Care Shield Compliance Press Desk

Two October deadlines every care employer must diary

Tribunal claim limits double to six months on 1 October 2026 and new sexual harassment duties bite on 30 October, with unfair dismissal changes in January 2027.

By the Care Shield Compliance Press Desk··3 min read·England, Scotland, Wales

On 1 October 2026 the time limit for bringing an employment tribunal claim doubles from three months to six. On 30 October new sexual harassment obligations land on employers, along with trade union access rights and recognition reforms. Both dates are inside your next payroll cycle.

What is already in force

Several provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 commenced on 6 April 2026: the collective redundancy protective award doubled, paternity leave became a day-one right, whistleblowing protections were strengthened, and the Lower Earnings Limit for Statutory Sick Pay was removed. The Fair Work Agency was established on 7 April 2026. The Act itself is on legislation.gov.uk.

The SSP change is the one care providers have already felt. Removing the Lower Earnings Limit brings part-time and low-hours staff into SSP entitlement, which in a sector built on part-time contracts is a direct and permanent cost.

The October dates

1 October 2026. Employment tribunal claim time limits rise from three months to six.

This sounds procedural. It is not. Doubling the window means a dismissal you handled in July can produce a claim in January, by which time the manager who handled it may have left, the notes may be incomplete, and your recollection will be worthless. Your record-keeping has to survive twice as long in a usable state.

30 October 2026. New sexual harassment employer obligations take effect, alongside trade union access rights and recognition reforms.

For care providers, harassment risk is not confined to staff-on-staff conduct. Lone workers in people's homes, night staff, and young care workers on shift with a small team are all exposed situations, and the duty sits with the employer to act preventatively.

What comes next

January 2027: the unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to six months, plus fire-and-rehire protections. Through 2027: guaranteed hours, bereavement leave, flexible working and NDA regulations.

The guaranteed hours provisions are the ones to watch for anyone running zero-hours or bank arrangements at scale. The full sequence is in the government's timeline update of 25 August 2026.

What this means for you

  • Extend how long you keep full disciplinary, grievance and dismissal files in an accessible state. Six months of exposure needs six months of retrievable detail, including the manager's contemporaneous notes.
  • Review your sexual harassment policy and, more importantly, your preventative steps, before 30 October. Risk assessment, reporting routes, lone working arrangements and what supervisors are trained to notice.
  • Prepare for trade union access rights. Decide now who responds to a request and on what basis, rather than improvising.
  • Audit your dismissals in the six months before January 2027 with the shorter qualifying period in mind.
  • Model the guaranteed hours provisions against your bank and zero-hours arrangements while there is still time in 2027 to restructure.
  • Note that Northern Ireland employment law differs. If you operate across the border, do not assume a single policy set works.

Where this came from

The Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act timeline update, 25 August 2026, and the Employment Rights Act 2025.

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Sources

  1. Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act timeline update — GOV.UK
  2. Employment Rights Act 2025 — legislation.gov.uk

Questions people ask about this

What does doubling the tribunal time limit mean for our records?

From 1 October 2026 a claim can be brought up to six months after the event rather than three. Your disciplinary, grievance and dismissal records need to stay complete and retrievable for at least that long, including contemporaneous manager notes, because the person who handled the case may have left by the time a claim arrives.

What do the new sexual harassment obligations require?

New employer obligations take effect on 30 October 2026. For care providers the practical work is preventative: risk assessing lone working and night shifts, making reporting routes genuinely usable, and training supervisors on what to act on. Review your policy and your actual arrangements before the date, not after.

When does the unfair dismissal change take effect?

January 2027, when the qualifying period for unfair dismissal drops to six months, alongside fire-and-rehire protections. Review how you handle probation and early-service dismissals now, since decisions made in the second half of 2026 will be judged against a workforce whose rights accrue considerably sooner.

How this was written. Care Shield’s press desk drafts from primary sources — the statute book, regulator publications and government announcements — and publishes automatically once every factual claim traces to a named source. The sources are listed above so you can check them. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the regulation that applies to your service. If you find something wrong, tell us at hello@careshieldcompliance.co.uk and we will correct it in public, on this page.

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