Model policies and procedures to help you create and maintain legally compliant documentation for your organisation.

Within this resource:

Each model document comes with notes and guidance on how and when it should be used.
Warning is provided of relevant future developments, including forthcoming legislation.

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Access our full list of our policies and procedures here.

New and updated

Trans and non-binary equality policy

There is an increasing trend towards using the term "trans" rather than "transgender", including throughout the updated EHRC statutory code of practice for services, public functions and associations. We always ensure that we are using the most up-to-date language in our model policies and so have updated this model policy throughout to use the term "trans".
Anti-sexual harassment policy

A model policy to set out your organisation's commitment to preventing sexual harassment at work, including the procedure for raising and investigating complaints of sexual harassment. This policy forms part of a two-policy approach and should be used alongside our Anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy (harassment other than sexual harassment).
Anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy (harassment other than sexual harassment)

A model policy to set out your organisation's commitment to preventing bullying and harassment at work, including the procedure for raising and investigating complaints of bullying and harassment (other than sexual harassment). This policy forms part of a two-policy approach and should be used alongside our Anti-sexual harassment policy.
Anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy (all forms of harassment)

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces employer liability for harassment by third parties and strengthens the duty to prevent sexual harassment. The policy wording has been updated to help employers prepare for the changes expected to come into force on 30 October 2026. The EHRC is currently working to update its technical guidance to reflect the forthcoming changes, and this policy will be reviewed again once the updated guidance is published.
Processing special category personal data and criminal records data policy

Use our updated template wording to review and amend your organisation’s data protection policy to reflect new requirements from 19 June 2026 for handling data protection complaints.
Data protection policy

Use our updated template wording to review and amend your organisation’s data protection policy to reflect new requirements from 19 June 2026 for handling data protection complaints.
Menopause policy

Use our updated template wording to review and amend your organisation’s menopause policy to ensure that it reflects the government’s recommendations on how employers can support employees experiencing menopause.
Maternity leave policy

The sections in this policy on Notice to take maternity leave and Maternity pay have been updated to reflect that employers should accept a copy of the MAT B1 from 1 April 2026 and do not have to be shown the original. Providing medical evidence of the expected week of childbirth via this form is an important step for a pregnant employee who wishes to be paid SMP during their maternity leave.
Whistleblowing policy

Use our updated template wording to review and amend your organisation’s whistleblowing policy to explain when workers can speak up about sexual harassment through the whistleblowing route. This change, introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 and in force from 6 April 2026, makes it clear that workers who blow the whistle on sexual harassment can benefit from whistleblowing protection.
Short-term sickness absence policy

Use our updated template wording to review and amend your organisation’s sick pay provisions to remove wording that will no longer be accurate and reflect changes to statutory sick pay eligibility introduced through the Employment Rights Act 2025. These changes come into force on 6 April 2026.

Employment Rights Act 2025 Hub

Your single source for complete compliance clarity.

Go to hub

Explore the policies on the topics impacted by the ERA.

Paternity leave and ordinary parental leave

Bereaved partner’s paternity leave

Sickness and sick pay

Whistleblowing policy

Menopause policy

Probation policy

You said it...

Without the use of HR & Compliance Centre, it would have cost us a lot of money in terms of needing to source legal assistance to ensure that the policies are legally binding and fully up to date.

Rebecca Lomas, HR administrator, Nielsen UK

Policy of the week

With the Employment Rights Act 2025 reducing the unfair dismissal qualifying period to six months from 1 January 2027, employers will need to ensure their probationary processes and performance improvement procedures are robust and consistently applied. This is particularly important as the shorter timeframe will give employers far less opportunity to address capability concerns. It’s no surprise that our Probation policy and Performance improvement procedure are currently vying neck and neck to be our most popular policies. Well-designed policies should provide a clear framework for tackling poor performance in a fair and supportive way, while aligning with the principles of fairness set out in the Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Brightmine content team, Principal Editor

Check out our meeting/hearing checklists for HR/line managers

Our popular Policies and procedures tool includes a selection of checklists to assist HR and line managers when holding some common meetings or hearings related to a number of key workplace processes.

Legal Timetable

View summaries of upcoming employment laws and regulations, with effective dates in our Legal Timetable.

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Model policies: the complete list

We provide an unparalleled selection of model policies to help you create and maintain a staff handbook for your organisation.

Policies and procedures

Model policies and procedures to help you create and maintain legally compliant documentation for your organisation.

Topical policies and procedures

All categories

New and updated

Trans and non-binary equality policy

Anti-sexual harassment policy

Anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy (harassment other than sexual harassment)

Anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy (all forms of harassment)

Processing special category personal data and criminal records data policy

Data protection policy