Template documents
Tailored to the needs of the UK recruitment industry, these template contracts and policies can be used when engaging clients, jobseekers and your own staff.
12-month legal timeline
Staying ahead of legal change is essential for every recruitment business. Our timeline brings together the key legal updates that will shape the world of recruitment in the year ahead.
Alongside each update, you’ll find links to key REC tools that can support your planning and compliance. Whether you want to get ahead of new rules, brief your teams, or speak confidently with clients, this page is your go‑to place for staying informed and ready.
Explore the previous months page for earlier activity.
September 2026
| Employment Rights Act 2025 |
| Make Work Pay: Holiday Pay Compliance and Enforcement Consultation |
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The government has published its "Make Work Pay: Holiday Pay Compliance and Enforcement" on 30th June 2026. The consultation invites responses on the enforcement of holiday pay under the Fair Work Agency, along with other feedback on compliance. The consultation is due to close on 22nd September 2026. |
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Make Work Pay: Revised Tipping Code of Practice |
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The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) has launched a consultation on a draft revised Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips. This follows a government consultation from 5th February and 1st April 2026 and the withdrawal of the revised draft code on 9th July 2026. The new consultation was published on 19th August 2026 and closes on 29th September 2026 and seeks views on the new requirements on tipping in Section 14 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. |
| Other Updates |
| Crime and Policing Act 2026 |
| The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its statutory guidance on working or volunteering in regulated activity with children, effective from 1st September 2026. The updated guidance reflects the changes made by the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (CPA 2026) which removes the supervision exemption from the definition of regulated activity, meaning unpaid activities such as teaching, training, instructing, or caring for or supervising children will constitute regulated activity if carried out on more than three days in a 30-day period or overnight, irrespective of supervision. From 1st September 2026, all volunteers engaging in regulated activity will be required to obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check with children’s barred list information. |
| Department for Education Statutory Guidance on 'Allergy Safety in Schools' |
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The DfE's statutory guidance on "Allergy safety in schools" was published on 6th July 2026 to reflect Section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (“The Act”) (which received Royal Assent on 29th April 2026) which amends section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to introduce mandatory allergy safety policies for all schools in England. The statutory guidance sets out the requirements around how allergies are to be managed in schools. The statutory guidance is due to take effect from 1st September 2026. |
| GCA RM6397 Framework - Clinical and Non-Clinical Temporary and Permanent Staffing |
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The GCA RM6397 Framework will replace two existing frameworks: RM6281 Clinical and Healthcare Staffing, and RM6277 Non-Clinical Staffing, and will be open to be used by NHS Trusts and also the broader public sector - including schools, for non-teaching roles that fall within the categories roles that fall within the framework, as long as the rates are compliant and within the maximum thresholds set by the Department for Education in the RM6376 framework. The enquiry deadline is 2 September 2026, while the tender submission deadline is 21 September 2026. The contracts are expected to begin in February 2027, running for four years. |
| Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, HC 584 |
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The Home Office laid a new Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, HC 584 before Parliament on 3 September 2026, together with an Explanatory Memorandum (EM). Most of the changes take effect on 8 October 2026, with the changes to Appendix T2 Minister of Religion and Appendix Temporary Work–Religious Worker taking effect on 29 October 2026, the annual uplift to the student maintenance requirement taking effect on 30 November 2026, and the removal of the biometric residence permit as proof of identity under the EU Settlement Scheme taking effect on 9 December 2026. |
| BIST names and shames 658 employers for failing to pay minimum wage |
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The Department for Business, Innovations, Science and Trade (BIST) has publicly named 658 employers for failing to pay the national minimum wage, with around £4 million repaid to more than 27,000 workers. The employers were also issued with penalties totalling £7 million. This is part of the Fair Work Agency's first enforcement round since it was established in April 2026. |
| BIST publishes guidance on the appropriate use of zero-hours contracts and employers' obligations |
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The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) has published guidance for employers on the use of zero-hours contracts. The guidance provides an overview of the employment rights under zero hour contracts, and some basic best practice advice for employers. The guidance has not been updated to reflect upcoming changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025), but will be updated to reflect future changes in policy. |
October 2026
Key updates:
| Employment Rights Act 2025 |
| Automatic unfair dismissal in ‘fire and rehire’ scenarios. |
| Employees who are dismissed for a rejecting change to their contracts (outside of the permitted circumstances) will be able to claim unfair dismissal (applies to GB). |
| Protection against detriment for industrial action. |
| A worker has the right not to be subjected to detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by their employer, if the act or failure takes place for the sole or main purpose of preventing or deterring the worker from taking protected industrial action, or penalising the worker for doing so (apples to GB). This is expected to come into force on 30th October 2026. |
| Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. |
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A worker’s employer must give the worker a written statement that the worker has the right to join a trade union. The statement must be given—at the same time as the employer gives the worker a section 1 ERA 1996 statement of employment particulars i.e. on or before the first day of employment and at other prescribed times (applies to GB). This is expected to come into force on 30th October 2026. |
