Coming soon

Commentary and insights: Managing zero hours workers

Alison Frazer looks at the practical implications of the Employment Rights Bill for employers managing workers on zero hours contracts.

May 2025

Commentary and insights: Where do you fit when you're a senior HR professional?

Working in Senior HR roles, it can often feel like you're balancing many hats and navigating an intricate web of relationships and responsibilities. Caroline Green offers guidance on getting the balance right.

May 2025

Commentary and insights: Media myths - will third-party harassment liability affect freedom of speech?

Will the proposed introduction of third-party harassment liability for employers in the Employment Rights Bill lead to particular topics of conversation being banned in pubs, and even the end of free speech? Stephen Simpson busts some media myths.

May 2025

Commentary and insights: From burnout to blossoming - how HR can tackle the burnout crisis

Burnout isn't just a buzzword - it's a workplace crisis. More than 10 million UK employees call in sick due to burnout each year, costing businesses over £700 million in sick days, according to MetLife. Debbie Kleiner offers a prescription for change.

May 2025

Commentary and insights: From the top down - DEI in leadership

Diversity, equity and inclusion, as a conversation topic, is often discussed within the context of the general workforce instead of in the context of leadership. When it comes to DEI, senior leadership can both lead the charge and hinder the change, depending on the values and principles they embody, says Georgie Williams.

May 2025

Podcast: Immigration law changes

Ferzana Ahmed and Mith Ragukaran, immigration solicitors at law firm Fragomen, take us through the latest immigration developments and issues affecting HR professionals, including what's on the horizon.

May 2025

Podcast: Gender pay gap reporting - preparing for change

Cathryn Edmondson talks about the history of gender pay gap reporting and changes that HR should be preparing for.

May 2025

Webinar: Responsible AI in the workplace - your questions answered

Wherever you are on your journey with AI, there are questions that HR needs to be asking about responsible and ethical AI use - not least to avoid bias and discrimination.

Join Philippa Penfold, acclaimed HR technology expert and Responsible AI and Data Science Manager at Elsevier, as she discusses the principles of responsible AI use and provides practical takeaways for the ethical and legally compliant deployment of AI across HR.

The second half of the webinar will be dedicated to answering your questions anonymously, where Philippa will draw on her extensive HR and AI experience, to help you through this constantly evolving landscape with confidence.

11am, Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Webinar: How HR is using Artificial Intelligence

Join Sheila Attwood, Brightmine Senior Content Manager, as she shares insights from her research on how HR is using AI. Based on speaking to HR professionals, from those who are unsure of where to start with AI, to others who have worked through the challenges and are now happily embracing its opportunities, she will share:

• Real-life examples of how HR is using AI.
• The outcomes achieved from AI use.
• The challenges and barriers experienced, and how they have been overcome.

This session will also include a demo of AI Assist - a GenAI powered chat tool from Brightmine HR & Compliance Centre, designed to help support HR professionals with finding answers to complex HR questions quickly and accurately.

Book your place for both webinars and submit your questions now.

11am, Wednesday, 21 May 2025

Survey analysis and Benchmarking - HR metrics: Recruitment and workforce planning 2025

Our annual research examines key recruitment metrics such as time-to-hire and cost-per-hire, along with the challenges organisations are face and how they're addressing them. This year, we've expanded the survey to include workforce planning, offering insights into how businesses are preparing for future talent needs. Take part in the survey here.

June 2025

The wide-ranging Employment Rights Bill paves the way for the biggest upheaval in employment law for many decades. Among other things, the Bill:

• removes the two-year service requirement to claim unfair dismissal;
• makes "fire and rehire" dismissals without evidence of financial difficulties automatically unfair;
• changes the collective redundancy consultation threshold to cover the whole organisation, rather than each "establishment" within an organisation;
• introduces a right for trade unions to request access to workplaces and requires employers to notify new hires of the right to join a union;
• expands protection against dismissal for pregnant employees and individuals who are on, or have recently returned from, family-related leave;
• makes statutory paternity leave and ordinary parental leave day-one employment rights;
• makes entitlement and procedural changes to statutory sick pay;
• entitles zero and low hours workers to stable contractual arrangements;
• widens the statutory right to bereavement leave beyond bereaved parents to all employees;
• requires large employers to publish gender pay gap and menopause action plans;
• introduces stronger workplace harassment laws; and
• reforms the right to request flexible working.

• Ongoing commentary and insights from the Brightmine team: Our team of experienced HR and employment law experts is continuing to sift through the fine detail of the published Bill and any supporting documentation or announcements that the Government subsequently releases to bring you the very latest updates and insights.

• Look out for many new and updated resources from Brightmine: The Employment Rights Bill provides the framework for multiple employment law changes - much of the detail is still being worked out. As the Government releases more details about these changes, the Brightmine team will be formulating our plans to bring you the very best resources, including: model HR policies and contract clauses; model letters and forms; line manager training guides; surveys/benchmarking; podcasts and webinars; and much, much more.
• Check out existing resources from Brightmine: In the meantime, key resources include our Legal timetable; Employment Rights Bill research 2024; Webinar: Employment Rights Bill - how HR can get ahead of the changes; and Employment Rights Bill: 10 key policies employers must revamp. We have also updated dozens of Future developments sections within our Employment law guide with information about the Employment Rights Bill.

Between now and 2026 - and beyond.

The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 will allow an employee to take paternity leave as a day-one right where a mother, or a person with whom a child is placed or expected to be placed for adoption, dies.

• New paternity bereavement leave policy explaining the rights of employees to paternity bereavement leave.

• Suite of template letters to help support employers.
• New section in employment law guide on paternity bereavement leave. 

To be confirmed.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010 is based on biological sex. While Judge Lord Hodge stated "we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another", employers may have to rethink their policy towards single-sex spaces in the workplace, such as bathrooms and changing rooms.

The following resources will be updated in light of the judgment:

• Transgender and non-binary equality policy

• Supporting an employee who is transitioning action plan
• Leading practice guides on Supporting non-binary and transgender employees

There will be a new commentary and insights piece by employment lawyer Darren Newman.

May 2025