News

The latest HR and employment news.

This tool allows you to:

  • Keep up to date with government proposals.
  • Follow the progress of employment legislation through Parliament.

Learn more

Latest items in News

  • Tribunal case exposes sponsor licence pay issue

    Date:
    8 June 2026

    As immigration and sponsorship rules tighten and pay rates determine whether workers can be employed in the UK, a recently highlighted tribunal case has cast light on whether an employer can lawfully pay a sponsored worker more than a non-sponsored worker doing the same role.

  • Employer bodies urge ministers to keep zero-hours reforms simple

    Date:
    3 June 2026

    Ministers have launched a consultation on "ending one-sided flexibility", looking at the detail of reforms from the Employment Rights Act 2025 relating to zero-hours contracts, reasonable notice of shifts, and pay for cancelled shifts.

  • Trade union membership grows to 6.6 million

    Date:
    3 June 2026

    Union membership among public sector workers hit 6.6 million in 2025, up by almost 200,000 on the year before. Meanwhile, union membership among employees in the private sector rose by 76,000 to 2.5 million, according to figures from the Department for Business and Trade.

  • Government to pilot new approach to fix "broken" fit note system

    Date:
    29 May 2026

    The Government has pledged to overhaul the "broken" fit note system, beginning with pilots in four different areas. Through the pilots, patients will be offered either an initial fit note from a GP and then referred to community health workers, or the option to be supported by a separate service staffed by clinical and non-clinical practitioners.

  • Lawyers welcome Home Office reversal on right-to-work rules

    Date:
    28 May 2026

    Immigration law specialists have welcomed a u-turn on Home Office guidance requiring employers sponsoring migrant workers to conduct right-to-work checks on anyone they "directly engage". In the past three months there have been three updates to the Home Office guidance about whom sponsors should conduct right-to-work checks on - the latest, published on 20 May, could bring much relief to employers with licences to sponsor workers.

  • EHRC updated code of practice laid before Parliament

    Date:
    22 May 2026

    The Government has laid the Equality and Human Rights Commission's draft updated code of practice for services, public functions and associations before Parliament. Having received ministerial approval, Parliament now has 40 days to scrutinise the code. If it does not reject it, the Government will set a date for it to come into force.

  • Reality of employee experience fails to match HR's ratings

    Date:
    19 May 2026

    While 84% of HR leaders in the UK believe their employees would rate their overall experience at work as 'excellent or good', only 60% of employees actually do. British workers are among the least satisfied among seven countries where employee benefits platform Benifex polled employees.

  • Equal pay: Tesco's appeal over job assessment method fails

    Date:
    14 May 2026

    Lawyers representing Tesco workers have welcomed a Court of Appeal ruling on how tribunals should assess the value of the roles carried out by Tesco shop workers in the long-running equal pay litigation.

  • Fewer CEOs believe AI will reduce hiring

    Date:
    6 May 2026

    The number of CEOs who believe AI will lead to reduced hiring has more than halved, according to a global survey, which also found leaders increasingly resilient to geopolitical tensions.

  • Employers' bodies call for more dialogue on union access rights

    Date:
    4 May 2026

    UK employer bodies have written to the government calling for tripartite discussions with ministers and unions on the implementation of trade union access rights in the Employment Rights Act 2025.

You said it...

I can find out the latest developments in employment law, plus the templates and documents that are available can be easily tailored for use in my own company.

Helen Woods, HR manager, Serco Group plc