| Duty to take “all” reasonable steps to protect workers from harassment. |
| The new section 40B Equality Act 2010, gives the Secretary of State power to make regulations specifying a non-exhaustive list of obligations will be set out that are to be regarded as reasonable steps an employer must take in order to prevent workplace sexual harassment (applies to GB). This is expected to come into force on 30th October 2026. |
| Employer duty to protect workers from harassment by third parties. |
| Section 40(1A) -(1C) of the Equality Act introduces protections against sexual harassment by third parties (parties who are not employed by the employer) to employees and job applicants (applies to GB). This is expected to come into force on 30th October 2026. |
| Extension of Employment Tribunal time limits. |
| Extension of Employment Tribunal time limits from three to six months from the date of the alleged act of harassment. |
| Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 2026 |
| This Order amends the Employment Tribunal Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994 to extend the time limit for bringing a claim in the Employment Tribunal about employees' contract of employment from three months to six months, to reflect the changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025. This extension of time comes into force on 1st October 2026. |
| Changes in contracts for public sector workers. |
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Introducing power to implement a code of practice through secondary legislation providing for workers carrying out the same work on the same public sector contracts to be treated the same in respect of their employment terms and conditions at the outset. This power can be used, amongst other things, to set out model contract terms and the circumstances in which they should be applied. The regulations will allow Ministers to, for example, set out model contract clauses, which (unless exempt) contracting authorities must take all reasonable steps to include in their outsourcing contracts (applies to GB). |
| Regulations to establish the Fair Pay Agreement and Adult Social Care Negotiating Body (England). |
| Regulations will establish the negotiating process and set the parameters for fair pay agreements in England, which once implemented, will apply to all workers who are covered by the agreement. |
| Other Updates |
| Equal Pay and Pay Discrimination Consultation |
| The Office of Equality and Opportunity has published a consultation on reforming the equal pay and pay discrimination framework, including seeking views on how gaps and inconsistencies in the framework currently affecting disabled people, those from ethnic minority groups and outsourced workers can be addressed. One of the key proposals in the consultation is the proposal of requiring employers to publish pay information in job advertisements or provide it in writing to candidates before interview where no advertisement is used with the intention of improving transparency of pay practices. The consultation is due to close on 27th October 2026. |
| Draft Right to Work Checks: An Employer's Guide |
| The draft 'Right to Work Checks: An Employer's Guide' was published on 16th July 2026, which reflects the amendments under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 (“BSAI 2025”), which amends the IANA 2006 by extending the scope of employers required to prevent illegal working under the Scheme, and the sanctions for non-compliance, beyond traditional employment relationships to a wider range of working arrangements. The draft guidance is due to take effect from 1st October 2026, but is not yet in force and the REC will provide further updates when available. |
| Value Match/HEART Framework |
| The Value Match (HEART) Framework, which is a compliant alternative to the GCA RM6376 Framework, is due to open on 30th October 2026 and will close on 27th November 2026.Value Match are an organisation that deliver Procurement Shared Services into the Education Sector. They deliver both retained and ad-hoc project services for MATs covering all aspects of procurement. As an addition to that service, they develop and manage a range of Frameworks including the Supply Agency Framework. |
Key REC events:
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REC Legal and Compliance Summit: 19th October 2026
The REC’s Legal and Compliance Summit, in association with JMW, provides members an opportunity to hear from the REC's Legal and Compliance teams for a comprehensive update on the legal and compliance issues facing the recruitment industry.
November 2026
Key updates:
| Other Updates |
| 'Safe Weight Limit Policy' for Offshore Workers |
| The OEUK, HM Coastguard, helicopter operators and member companies have put together the ‘Safe Weight Limit Policy’, which introduces a clothed weight limit of 124kg for all offshore workers to mitigate the safety hazard risk identified by the increasing weight of offshore workers. The mandatory implementation date for the policy is 1st November 2026. |
| Value Match/HEART Framework |
| The Value Match (HEART) Framework, which is a compliant alternative to the GCA RM6376 Framework, is due to open on 30th October 2026 and will close on 27th November 2026.Value Match are an organisation that deliver Procurement Shared Services into the Education Sector. They deliver both retained and ad-hoc project services for MATs covering all aspects of procurement. As an addition to that service, they develop and manage a range of Frameworks including the Supply Agency Framework. |
December 2026
Key updates:
| Employment Rights Act |
| Power to implement a mandatory Seafarers Charter setting out minimum employment standards for operators frequently calling at UK ports. |
| The mandatory Seafarers Charter builds on the earlier Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023 extending protections beyond pay to include as fair pay, working conditions, and employment rights – applies to seafarers working on vessels regularly operating in UK waters (applies to the UK). |
January 2027
Key updates:
| Employment Rights Act |
| 6-month qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal protections. |
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Employees will need to have been continuously employed for 6 months to qualify for unfair dismissal protections. This is due to apply to employees who already have six months’ service or more on the 1 January 2027. The cap on unfair dismissal compensation is due to be removed from 1st January 2027. Further guidance on this can be found here. Applies to GB. Further guidance on this can be found here. |
Key resources:
Key Resources:
February 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.
March 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.
April 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.
May 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.
June 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.
July 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.
August 2027
Key updates:
Currently no activity. We will update this page as soon as this changes.