Employment Update from Hunter Adams – Q3 2026

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) Weight Restrictions

In our Q4 update last year, we included information about upcoming changes to weight requirements for personnel working offshore.  Various recommendations were made in relation to what actions employers should take in advance of the 1 November 2026 changes taking effect.  This effective date is rapidly approaching and the new maximum clothed weight limit of 124kg is due to take effect.

If this affects any part of your organisation, ensure you have:

• • Identified and engaged with employees who are likely to be impacted, ensuring staff are informed regarding the changes
  • Identify staff who are at risk of being impacted by the change
  • Consider what support you may be able to offer employees at risk of being impacted
  • Review employment agreements and policies and ensure employees are aware that employment with an offshore requirement is conditional on holding a valid OEUK medical certificate and meeting any industry requirements

If you need any advice or support in relation to this changing requirement, please get in touch.

Changes relating to Trade Unions

From 30 October 2026, GB employers will have a duty to provide a written statement to workers, informing them of their right to join a trade union. Employers and unions will be able to negotiate access agreements into workplaces, and where agreement cannot be reached, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) may decide whether access should be granted and set the terms of that access. The CAC can only impose an access agreement where an employer employs 21 or more workers over all business sites. The CAC will oversee and enforce any statutory access agreements, including ensuring compliance with access terms. The CAC can issue penalty fines for non-compliance.

How to prepare

• • Familiarise yourself with the statutory Code of Practice, which sets out how access should operate in practice
  • Consider how access could be arranged in your workplace
  • Identify appropriate internal contacts to manage trade union requests, including email addresses that can be monitored.
  • Instruct line managers and any HR team members on the new requirements.
  • Develop a process for responding to requests and negotiating access agreements within statutory timeframes.

Further guidance was expected to be published in September, but to date only the outcome of the government consultation has been shared

Right to Work Checks

From 1 October 2026, the UK’s right to work regime is expanding beyond traditional employees to cover a wider range of working arrangements.  Organisations must review what other workers provide services for their business, to determine whether further right to work checks in circumstances where they weren’t previously required to carry out checks, may now be required.

The extension to check obligations will bring in contractors, zero hours workers, certain agency workers, and some gig economy and online platform workers, as well as LLP partners. Employers who get it wrong face civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, so a review of the requirements, the categories of worker used by your organisation and the process and records currently in place is important to ensure you have all new requirements in place.

Prevention of 3^rd Party Harassment

From 30 October 2026, in addition to considering employed colleagues, employers will have a legal duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment of workers by third parties.  As well as reviewing harassment policies, employers should assess the risk of any type of harassment of your staff by 3^rd parties, consider which types of 3^rd parties each job role may be exposed to in person, on the phone, by instant message/message on any platform, on social media and in remote meetings.  This can include customers, clients, patients, service users, contractors, suppliers, visitors and members of the public.  Organisations should then put in place actions to prevent 3^rd party harassment of their workers including but not limited to providing appropriate training, establishing clear reporting procedures, reviewing customer/client terms and communications and considering any additional control measures needed, including in any higher risk situations.

Increased obligations relation to prevention of sexual harassment

The duty to prevent any third party harassment follows on from the increased responsibility on employers to prevent sexual harassment, which first came into effect in October 2024.  Effective from 30 October 2026, employers’ legal obligation is moving from taking ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment, to taking ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent it.  This raises the standard expected of employers and sexual harassment policies and risk assessments already in place should be reviewed and updated as necessary, taking account of this change, with preventive actions taken as identified.

Longer time limits for Tribunal claims

From 1 October 2026, the time limit for bringing most Employment Tribunal claims, including unfair dismissal claims, will increase from three months to six months. This means employers may face a longer period of potential litigation risk after a dismissal or workplace issue arises.

The change is intended to provide more time for employees and employers to resolve disputes internally and through ACAS before Tribunal proceedings are started. Employers should ensure that all processes are well documented, including those relating to disciplinary, grievance and dismissal.  It’s advisable to check your document retention periods in light of the increased time periods and taking account of the ever increasing delays in the tribunal system. You should also consider updating probation clauses, policies and processes and train managers regarding the reduction in qualifying service required for unfair dismissal claim, from 2 years to 6 months.

Fire and rehire reforms on the horizon

From 1 January 2027, employers will face significant restrictions on the use of “fire and rehire”. This refers to the practice of dismissing employees and offering continued employment on new terms to those who refuse to accept contractual changes, following consultation.  Such dismissals are expected to be treated as automatically unfair unless the employer can show that the change was necessary to deal with serious financial difficulties affecting the organisation’s ability to continue operating as a going concern.

Along with the planned removal of the cap on ordinary unfair dismissal compensation, the risks associated with getting contractual change exercises wrong are also set to increase.

Employers should review any proposed changes to terms and conditions now, commence consultation without delay where changes are considered to be necessary, and focus on achieving agreement wherever possible and in advance of these changes.

Tips and Service Charges: Further Changes Expected by the End of 2026

Although the Government has been consulting on further changes to the rules relating to tips, and it is expected that the effective date for proposed changes will be during 2026, the actual date has not yet been confirmed.

For employers in sectors where tips are received, they should already be complying with the tipping reforms introduced on 1 October 2024, including ensuring that qualifying tips are distributed fairly and transparently and that appropriate policies and records are maintained.

The changes consulted on under the Employment Rights Act will require employers to consult workers before introducing or changing a tipping policy, provide workers with an anonymised summary of consultation feedback, and review tipping policies at least every three years.

As well as taking this opportunity to ensure processes are in place to support the expected future requirements, it’s advisable to take this opportunity to review current arrangements and ensure you are meeting the 2024 obligations, including:

• Ensure that where you require a written tipping policy you have one
• Plan to build worker consultation into future reviews of that policy.
• Establish a process for documenting consultation feedback and retaining records.

At Tribunal – Suspension and successful constructive dismissal claim

In a tribunal case relating to an individual who had been employed as a team leader at a supported living facility, it was heard that the employer believed the team leader may have breached company policies relating to charitable donations, when she obtained 20 Easter eggs to organise an Easter egg hunt for residents.  As a result, the decision was taken to suspend the employee while an investigation took place, she resigned the following day and successfully claimed constructive unfair dismissal.

The Employment Tribunal found that she had been trying to follow the correct donation process and that it would have taken very little effort for the employer to establish this before taking action.  While there were some unrelated process concerns regarding a printer purchase and Wi-Fi installation, the tribunal concluded that suspension was not necessary to allow those matters to be investigated and managed, and noted that, if there had genuinely been concerns about future donations, the employee could simply have been instructed not to undertake any further donation activity while enquiries were made.

The tribunal was critical of the employer’s decision-making, finding that suspension had been a “knee-jerk reaction” based on an assumption that serious allegations automatically justify suspension. The judge concluded that there had been no need to suspend the employee and that a reasonable employer would have considered less severe measures. The employee was awarded compensation of approximately £23,000.

Key learnings

This case demonstrates the historical widespread use of suspension when any serious allegation is made, without any initial investigation or consideration alternatives.

This is not the first case when ‘knee-jerk’ overuse of suspension has led to a quick resignation and a successful claim for constructive dismissal.

It’s important that before suspending, all employers should:

• Gather enough initial information to understand what has happened.
• Consider whether there is a genuine risk that requires removal from the workplace.
• Consider less restrictive alternatives, such as temporary amendment of duties/workplace/reporting lines, restricting certain activities or increasing supervision.
• Document why suspension is necessary in the particular circumstances, what alternatives have been considered and the basis on which they have been discounted.
• Avoid assumptions that an investigation automatically requires suspension.