Staffordshire businesses are being urged to invest in training for line managers as significant changes are made to employment law in the UK.
The Employment Rights Act 2025, which began rolling out in February, has already introduced new ‘day one rights’ for employees, including statutory sick leave and paternity and parental leave. However, more complex rules affecting employers come into force from October 2026 and into 2027 – changes that could create legal and financial risks for unprepared companies.
Helen Russell, lead HR consultant and solicitor at law firm Harrison Drury, which has nine offices including one in recently opened in Stoke-on-Trent, said better training for line managers would be ‘critical’ in avoiding costly HR disputes.
She said: “You can have the best HR team, staff contracts and employee handbooks in the world, but if the person dealing with the initial report of an issue from an employee doesn’t take the right steps and deal with it properly, that’s where problems are likely to occur.”
Key upcoming changes include strengthened protections for employees reporting sexual harassment, which acquire whistleblowing status from April, and new obligations from October requiring employers to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment, including harassment by third parties such as customers and suppliers.
From January 2027, employees will gain earlier unfair dismissal rights at six months’ service rather than two years, while the ability for employers to ‘fire and rehire’ will be heavily restricted.
Helen added: “To prevent issues, employers should concentrate on better management of absences, more considered and robust recruitment and selection, rigorous management of employee probations and dealing better with complaints from employees.
“It makes ‘good hygiene’ in line manager practices critical for businesses and effective management can help the organisations to deal with issues before they become problematic and contentious.
“Almost no matter what the issue is, my initial recommendation is make no assumptions, talk to employees, deal with issues proactively and document how you’ve done this. Taking those first steps often dictates how the case pans out, but opportunities are too often missed.”
- Helen Russell will be speaking at an upcoming event for business owners, HR professionals, and managers, titled The 2026 Employment Law Shake-Up: What Every Employer Must Know, hosted by Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce at Commerce House at 9:30am on Tuesday 14 April. The session will provide practical guidance on compliance, line manager training and managing HR risks under the new legislation.
