Employment Rights Bill: Four consultation papers issued on bereavement leave, enhanced dismissal rights for pregnant women and new mothers and union rights

29 October 2025 5 min read

By Rachel Chapman

At a glance

The government has published four consultation papers on the details of forthcoming changes in the Employment Rights Bill (ERB), which is expected to gain Royal Assent in the next few weeks.
The consultations cover bereavement leave, enhanced dismissal rights for pregnant women and new mothers and union rights.
The consultations on bereavement leave and enhanced dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers close on 15 January 2026.
The consultations on the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union and on the rights of unions to access workplaces close on 18 December 2025.

The government has published four consultation papers on the details of forthcoming changes in the ERB, which is expected to gain Royal Assent in the next few weeks.

The consultation papers cover:

Bereavement leave.
Enhanced dismissal rights for pregnant women and new mothers.
The duty to inform workers of their right to join a union.
Rights of unions to access workplaces.

Bereavement leave

The right to parental bereavement leave currently gives parents time off following:

The death of a child, if they die under the age of 18.
The death of a baby who only lives for a short time after birth.
A stillbirth after 24 weeks’ pregnancy.
A termination for medical reasons after 24 weeks.

The right is to up to two weeks’ paid leave to be taken within 56 weeks of the child’s death.

The ERB introduces a new additional day-one right to unpaid bereavement leave for employees who experience the loss of a loved one, including pregnancy loss. The ERB sets out the minimum statutory requirements, including a minimum leave period of one week and a period of at least 56 days for the employee to take the leave.

Further details of the entitlement, including eligibility criteria, total duration of leave, the maximum window of time within which leave must be taken and the types of pregnancy loss in scope, will be specified in regulations. The consultation paper seeks views on all these aspects of the right.

Specifically, the consultation seeks views on:

Which relationships between the employee and the person who passed away should qualify for the leave.
Whether bereavement leave for pregnancy loss should be restricted to the person who physically experienced the loss, and if not, who should be entitled.
Which types of pregnancy loss should be covered: miscarriage before 24 weeks, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, medical terminations prior to 24 weeks, IVF embryo transfer loss, other pregnancy loss.
Duration of leave and whether that should vary depending on the relationship or type of loss.
The date from which leave can be taken and the window for taking leave.
Flexibility over taking the leave.
Notice and evidence requirements.

The consultation closes on 15 January 2026.

Enhanced dismissal protection for pregnant women and new mothers

Under the ERB it will be unlawful to dismiss pregnant women, women on maternity leave and mothers who return to work for at least a six-month period after they return to work except in specific circumstances. The consultation paper asks for views on the situations in which employers should still be permitted to fairly dismiss individuals in the protected group.

The options considered are:

A new general test for fairness. The existing potentially fair reasons for dismissal would apply, but employers would be required to meet a stricter standard when relying on those reasons.
Limiting the potentially fair reasons for dismissal eg removing capability or some other substantial reason or narrowing the scope of conduct.
Whether the protections should be a day one right.
When the protected period should start and when it should end, including for those not entitled to maternity leave.
Whether the enhanced dismissal protections should also cover other parents.

The consultation also seeks views more widely on the extent of unfair treatment of pregnant women and new mothers.

The consultation closes on 15 January 2026.

Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union

The ERB introduces a new duty on employers to give a written statement to their workers informing them of their right to join a trade union at the start of employment and at other times, which is due to be implemented by October 2026. The consultation seeks views on:

The form the statement should take.
The content of the statement.
How the statement must be delivered.
The frequency with which the statement must be reissued (every six months, annually or sector specific frequency).

The government considers that the statement should include the following information:

A brief overview of the functions of a trade union.
A summary of the statutory rights in relation to union membership.
A list of any trade unions that the employer recognises.
A signpost to a gov.uk page with a list of trade unions.

The consultation closes on 18 December 2025.

Right of trade unions to access workplaces

The ERB will establish a statutory right for trade unions to access workplaces physically and to communicate with workers both in person and digitally, for the purposes of meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting or organising workers or facilitating collective bargaining. The ERB sets out the framework for the right, including how a request for access is made and a process for the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to determine and enforce access agreements.

The consultation seeks views on the operational detail of how unions will request access, and how employers will respond, factors the CAC will take into account when determining whether access should be granted and on what terms and how the CAC will decide the fines for breach of access agreements.

The government proposes that a union’s request for access must include:

A sentence making clear that it is a request for access under the statutory process.
A description of the group of workers which the union is seeking access to.
The purpose of the requested access.
A brief description of the nature of the access requested.
The requested date of the first access visit.
Information on how the union will provide practical information about the visit.
Notice periods for access.
The frequency of access requested.
The location of the workplaces(s) to which access is requested.

The government proposes that employers should have five working days to respond to the request for access, and that there should be a 15 working day negotiation period. If the employer and union are unable to agree, the government proposes there should be a maximum period of 25 days from the access request to when an application can be made to the CAC.

The CAC’s determinations on access will be required to take into account factors set in regulations in the following categories: circumstances where access must not be granted; circumstances where it is reasonable for access not to be granted; terms in an access request that should be considered as model terms; further matters. Circumstances to be taken into account may include the size of the employer. The government considers that it would be reasonable to refuse access where the employer already recognises an independent trade union.

With regard to fines for breach, the government is considering either a fixed maximum fine of GBP75,000 or a two-stage process of GBP75,000 for initial breach and up to GBP150,000 for repeated breaches.

The government proposes that access agreements should have a maximum expiry period of two years.

The consultation closes on 18 December 2025.