Employment law update: key insights for HR professionals

Our latest employment law webinar series session gave valuable insights into various key areas of UK employment law and important takeaways for HR. 

In this article, we provide a summary of the key topics discussed and what HR professionals should do to help mitigate risk and ensure compliance in an evolving employment landscape.

For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers

The Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers clarifies that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘man’ in the Equality Act refer to biological sex, not gender identity.

The decision has sparked debates around how to balance the rights of both cisgender and transgender individuals in workplaces, especially regarding facilities like toilets and changing rooms.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has released interim guidance in response to the ruling. Legal challenges to the guidance are ongoing, and further updates from the EHRC are expected.

Key takeaways for HR professionals: 

• Employers must provide suitable and sufficient facilities for staff. 
• Where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use.
• HR should review policies, train staff and communicate clearly with employees about the ruling and how staff who are concerned, can raise issues.

Stress at work claims within the personal injury/disease sector

Statistics highlight a rise in stress-related work absences, with mental health issues now a leading cause of workplace sickness. Consequently there are rising claims numbers for psychiatric injury claims.

Stress, harassment and bullying at work claims in the personal injury/disease sector often overlap with employment claims requiring expert advice from specialist lawyers.

Key takeaways for HR professionals:

• Stress and mental health claims in the workplace are rising. These claims are sensitive and can have reputational issues.
• Retention of evidence/documentation and following policies is crucial to show what the employer has done when managing employees with work related anxiety/stress. 
• Given the specialist nature of these claims and the overlap with employment tribunal claims, HR should seek early legal advice.

Recent employment law developments

Statutory neonatal care

In April 2025, a new benefit for statutory neonatal care come into force. In August 2025, the UK Government published its technical guidance which sets out how the benefit will work with practical examples of how it should be applied, who is eligible and what they are entitled to.

Key takeaway for HR professionals: Employers should review the government guidance to ensure this new benefit is being applied correctly.

AI in the workplace

In August 2025, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) published a useful strategy document for AI in the workplace. The document sets out recommendations that they suggest should be introduced in order to protect workers and to involve them in the development of AI in the workplace.

Key takeaway for HR professionals: Whilst it is not legislation, employers may find it helpful to review the TUC strategy document which may help them in dealing with the development of AI in the workplace.

What to look out for - changes to the Employment Rights Bill 2024

The Employment Rights Bill has been subject to continuous changes and proposed amendments since its introduction last year.

Hire and rehire changes

The Bill initially proposed that dismissals for refusing any changes to contractual terms and conditions would be automatically unfair. However, amendments now provide a ‘restricted variations’ list, whereby only dismissals arising from a refusal to agree new, fundamental terms such as those relating to pay, pensions and working hours would be automatically unfair. Dismissal for a refusal to agree changes to other, less significant terms may be unfair but will depend on the particular circumstances and the process followed by the employer. 

Unfair dismissal

The current proposal from the House of Lords is to maintain a qualifying period for employees to be eligible to pursue a claim for unfair dismissal and they have suggested this be six months, followed by a further period where dismissal may be fairly achieved by following a light-touch process. This is of course a departure from the original proposal to make the right to claim unfair dismissal a day one right for all employees. 

Key takeaways for HR professionals:

• Where employers know that they intend to make contractual variations, they should look to do so sooner rather than later. This would include the introduction of probation periods into the contracts of new joiners.

You can catch up on the full recording which is available to watch on demand here.