The Employment Rights Act marks a major victory for workers, but without stronger enforcement and collective organisation, its promises may fall short, says ALICE BOWMAN
I HAVE been an employment solicitor representing trade union members for the best part of a decade and, to date, I have never seen such a significant rise in claimants bringing cases against their employers.
Recent data from the Employment Tribunal shows that, in the last quarter of 2025, the number of claimants initiating proceedings against employers increased by over 50 per cent compared with the previous year. Furthermore, the number of single cases in the tribunal system at the end of December 2025 also increased by nearly 50 per cent compared with the year before.
There could be a number of reasons for this. The use of AI-generated claim forms is on the rise, and employees may also have a greater awareness of their rights due to extensive press coverage of the Employment Rights Act 2025.
As the new provisions within the Employment Rights Act 2026 come closer to implementation, this trend is only expected to continue.
As many readers will be aware, the current qualifying period for unfair dismissal is two years. An employee must have at least two years’ continuous service to gain the right not to be unfairly dismissed.
This is set to be reduced to six months in January 2027. As unfair dismissal is the most common claim brought before the tribunal, the volume of cases after January 2027 is also...
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