Coming soon

Commentary and insights: Fixed-term contracts: A risky business for global employers?

Multinational organisations are constantly in demand of highly skilled staff and often consider fixed-term contracts as a strategic and flexible tool when hiring in a new market. Depending on the specific country where they operate, fixed-term contracts may be a popular choice or an exceptional resource. But are they the right choice for your organisation?

November 2025

Commentary and insights: As the Employee Rights Bill becomes an Act, what's next for HR?

As autumn sets in, so does a new wave of employment reforms in the form of the Employment Rights Bill. Caroline Green interviews a group of HR professionals, from a variety of sectors including HE and adult learning, transport, real estate, law and consultancy, to look at the ways organisations are thinking about the challenges and opportunities offered by the new legislation.

November 2025

Commentary and insights: Making sense of the Employment Rights Bill - a day in the life of an HR consultancy 

The Government's plan to introduce a "day one" unfair dismissal right as part of its Employment Rights Bill has certainly sparked conversation - and, for many employers, a reasonable amount of uncertainty and concern. How can organisations best prepare for this and other legislative changes in the current context?

November 2025

Podcast: Employment Rights Bill - getting ready for the April 2026 changes

In this podcast, Brightmine editors Stephen Simpson and Zeba Sayed look at the first big tranche of employment law changes taking place in April 2026. Expected reforms include:

• Trade union recognition reforms.
• Establishment of Fair Work Agency to enforce employment rights.
• Increase in protective award for collective redundancy consultation failures.
• Addition of sexual harassment to qualifying disclosures for whistleblowing.
• Removal of qualifying period for paternity leave and ordinary parental leave.
• Changes to eligibility for statutory sick pay (SSP).

Survey analysis and Benchmarking - HR metrics: HR departments research

Our annual HR departments research report explores the key priorities shaping HR strategies for 2026. It also provides details on how HR teams are structured and the ways in which HR teams are evolving to meet the changing needs of their organisations.

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;
• extends the requirement for collective redundancy consultation, so the relevant number of employees is no longer to be calculated only at site/workplace level;
• 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 each version of the Bill as it progresses through Parliament 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; On your radar - Employment Rights Bill updates and HR mythbusting; and Employment Rights Bill implementation roadmap: Key dates for HR.

In 2026 and 2027 - 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. 

2026

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 have had interim updates 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

We have provided the following additional commentary and guidance:

• The definition of a woman: The legal meaning and practical implications of the Supreme Court ruling
• Supreme Court ruling and EHRC latest: How should HR respond?
• EHRC: Interim update on single-sex spaces draws criticism

Summer 2025