Employment law changes October 2026 & beyond: What schools need to know
If you lead a school, trust, or SEND setting, you'll already know how tight the staffing market is, particularly for specialist SEND roles, where demand consistently outpaces supply. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, several employment law reforms are changing from October 2026 and into 2027, which will reshape how schools and their recruitment partners attract, and manage both permanent and temporary staff.
Below we summarise what’s changing, when and what it means for you and the recruitment partners you work with.
What’s changing?
Employers must take ‘all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment’ in the workplace as well as third party harassment from October 2026.
Currently, employers have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work. From October 2026, that duty is strengthened to all reasonable steps, requiring proactive risk assessment, documented policies, and training, rather than reactive responses after something has gone wrong. At the same time, employers will become directly liable for harassment of their staff by third parties, where the employer has failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it.
What this means for schools and your education recruitment partners:
- Schools will need documented anti-harassment policies, not just for colleague-to-colleague conduct.
- Risk assessments should consider situations where staff, particularly those working alone, on home visits, or in vulnerable pupil settings may be exposed to harassment risk.
- Review induction materials for temporary and agency staff so reporting routes are clear from day one, not just for permanent employees.
Unfair dismissal: qualifying period cut to 6 months, and the compensation cap removed will come in to force January 2027
There are two significant changes here:
The qualifying period for bringing an ordinary unfair dismissal claim drops from two years to six months of continuous service. The statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensation is removed entirely, meaning compensatory awards will be uncapped.
What this means for schools and your education recruitment partners:
- Robust induction, early check-ins, and clear performance management from day one are essential.
- For specialist SEND roles, it is important the person is the right fit for the school, temporary-to-permanent or trial days via your recruitment partner will allow schools to assess fit.
- Schools will need to ensure they follow a fair, documented process for any dismissal decisions.
Fire and rehire on worse terms becomes automatically unfair dismissal in most cases from January 2027
Dismissing an employee and then re-engaging them on worse terms (otherwise known as “fire and rehire”) will become automatically unfair, where it relates to certain restricted core terms (such as pay, pensions, or other key contractual protections), unless the employer can show it was facing genuine, severe financial difficulty that left no reasonable alternative. For changes to less protected terms (such as location or specific duties), dismissal won't be automatically unfair, but tribunals will scrutinise the reason for the change, the consultation carried out, and what (if anything) was offered in return.
What this means for schools and your education recruitment partners:
- If a trust or school is considering restructuring pay scales, hours, or contractual terms for existing staff, including for SEND support roles being reshaped as needs evolve, legal advice and thorough consultation will be essential.
- This is particularly relevant where schools try to move permanent staff onto different contractual bases (e.g. altering hours to manage budget pressures around EHCP-funded roles). Again, schools should seek advice.
- Recruitment agencies can help you plan alternative routes to flexibility, such as recruiting to new roles rather than varying existing contracts unilaterally.
New statutory right expected to bereavement leave in 2027.
A new day-one statutory right is expected in 2027, with at least one week's unpaid bereavement leave applying on the death of a loved one. The new right is also expected to cover pregnancy loss before 24 weeks and stillbirth.
What this means for schools and your education recruitment partners:
- Staff handbooks and compassionate leave policies will need updating once the detailed regulations are published.
- For a sector already managing staff absence carefully around pupil continuity (particularly for SEND pupils who rely on consistent, familiar adults), it's worth thinking now about how bereavement absence for both permanent and long-term supply staff will be covered. Ensure your agency can provide staffing solutions at sort notice that are compliant.
Right to be paid when a shift is cancelled, moved, or cut short, expected 2027
Workers on zero-hours or low-hours contracts will gain a right to reasonable notice of shifts, and to proportionate compensation where a shift is cancelled, moved to another date, or curtailed at short notice by the employer. The government is still consulting on the detail, these provisions are expected to apply to agency workers as well as directly engaged staff.
What this means for schools and your education recruitment partners:
- This could have real implications for how schools use short-notice or on-call supply cover. If a booked supply teacher or SEND TA has a shift cancelled at short notice (for example, if a pupil is suddenly withdrawn or a session is cancelled), there may be a legal obligation to pay compensation once this comes into force.
- Now is a sensible time to review your own booking practices and build in more notice wherever possible, ahead of the rules landing.
Flexible working: employers must justify refusals against 8 set reasons, expected 2027
Employees already have a day-one right to request flexible working, and employers can refuse only on one or more of eight existing statutory business reasons. From 2027, employers will have to show the refusal was genuinely reasonable in the circumstances, explain this in writing, and follow a new consultation process before rejecting a request.
What this means for schools and your education recruitment partners:
- Given the sector's ongoing recruitment and retention challenges, flexible working is already a major lever for attracting SEND specialists.
- School leaders should expect more requests to be challenged, and should ensure refusal decisions are properly evidenced.
- This is a good time to think about how flexible arrangements (part-time SEND specialist roles, job-shares etc) could actually help you compete for scarce talent.
Getting ahead of these changes
Reviewing policies, induction processes and having open conversations with your recruitment partners now will put your school in a much stronger position than reacting once the rules are already in force. As specialists in SEND recruitment, we'll be tracking the detailed regulations as they're published (many of the 2027 dates are still to be confirmed) and will keep you updated on anything that changes how we support your school.
This article is provided for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Schools and trusts should seek their own legal advice on specific situations, particularly around dismissal, contractual changes, and Right to Work compliance.
