The Employment Rights Act and your peak workforce: what changes on 1 January
By James Burton, Senior Consultant, Visku · Publish Thursday 29 Oct 2026
The flexible, agency-heavy staffing model that carries most UK warehouses through peak is about to get more expensive and less flexible. Operations teams should plan for it now, not after the regulations land.
Most commentary on the Employment Rights Act 2025 has come from HR and employment lawyers. Its biggest practical effects, though, will show up on warehouse rotas, in agency invoices and in cost per unit.
What has changed, and what is coming
| When | Change | Why it matters on the floor |
| April 2026 | Statutory sick pay from day one, with the lower earnings limit removed | Absence costs more, especially for part-time and short-hours staff |
| October 2026 | New rights for unions to access workplaces | More structured consultation on shift and rota changes |
| 1 January 2027 | Unfair dismissal protection after 6 months instead of 2 years; tighter rules on “fire and rehire” | Probation and performance processes need to work well inside six months |
| 2027 (date to be confirmed) | Right to guaranteed hours for zero- and low-hours workers, extended to agency workers, with the end hirer making the offer (Lewis Silkin) | Regular “temporary” agency staff may need to be offered hours that reflect what they work |
The detail of the guaranteed-hours rules is still being finalised after a consultation that closed in August, so treat the 2027 row as direction of travel rather than final.
The operational risk
Many UK warehouses run a core permanent team topped up by agency staff who work almost full time for some of the year, then scale up again for peak. If those workers gain a right to be offered guaranteed hours based on their recent pattern, three things follow:
- Flex shrinks. Hours you treat as variable may become fixed commitments.
- Planning accuracy matters more. Over-hiring in October becomes a longer-term cost.
- Agency rates rise. Providers will price in the extra risk and admin.
All of this lands on top of a National Living Wage of £12.71 and higher employer National Insurance.
Five steps to take before January
- Map your real workforce. For every warehouse, split hours by permanent, agency and seasonal staff, and by how long agency workers have been with you.Review terms and conditions of workforce.
- Rebuild the labour model from standards. Link forecast volume to hours by task and shift using measured time standards. For a 3PL running a sportswear brand’s UK site, rebuilding standards this way improved productivity by 10.7% and made budgets straightforward to agree.
- Replace spreadsheets and paper with a planner. A UK bathroom products business we worked with moved from a paper rota to a weekly planning tool that flexes resource to forecast volume.
- Design shifts around demand, not habit. Shorter and staggered shifts, annualised hours and cross-skilling can cover peaks with fewer agency hours.
- Review agency contracts. Clarify who carries the cost of guaranteed hours offers, and how rates will change.
The upside
Better labour planning is worth doing regardless of the law. When hours are planned per task against measured standards, they stop drifting, and the same model later underpins any automation or outsourcing case.
This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Take specialist employment advice on your own contracts.