HR & Employment Law Annual Conference 2026

By Bhayani HR & Employment Law

HR & Employment Law Conference 2026: Will Trade Unions Be Knocking at Your Door?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 will significantly reshape employment law from April 2026, with major implications for how employers engage with trade unions and manage their workforce. This conference will focus on the growing role of trade unions, including new access rights, easier recognition and changes to industrial action rules, alongside the wider reforms introduced by the Act

The conference will be delivered by Bhayani Law’s experienced team of employment law solicitors, lawyers and HR advisors, combining legal expertise with real-world HR insight. We will provide a practical overview of what employers must do between 2026 and 2027 to remain compliant, manage risk and respond confidently to a changing employee relations landscape.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 represents the most significant overhaul of UK employment law in decades. For many employers, the challenge is no longer what is changing, but how to prepare, when to act, and where the real risk lies, particularly as the Act signals a renewed and strengthened role for trade unions in the modern workplace.

This year’s conference will focus on a clear, phased roadmap of legal change, guiding employers through what comes into force from April 2026 onwards, what follows during 2026–2027, and what practical steps should be taken now to avoid exposure.

A key theme of the conference will be trade unions and employee relations, including new rights of union access, easier recognition processes, changes to industrial action rules and what these developments mean for employers who may not have previously engaged with unions. Alongside this, we will explore how the wider reforms affect recruitment, dismissals, sickness absence, family leave and workforce planning, and what “good” looks like under the new regime.

As always, the session will be practical, commercially grounded, and designed to leave you with clear actions, not just legal theory.

• The Employment Rights Act 2025: A Practical Roadmap (2026–2027)

What changes are coming, when they take effect, and how to plan in stages without overwhelming your business.

• Trade Union Reform April 2026

Lower thresholds, easier recognition, and what employers need to understand about consultation, engagement, and lawful response.

What’s also expected to come:

- Duty to inform workers of their right to join a union- October 2026

- Strengthen union rights to access- October 2026

- New rights and protections for trade union reps- October 2026

- Extending protections against detriment for industrial action- October 2026

• Unfair Dismissal: Recruiting and Managing Performance in a 6-Month Qualifying World

While unfair dismissal will not be a day-one right, the reduction of the qualifying period to six months represents a fundamental shift in how employers must approach recruitment, probation, performance management and early exits.

We will explore:

- How probation periods need to be structured and actively managed

- The risks of informal decision-making in the first six months

- What “fair process” looks like earlier in the employment lifecycle

- How employers can still manage risk, capability and conduct effectively, without defaulting to over-complex procedures

• Statutory Sick Pay Reform

What the new SSP framework means for absence management, cost exposure, and policy design.

• Paternity Leave & Parental Leave Changes

Increased flexibility, expanded rights, and how to manage family-related leave fairly and consistently.

• Collective Redundancy Changes

Updated thresholds, consultation obligations, and the growing risks of getting workforce restructuring wrong.

• Sexual Harassment & Whistleblowing Protections

Enhanced protections, expanded disclosure rights, and what employers must do to demonstrate preventative compliance.

• Closing Session – The Big Picture

We will finish the conference with a concise, high-level closing session that brings all of the reforms together, providing a clear overview of the full scope of changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025. This final session will connect the individual reforms into a single practical picture, helping employers understand how the changes interact, where the cumulative risks sit, and what strategic priorities should be for 2026–2027.

Date: Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Time: 9.30 am – 2.30 pm
Location: Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria Sheffield | Victoria Station Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S4 7YE (Sat Nav users, please use S1 2AU to reach the hotel)

• Early Bird: £80 + VAT per delegate (available until 24 February 2026)
• General Sale: £95 + VAT per delegate

Price includes lunch and refreshments.

Bhayani Law Watertight clients and charities will continue to benefit from preferential pricing.

• HR professionals
• Business owners and directors
• Senior leaders and managers with people responsibility
• Trustees and charity leaders
• Anyone responsible for managing risk under the new employment law framework

Places are limited, and demand is expected to be high given the scale of reform.

Bhayani Law clients and charities will continue to benefit from preferential pricing.

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