September employment roundup 

EHRC Services Code of Practice 

The updated Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Code of Practice on services, public functions and associations was handed to the Minister for Women and Equalities on 5 September. It has not yet been published. 

The Code has been updated to reflect the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, in which it was decided that references to ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex (see our previous briefing). A consultation was conducted over the summer, with the original expectation that a revised Code would be provided to the Government by the end of July 2025 – later delayed to August 2025. 

Once approved by the minister, the revised Code will be laid before Parliament for 40 days before it comes into force. The EHRC is also reviewing its statutory guidance on separate and single-sex services. Work on updating the EHRC Code of Practice on Employment is expected once the Services Code is finalised. 

The EHRC is also separately taking regulatory action relating to single-sex spaces and gender self-identification. This follows its review of evidence that was submitted to the previous Government’s 2024 ‘call for input’ on single-sex spaces and services. The EHRC identified policies from across the policing, education, health and public services sectors that had misinterpreted the law. It has written to 19 organisations asking them to review policies that wrongly suggested an automatic legal right to access single-sex spaces based on self-identification. The organisations have been asked to revise their policies, and the EHRC will take further regulatory action under the Equality Act 2010 if necessary. 

Paternity and shared parental leave: government response 

Back in June 2025, the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) published a report (Equality at work: Paternity and shared parental leave) setting out the findings of its inquiry into current paternity rights and statutory shared parental leave. The report concluded that the current statutory system does not support working families effectively, recommending that a full review of the system should be conducted. It identified a range of issues that the WEC considers to need addressing, including gender disparities in both statutory leave and pay entitlements. 

The Government has now published its response to the WEC report. It has confirmed that it will take into account the WEC recommendations as part of its ongoing winder review of the current parental leave and pay system, but makes no firm commitments to increase statutory paternity leave or pay entitlements, or making statutory paternity pay a day one right (note, the right to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become a day one right under the Employment Rights Bill).  

The response accepts that improvements to the current system are required, including measures to address the cultural and societal barriers to fathers in particular from taking their parental leave entitlements. The current review, which commenced in July 2025, is expected to run for 18 months. We are therefore unlikely to see any significant changes to the current system of parental leave and pay for some time yet. 

New guidance on worker exploitation 

The Better Hiring Institute (BHI) has recently published new guidance on worker exploitation, How HR Can Stop the Worker Exploitation Crisis. It includes recommendations for the Government and employers, in addition to HR, to address the rise of worker exploitation. 

The guidance identifies various enablers of worker exploitation: abuse of the immigration system, fragmented labour rights enforcement, exploitative recruitment practices, economic circumstances and lack of workers’ awareness of their rights.  

For HR, the guidance recommends adopting a proactive and strategic role in tackling abuse, including ethical recruitment practices, promoting transparency in employment terms, supporting workers’ access to rights information, providing training on modern slavery and applying pressure to supply chains. It suggests that, as a minimum, HR should provide training to the workforce on modern slavery and what to look out for.  

The guide also recommends that HR should collaborate with regulatory bodies like the Fair Work Agency (due to be established under the Employment Rights Bill), supporting initiatives to raise worker awareness, improve reporting mechanisms and foster a culture of accountability and fairness across their organisation and supply chain. 

Recruitment of non-legal members to employment tribunals 

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is recruiting 150 new non-legal members to the employment tribunals in England and Wales, the first recruitment exercise for six years. 

Lay members sit alongside experienced employment judges to form a tribunal panel for the purposes of hearing and determining employment tribunal claims. The panel consists of two lay members as well as a judge, one selected from an employee or trade union background and one from an employer or management background (usually with HR experience). This is to ensure a balanced perspective on the panel. Candidates are expected to have at least five years’ experience in dealing with employment relations issues, and training is provided on appointment. 

Further details of the role are available from the JAC website. Applications close on 7 October 2025.