Automate all your repetitive HR tasks and save yourself hours every week to focus on your most important work.
Book a demoA new set of employment law changes comes into force today, 30th October 2026. In the week leading up to today, we asked 139 UK employers whether they’d actioned the six items required by the new rules. Only 3 small businesses had done all six, and half had done three or fewer.
Charlie’s CEO Ben Gateley comments: “It’s crucial for employers, and specifically small businesses, to be ready for the employment law coming up today and in January. Not doing so exposes small businesses to gaps that become harder to fill and potential for employment tribunal claims. We all know small businesses are more vulnerable to it due to lack of resources.”
We’re not talking about careless employers here, but about people who have done their due diligence all along. What’s catching them by surprise is the thick and fast nature of employment law changes, even when some of these are super quick fixes.
Key findings from our survey
Take our employment law quiz yourself if you want to find out where your small business stands.
As employment law changes approached, we asked our team of HR experts to put together an employment law checklist that gave out a score on how well prepared the business was. Between 22 and 29 October, 139 UK employers took Charlie’s free employment law check.
The checklist asked 18 yes-or-no questions in three groups:
The average score was 13 out of 18. Only 2 firms got a perfect score.
70% of respondents were small businesses who said they look after HR themselves – with no HR in their title.
The long-standing rules are well covered. Firms scored 87% on the five rules already in law, and more than half (52%) got all five right.
The one weak spot is right to work checks on contractors, which 72% have done.
The newer the rule, the lower the score. Firms scored 87% on rules already in law, 78% on the 1 January changes and 53% on the 30 October changes.
Half of small businesses (50%) have done three or fewer of the six changes needed by 30th October. Only 3 have done all six, and 8 have done none.
Harassment training and recorded, as well as trade union rights statements were missed by the large majority of small businesses who took the survey.
This is the least-done item in the whole check: 87% still haven’t done it. For most small businesses, unions rarely come up day to day, so it’s easy to miss.
Fix for small businesses: Write a short statement, send it to everyone, and add it to your onboarding pack.
That leaves 76% without it. The record matters as much as the training. If a complaint reaches a tribunal, being able to show who was trained, and when, is part of showing you took reasonable steps.
Two-thirds of small businesses (66%) have done neither of these two things.
Fix for small businesses: Ensure training is done for all team members and recorded if there’s an audit or a claim is raised.
Further to this, only 1 in 5 firms (20%) has all three harassment requirements in place: a written policy, cover for harassment by clients and customers, and training in the last year.
If your team deals with customers, clients or suppliers, a policy that only covers colleagues leaves them unprotected in exactly the situations where they’re most exposed.
On the positive side, 90% of firms already give their team a way to raise a concern without going through their manager.
As it stands, 91% of firms have a written disciplinary policy and 84% have a written grievance policy with an appeal. But 44% haven’t briefed their managers on following the procedure step by step. Even among the 116 firms with both policies, a third haven’t.
A policy only protects you if it’s followed. When a disciplinary or grievance goes wrong, it’s rarely because the policy was missing. It’s because a manager skipped a step, didn’t know there was one, or made it up as they went.
Small businesses are in better shape for the 1 January changes, scoring 78% on average. But one gap stands out.
From 1 January, six months becomes the key service milestone. The good news is that 94% of firms know who will pass it, and 88% hold probation reviews before someone gets there.
The catch is probation length. 55% of firms still run probation periods longer than three months. A shorter probation isn't a legal requirement, but it's good practice: it gives you time to review, extend or act well before someone reaches six months.
If your probation is longer than three months, now's a good time to review it. One more positive: 86% already get advice before changing anyone's contract to worse terms. That's a habit worth keeping as the rules shift.
The smallest ones. The 10 businesses with 1 to 4 people scored just 20% on the 30 October items. Only 3 of them have a harassment policy, and only 1 has run training.
Here’s what to fix, in deadline order.
From 30th October
Before 1st January 2027
Not sure where you stand? Take Charlie’s free employment law check. It takes a couple of minutes, and you’ll get a personalised checklist.
These findings are based on 139 completed responses to Charlie’s employment law check, submitted between 22 and 29 October 2026. Respondents were UK employers of all sizes: 10 with 1 to 4 people, 54 with 5 to 20, 48 with 21 to 49, 17 with 50 to 100, and 10 with 100+. Answers are self-reported, and respondents chose to take the check, so the results are indicative rather than representative of all UK businesses. Read the figures for smaller groups with that in mind.
