Business Travel to UK: Stricter Rules from 25 February 2026
UK immigration status has always been relevant to employers, but from February 2026 it becomes a live operational risk for organisations with internationally-mobile staff. Expanded carrier checks mean immigration status is now being tested earlier and more rigidly, often before an employee even begins their journey to the UK. For employers, the consequence could be […]
UK Data Protection Rules on AI, Marketing and Cookies Now Apply
Recent amendments to the UK’s data protection framework have now taken legal effect, bringing specific changes to how personal data is regulated. These reforms do not replace the UK GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018, but they recalibrate key areas that have been generating sustained regulatory friction, particularly AI-supported decision-making, research use of personal […]
Fire and Rehire Under Consultation: What HR Teams Need to Know
The Government has launched a consultation on how the new fire and rehire protections under the Employment Rights Act 2025 should apply to employment expenses, benefits and shift patterns. While the provisions are not yet in force, the fire and rehire consultation signals a significant shift in how contractual change will need to be handled […]
Fire and Rehire Consultation: Employment Rights Act 2025 Update
The Government has launched a consultation on how the fire and rehire protections under the Employment Rights Act 2025 should apply to employment expenses, benefits and shift patterns. While narrow in scope, the consultation goes directly to how far employers will be able to enforce contractual change once the new regime is in force. […]
Employers Urged to Review Digital Right to Work Processes
The UK immigration system is now operating on a fully digital footing, and this is changing how employers are expected to manage right to work compliance in practice. While there has been no recent change to the underlying law, enforcement focus has shifted as digital systems have become the default. Audits are now increasingly unearthing […]
Home Office Audits Exposing Digital Right to Work Failures
The UK’s move to digital immigration status has altered how right to work checks operate in practice. For employers, the change is not about new rules, but about how compliance failures are now identified and enforced. Digital checks were introduced to simplify the process of confirming permission to work. As the system has settled, the […]
Digital Right to Work Failures Exposed in Home Office Audits
For HR teams, right to work compliance has entered a different phase. The move to digital immigration status has changed not only how checks are carried out, but how failures are assessed when the Home Office reviews an employer’s processes. Although the underlying rules have not changed, HR functions are now operating in an environment […]
Report Sets out Proposals to Cut Criminal Court Backlogs
A senior judicial review has called for sweeping reforms to the criminal courts in England and Wales, warning that the justice system is struggling under record delays and growing backlogs. The report, entitled Independent Review of the Criminal Courts: Part 1, was led by former senior judge Sir Brian Leveson, says urgent action is required […]
Updated Timeline for Employment Rights Act 2025
The Government has published a revised Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline as part of the wider Plan to Make Work Pay. This update replaces the July 2025 roadmap and confirms when different parts of the legislation are expected to take effect across 2026 and 2027. The reforms are being introduced in phases to allow time […]
Revised Employment Rights Act Timeline Published
The Government has confirmed a revised implementation timetable for the Employment Rights Act 2025 under its ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’. The update replaces the previous July 2025 roadmap and resets several dates that HR teams may already have built into policy reviews, training programmes and workforce planning. What has changed is the order in […]
Govt Signals UK ILR Changes Ahead
The Westminster Hall debate on UK ILR on 2 February 2026 did not change the Immigration Rules, but it materially changed the planning context for people working towards settlement in the UK. Ministers confirmed that the current five-year ILR framework is under review and that a longer, earned settlement model is intended to replace it. […]
Earned Settlement: UK ILR Reforms Set to Proceed
The Government has confirmed that it plans to proceed, in principle, with reforms to Indefinite Leave to Remain based on an earned settlement approach. This position was set out during a Westminster Hall debate on 2 February 2026, which followed two public petitions that triggered parliamentary scrutiny of the proposals. The Minister for Migration and […]
British Dual Citizens: New UK Travel Checks Explained 2026
From 25 February 2026, airlines, ferry operators and rail carriers are applying stricter pre-departure permission-to-travel checks for passengers travelling to the UK. The change is linked to full enforcement of the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme and wider use of automated carrier checks. British citizens are exempt from the ETA requirement, including people who hold British […]
UK Minimum Wage & Statutory Pay Changes 2026
From April 2026, changes to the UK National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage will take effect, bringing higher statutory pay floors and renewed enforcement focus. For employers, HR professionals and payroll teams, the changes will necessitate careful review of pay structures, working time calculations and payroll processes to avoid inadvertent underpayment. This guide sets […]
Employer NI Changes from April 2026
Two separate National Insurance developments were confirmed in early 2026 and are relevant for employers, HR teams and anyone with responsibility for payroll and reward structures. The first is the annual re-rating of National Insurance contributions, which takes effect from April 2026 and applies to day-to-day NIC calculations. The second is a reform to pension […]
Youth Mobility Scheme Ballot Opens February 2026
The Youth Mobility Scheme is a temporary UK work visa route for young adults from a limited number of countries, including Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan. For these nationalities, access to the route is controlled through a competitive ballot held once or twice each year rather than a direct application. The next ballot opens in […]
Trade Union Law Changes from February 2026
From 18 February 2026, a series of statutory changes will fundamentally alter the legal framework governing trade unions and industrial action in the UK. These reforms sit within the wider architecture of the Employment Rights Act 2025 and are brought into force through multiple commencement regulations and consequential statutory instruments. Taken together, they represent the […]
UK ETA 2026 Changes
The UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system has been introduced gradually, but 2026 is the point at which it becomes operationally strict rather than transitional. The ETA framework already exists and many travellers are technically within scope. What changes is how firmly the rules are applied, how early decisions are made and how little tolerance […]
Zero-Hours Working Rules 2026: What HR Teams Need to Know
The Employment Rights Act 2025 has started to bite earlier than many HR teams expected. One of the first changes to take effect, from 6 January 2026, directly affects how zero-hours working is structured, managed and policed inside organisations. For HR professionals, this is not simply a contract update exercise. It is a shift in […]
Zero-Hours Working Rules Changes in 2026
Changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force on 6 January 2026 and affect how zero-hours working operates in practice. The reforms apply across sectors and are relevant to both employers and individuals working on flexible or variable hours. The changes focus on two areas. One removes a short-lived statutory framework that […]