Top 5 recent workplace developments – June 2025

Here is our selection of key recent employment law developments for employers, HR professionals and in-house lawyers.

1. Employment Reforms: Update
2. Discrimination: Gender consultation
3. Discrimination: Part-time workers
4. Whistleblowing: Breaches of UK sanctions
5. Family friendly: Parental leave system

1. Employment Reforms: Update

The Employment Rights Bill continues to progress through Parliament.

The Bill is still at the Committee stage in the House of Lords and this stage is now expected to be completed on 18 June 2025. 

The government has published its response to recommendations made by the Business and Trade Committee, which include:

• Guaranteed hours contracts: There will be a consultation on the low hours threshold to address the concern that defining a low hours threshold could be exploited. 
• Trade unions: The government will consult on changes to the trade union recognition process after the Bill comes into force and will introduce a revised Code of Practice on access and unfair practices during the recognition period.
• Modern slavery: The government is considering how to strengthen the statutory regime relating to modern slavery statements and will set out next steps to address demands for more reporting and penalties for non-compliance in due course. 
• Support for employers: The Government will consult on the detail of the implementation of the new employment rights and has said it will ensure that sufficient time and support is provided to adapt to the changes ahead of their commencement. 

Practical point:

The Bill will go to the Report stage next, where members of the House of Lords will continue to examine and make changes to the Bill. 

The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill is expected to be published by 22 July 2025. 

Provisions in this Bill will include extending pay gap reporting to ethnicity and disability for larger employers and extending equal pay rights to workers suffering discrimination on the basis of race or disability.

2. Discrimination: Gender consultation 

The EHRC has launched a consultation on proposed changes to its statutory Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations following the recent decision in For Women Scotland. 

The proposed changes to the Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations  contained in the consultation include:

• Updated definitions
• New content on gender recognition certificates
• New information on how requests about sex at birth should be made
• Guidance on how separate and single-sex services can be provided for men and women 
• New content on justification for separate and single-sex services

The consultation is due to close on 30 June 2025.

Practical Point:

The EHRC has not formally indicated that it has plans to update the Employment Code of Practice however that seems inevitable at some stage as its interim update on the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision includes some guidance for workplaces on single-sex toilets, changing and washing facilities.  

3. Discrimination: Part-time workers

The Court of Appeal considered whether part-time worker discrimination is limited to cases where less favourable treatment is solely on the ground of part-time status.

Mr Augustine, a private hire driver, worked part-time for Data Cars Ltd which charged a flat weekly circuit fee for drivers to access its bookings system. He brought a claim alleging that this fee disproportionately affected part-time drivers compared with full-time drivers and amounted to less favourable treatment under the Part-Time Workers Regulations.

The issue to be considered in this case was whether part-time worker status had to be the “sole” cause, or, alternatively and less restrictively, an “effective and predominant” cause of the less favourable treatment. 

The Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Augustine’s appeal, applying the test set out by the Court of Session in McMenemy v Capita Business Services, that part-time status must be the sole reason for less favourable treatment. Notably, the majority of the Court found that that decision was wrongly decided, but nevertheless followed it to maintain consistency in the interpretation of the Regulations. 

The majority of the Court of Appeal considered that the correct test is whether part-time worker status was an effective and predominant cause of the less favourable treatment.

Practical point

Legal uncertainty as to which is the correct test to apply will remain until this difference in approach is resolved by a Supreme Court decision. In light of this uncertainty, employers should be cautious about relying on the sole reason test.

Augustine v Data Cars Limited 

4. Whistleblowing: Sanctions breaches

The government is making changes to whistleblowing legislation to strengthen the implementation and enforcement of UK sanctions. 

The government is introducing changes to whistleblowing legislation in respect of qualifying disclosures made to a prescribed person concerning breaches of UK sanctions. From 26 June 2025 statutory protection from unfair dismissal and detriment will be extended to workers who report trade sanctions breaches to HM Treasury, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and/or the Secretary of State for Transport. 

Practical point:

The purpose of these changes is to strengthen the UK sanctions framework by helping whistleblowers qualify for protection when disclosing information about breaches of sanctions.

Separately, the drive to introduce whistleblower incentives for reporting complex economic crime is gathering momentum. In its Annual Business Plan the Serious Fraud Office has confirmed it is progressing whistleblower incentivisation reform. In addition, the Fisher review into disclosure and fraud offences will include a detailed evaluation of incentives for whistleblowers.

The Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2025

Report a suspected breach of trade sanctions - GOV.UK 

5. Family friendly: Parental leave system

The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has published a report on the statutory parental leave system.

The WEC’s Equality at work: Paternity and shared parental leave report calls for increased statutory leave and pay levels and warns that the current provision for fathers “entrenches outdated gender stereotypes about caring and harms fathers, mothers and families”.

The WEC’s recommendations include:

• Increasing statutory pay:
  • Increase statutory paternity pay to the level of maternity pay in the first six weeks (i.e. 90% of average earnings)
  • In the longer-term, phased increases to statutory pay across the system to reach at least 80% of average earnings
  • Introduce a paternity allowance equivalent to maternity allowance for self-employed fathers
• Extending paternity leave:
  • Incrementally increase the period of paid statutory paternity leave to six weeks over the course of this Parliament
  • Ensure maximum flexibility in how leave can be taken in the first year after a baby’s birth or adoption
• Reforming shared parental leave (SPL)
  • Simplify or remove the complex eligibility criteria for SPL
  • Consider financial incentives to increase take up of SPL, such as additional paid leave to couples in which both parents take a substantial portion of leave
• Supporting kinship carers and single parents
  • Include kinship carers (typically family members or friends who step in to care for children) in the paid parental leave system, similar to adoption leave and pay
  • Allow single parents to reallocate some or all of the entitlements of co-parents to nominated family friends or relatives
• Addressing multiple births
  • Consider providing extra paid leave for parents of multiple births, drawing on lessons from overseas systems

Practical point: 

The WEC’s recommendations aim to create a more equitable and supportive parental leave system which addresses the needs of diverse family structures and promotes gender equality to benefit mothers, fathers and families. 

In addition to confirming in the Next Steps to Make Work Pay White Paper its intention to carry out a full review of the parental leave system, the government’s general election manifesto included a commitment to review the parental leave system within its first year in government (i.e. by early July 2025). The WEC expects this review to lay the foundation for progress in the key areas identified in its report over the course of this Parliament and in the longer term.