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Employment Rights Bill passes final stage in House of Lords

Published: 17 Dec 2025

The Employment Rights Bill clearing the House of Lords is an important moment for millions of working parents and carers.

The promise of stronger protections, including a new framework for requesting flexible working, day-one rights to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, and enhanced protections for pregnant workers and new mothers, is long overdue. We hope these changes will help families feel more secure at work and more confident that the law is on their side.

This Bill takes important steps toward the rights we’ve long campaigned for, and we look forward to the outcomes of the Government’s reviews into parental leave and carers leave. We hope that these will provide an opportunity to address the remaining gaps and inequalities in our framework of rights and entitlements for working people with caring responsibilities.

In the meantime, we call on more employers to join our movement of Family Friendly Workplaces and we won’t stop campaigning until every working parent and carer can access the flexibility and support they need to balance their work and caring responsibilities.

If you want to know more about your rights at work please see our free legal advice service.