The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026

Citation and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026.

(2) In these Regulations—

“the 1992 Act” means the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992(1);

“the 1996 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 1996(2);

“the 2025 Act” means the Employment Rights Act 2025;

“ACAS” means the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service(3);

“parental leave” means leave under section 76 of the 1996 Act (entitlement to parental leave);

“paternity leave” means leave under section 80A of the 1996 Act (entitlement to paternity leave: birth) or section 80B of that Act (entitlement to paternity leave: adoption)(4);

“placed for adoption” means placed—

(a)

for adoption under the Adoption and Children Act 2002(5) or the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007(6), or

(b)

with a local authority foster parent who has been approved as a prospective adopter under—

(i)

section 22C of the Children Act 1989(7) (ways in which looked after children are to be accommodated and maintained) by a local authority in England, or

(ii)

section 81 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014(8) (ways in which looked after children are to be accommodated and maintained) by a local authority in Wales;

“prospective adopter” means a person who has been approved as suitable to adopt a child and has been notified of that decision in accordance with regulation 30B(4) of the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005(9) or regulation 30B(4) of the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005(10).

(1)

1992 c. 52.

(2)

1996 c. 18.

(3)

See section 247 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52).

(4)

Sections 80A and 80B were inserted into the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) (“the 1996 Act”) by section 1 of the Employment Act 2002 (c. 22). Section 80A was amended by paragraph 35 of Schedule 1 to the Work and Families Act 2006 (c. 18), by section 118(6) of, and paragraph 32 of Schedule 7 to, the Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6) (“the 2014 Act”), by section 1(1) and (2) of the Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 (c. 17) (“the 2024 Act”) and by sections 16(1) and 17(1) of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) (“the 2025 Act”) and applied with modifications by S.I. 2014/3095 (amended by S.I. 2018/1413) to cases which involve an employee who has applied, or intends to apply, with another person for a parental order under section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22) and a child who is, or will be, the subject of the order (“parental order cases”). Section 80B was amended by sections 118(7), 121(2), 122(4), 128(2)(b) of, and paragraph 33 of Schedule 7 to, the 2014 Act, by section 1(1) and (3) of the 2024 Act, by sections 16(2) and 17(2) of the 2025 Act and by S.I. 2016/413 (W. 131), and applied with modifications by S.I. 2003/920 to cases which involve adoption, but not the placement of a child for adoption under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, and by S.I. 2014/3095 to parental order cases.

(5)

2002 c. 38.

(6)

2007 asp 4.

(7)

1989 c. 41. Section 22C was inserted by section 8(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (c. 23) and amended by section 2(2) and (3) of, and paragraph 29(a) and (b) of Schedule 2 to, the Children and Families Act 2014, S.I. 2016/413 (W. 131) and S.I. 2018/195 (W. 44).

(8)

2014 anaw 4. Section 81 was amended by section 21(3) of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 (asc 1) and S.I. 2017/1025 (W. 263).

(9)

S.I. 2005/389, amended by S.I. 2013/985 and 2020/909. There are other amending instruments but none is relevant.

(10)

S.I. 2005/1313 (W. 95), amended by S.I. 2020/163 (W. 31) and 2020/1082 (W. 244). There are other amending instruments but none is relevant.