It’s almost certain that The Employment Rights Bill (ERB) will not be passed (receive Royal Assent) until the Autumn 2025.

While we had expected the Bill to pass into law over the summer, some proper scrutiny in the House of Lords (HOL) has delayed the remaining stages, and with parliament ‘breaking up for the summer’ at the end of July, the Goverment has run out of time, and Royal Assent will be delayed until the autumn.

After being waived through all stages at the Commons, the Bill received finally some proper assessment going through the Lords in May and June. On June 24th the Bill completed its Committee Stage, after 11 days of line by line scrutiny.

The next stage, the report stage, is now set for 14th to 16th July with the following stage- the third reading in the Lords – likely in September. It then has to return to the House of Commons for consideration, – the ping pong phase between the two Houses, before being passed.

During the debate on 24 June 2025, the Labour Whip, Lord Leong, promised that an “implementaion road map, would be published imminently which will set out the government’s planned timetable for future consultations and the implementation of the ERB’s measures.

That would be helpful, as even once the Bill is passed, a huge amount of detail will still need to be filled in through supporting regulations (known as statutory instruments), consultations, and statutory codes of practice. This is a key reason for the ongoing lack of clarity. As Lord Fox noted in the House of Lords in proposing a “purpose clause” to be added to the ERB to set out its overarching intent — “consultations should precede, not succeed, the drafting of a Bill.. “operational details of the proposed legislation should be clear and obvious, not opaque.” Quite.


For now, employers should keep an eye on the Lords’ Report Stage papers in July, but the real work will begin once the Government publishes its implementation roadmap and draft regulations later in 2025.

From the Autumn onwards, keep an eye here on the results of the consultations as they come out, by signing up to email alerts 
If you would like to discuss the Bill’s reforms or receive a straightforward action plan to prepare your business, please call us on 0203 755 5288 or get in touch by email.

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