October has been another busy month for employment law.

From new trade union access rights and upcoming bereavement leave provisions to important Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions, there are several developments that HR teams and employers need to understand.

Trade Union Access: A Major Change from 30 October

From 30 October 2026, independent trade unions will have a new statutory route to request access to workplaces and communicate with workers.

This matters even for employers with little or no existing trade union involvement.

A qualifying independent union does not need to be recognised by the employer, and the workers it wants to engage with do not need to be existing union members.

Access can include physical access to the workplace and communication with workers, including digital communication.

That does not mean handing a union access to employee data or internal IT systems. It could, for example, involve facilitating an online meeting or circulating information to workers.

There is a statutory process. An employer receiving a formal request will normally have 15 working days to respond, followed by a negotiation period.

If agreement cannot be reached, the matter can be referred to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which can determine whether access should be granted and on what terms.

Employers with fewer than 21 workers overall are exempt from the statutory access regime.

Trade Union Information Duty Moves to January 2027

There is a second significant trade union change on the horizon.

The new duty requiring employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union will now come into force on 1 January 2027.

The Government will prescribe the wording of the statement. Employers will not be free to rewrite it, although specified workplace information can be added.

New workers will receive the statement directly when they receive their written statement of employment particulars.

For existing workers, there is more flexibility. Employers can communicate the information directly or make it available somewhere that is reasonably accessible, provided workers are told where to find it.

Existing workers must receive the information, or be told where it is available, by 5 April 2027. There will then be an ongoing annual communication requirement.

The statement will also need to include or link to the Certification Officer's list of trade unions.

Bereavement Leave: More Detail on the New Right

The Government has confirmed how it intends the new statutory right to bereavement leave to operate when it is introduced in April 2027, subject to the necessary secondary legislation.

This will be a day-one employment right.

Eligible employees will be able to take up to two weeks of unpaid leave following the death of specified close family members, including a spouse or civil partner, long-term partner, parent, adult child or sibling.

A number of step, adoptive, foster and kinship relationships will also be covered.

The new right will also extend to pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, including miscarriage, ectopic and molar pregnancy, termination and unsuccessful IVF embryo transfer. Certain partners and intended parents will also be covered.

Leave will be capable of being taken flexibly, including as individual days, within 56 weeks of the bereavement. Notice requirements will depend on when the leave is taken.

Importantly, employers will not be entitled to require evidence of the bereavement.

The new entitlement will sit alongside the existing Parental Bereavement Leave regime rather than replacing it.

Where a child dies before their 18th birthday, or there is a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, an employee may qualify for Parental Bereavement Leave and potentially Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay. The two regimes are legally distinct.

Tribunal Compensation: Benefits Are Not Simply an Automatic Deduction

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision in SBH Windermere Ltd and another v Nunn is a useful reminder that calculating compensation is not always a mechanical exercise.

Mr Nunns succeeded in harassment claims and was awarded compensation including six months' loss of earnings.

The Tribunal initially deducted Universal Credit that it anticipated he would receive during that period.

The difficulty was that the compensation award itself would take his capital above the threshold for Universal Credit. In reality, therefore, he would not receive the benefit that had been deducted from his compensation.

The Tribunal reconsidered the award and increased it. The EAT upheld that approach.

But there was another issue.

The employer argued that Mr Nunns could have claimed other benefits which were not means tested in the same way. The EAT said the Tribunal also needed to consider whether his failure to claim those benefits amounted to a failure to mitigate his losses.

The case was therefore sent back for that issue to be considered.

Reasonable Adjustments: Managers May Face Personal Liability

The legal duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 sits with the employer or principal.

But does that mean an individual manager involved in a failure to make those adjustments can never be personally liable?

The EAT in Merriman v 1st Staff Ltd has said no.

The Employment Tribunal had struck out reasonable adjustment claims against four individuals on the basis that the statutory duty rested with the employer.

The EAT reversed that decision.

Although the duty itself rests with the employer, organisations act through their employees and agents. An individual whose own actions contribute to an employer's breach may therefore potentially face personal liability under the Equality Act.

That does not mean the individuals in Merriman have been found liable. Their claims were reinstated so that the allegations can be properly considered.

But the wider point matters. The fact that the underlying statutory duty rests with the employer does not prevent an employee whose own conduct contributes to its breach from potentially being personally liable.

That has potentially significant consequences for managers making decisions about adjustments. Personal liability is not confined to more obvious acts of discrimination, such as making a discriminatory remark or subjecting someone to harassment.

It can potentially extend to a manager's involvement in an employer's failure to comply with a positive statutory duty.

There is another important consequence. An employer may avoid vicarious liability for an employee's discriminatory act if it can establish the statutory defence that it took all reasonable steps to prevent the employee from committing that act.

That defence applies to the employer's liability; it does not necessarily protect the individual who committed the discriminatory act from their own liability.

Employment Tribunal Time Limits: Six Months Is Now the Starting Point

From 1 October 2026, the primary time limit for many Employment Tribunal claims which previously had a three-month limit has increased to six months.

That includes two of the claims HR teams encounter most frequently: unfair dismissal and discrimination.

But six months should not simply be treated as the final deadline.

The relevant date still depends on the particular claim. For unfair dismissal, that will ordinarily be the effective date of termination. Discrimination can be more complicated, particularly where someone alleges an act extending over a period.

Acas Early Conciliation can also extend the time available to present a claim.

The existing rules allowing some late claims to proceed have not disappeared either. For example, unfair dismissal and discrimination claims continue to have different statutory tests for allowing an extension.

The practical effect is a much longer period of uncertainty for employers.

It also gives employees more time to pursue grievances and appeals, seek advice, gather information and decide whether they want to litigate.

Harassment: Two Major Changes from 30 October

The law on workplace harassment changes significantly on 30 October 2026.

A Stronger Preventative Duty

Employers currently have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

From 30 October, that becomes a duty to take all reasonable steps.

The difference in wording matters.

Employers will need to be able to show that they have genuinely considered the risks within their own organisation and what additional reasonable preventative measures could have been taken.

Third-Party Harassment

Statutory liability for third-party harassment also returns.

An employer may be liable where an employee is harassed in the course of their employment by a third party, such as a customer, client, contractor or service user, and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it.

This provision is not limited to sexual harassment. It applies to harassment falling within the Equality Act provisions more widely.

There is also no requirement for a previous incident before liability can arise.

How Impact Lawyers Can Help

If you would like support preparing for the Employment Rights Act changes, reviewing your policies, training managers or managing an employment law issue, the Impact Lawyers team would be happy to help.

Contact victoria.hall@impactlawyers.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific legal advice tailored to your business, please contact the Impact Lawyers team at contact@impactlawyers.co.uk .