t need to be scary. Don’t panic, Captain Mainwaring as Corporal Jones would say.
Pro-active employers who believe there may be an appetite for union recognition among employees should begin thinking about how to respond positively – perhaps by approaching a trade union for initial discussions; taking the initiative will certainly help ensure positive terms of engagement.
Nita Clarke OBE – director IPA
January 2026