Employment Rights Act 2025 dates for recruitment agencies: what changed in April 2026, what comes in October and 2027

The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the largest change to employment law in a generation, and most of its commentary is written for HR departments. An agency with twenty temps on its payroll is an employer too, and some of the changes land on it first. This is the list of dates that change what the agency does, with the rest left out.

Already in force: 6 and 7 April 2026

Statutory sick pay from day one, with no lower earnings limit. Since 6 April 2026 SSP is payable from the first day of sickness, not the fourth, and to workers earning below the old lower earnings limit, at a rate of 80% of earnings or the flat rate, whichever is lower. For a temp desk this is a direct cost increase and a timesheet question: a temp off sick on Tuesday is paid SSP for Tuesday. The AWR clock is unaffected; sickness pauses the qualifying period as before.

The collective redundancy protective award doubled to 180 days' pay. Rarely an agency issue; it matters to clients.

The Fair Work Agency opened on 7 April 2026, combining the enforcement bodies for the minimum wage, employment agency standards and the gangmasters licence into one. For agencies this is the body that enforces the Conduct Regulations, holiday pay and SSP, with powers to inspect and to issue penalties. The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate's work, including the Key Information Document and the written-terms rules, now sits here.

October 2026

Employment tribunal time limits went from three months to six on 1 October 2026 (9 November 2026 for breach of contract claims in Scotland), on the government's timeline as updated on 25 September 2026. A temp or a placed candidate has twice as long to bring a claim, so the file on every placement, including the right to work record and the terms, needs to be kept and findable for longer.

Trade union access rights and the new duty to prevent sexual harassment (taking "all reasonable steps") take effect on 30 October 2026, along with an obligation not to permit harassment of employees by third parties. The harassment duty applies to agency workers in the hirer's workplace, and the agency, as their employer, needs a route for a temp to report it that does not run through the hirer.

2027

Unfair dismissal qualifying period cut to six months, from the current two years; the government's stated date is dismissals from 1 January 2027, and compensatory awards for unfair dismissal are uncapped from the same date. For agencies this changes two things: the permanent candidates you place get protection after six months, which makes the first six months the whole of the client's risk window and changes how rebate periods are argued; and your own staff, consultants included, are protected after six months.

Umbrella companies become employment businesses under the Employment Agencies Act 1973, bringing them inside the Conduct Regulations, expected in 2027. An agency that supplies through umbrellas will be dealing with regulated entities, and the joint and several liability for PAYE between agency and umbrella, introduced through the tax system from April 2026, already means an umbrella's unpaid tax can be the agency's debt. Choose umbrellas as you would choose a client: on their paperwork.

Fire and rehire protections and a duty to tell workers of their right to join a trade union are also listed for January 2027.

What the agency does on each date

• 6 April 2026: payroll pays SSP from day one; the temp handbook says so; margins on short assignments are re-priced.
• 7 April 2026: the compliance file is kept as if an inspector will ask for it, because one now can.
• 1 October 2026: retention periods for placement files move to six months plus the claim period; by 30 October a harassment reporting route exists for temps.
• 1 January 2027: terms of business are re-read against a six-month unfair dismissal period; the rebate scale conversation with clients changes.
• 2027: every umbrella in the supply chain is checked for Conduct Regulations compliance as a regulated business.

Dates marked expected are the government's stated timetable and can move; commencement orders are what make them law. An AI Compliance Clerk set up by Overlyft keeps this list against the agency's own calendar and raises each date six weeks ahead. This is general information, not legal advice.