{"id":7049478,"date":"2026-08-27T22:14:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/apprentice\/recruitment-employment-strategy-under-the-new-act\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T22:14:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:14:40","slug":"recruitment-employment-strategy-under-the-new-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7049478","title":{"rendered":"Recruitment & Employment Strategy Under the New Act"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Employers aren\u2019t waiting for the Employment Rights Act 2025 to fully land before changing how they hire. Recruitment intentions have already fallen to some of the lowest levels on record outside the pandemic<\/strong>, and a third of employers say they\u2019re specifically planning to hire fewer permanent staff because of the reforms still to come.<\/p>\n

This piece builds on the pillar\u2019s overview into practical workforce planning guidance: what the hiring data actually shows, why permanent headcount is becoming a harder call to make, what employers are turning to instead, and how to build a recruitment strategy that responds to real risk without over-correcting into a different set of problems.<\/p>\n

Explore: Employment Law Changes 2026: HR Guidance on the Employment Rights Act 2025<\/a>, for the full picture this piece sits within.<\/p>\n

The Hiring Chill: What\u2019s Actually Happening<\/h3>\n

CIPD\u2019s Winter 2025\/26 Labour Market Outlook<\/a>, a survey of 2,082 UK employers, found the net employment balance, the difference between employers expecting to increase staff and those expecting to reduce it, had fallen to +7<\/strong>, the lowest level on record outside the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The Act itself is a specific, named factor behind this. More than a third (37%) of employers<\/strong> say they plan to hire fewer permanent staff as a direct result of reforms to unfair dismissal, statutory sick pay, zero-hours contracts, or trade union rights. Among that group specifically, the net employment balance drops to -5<\/strong>, meaning more of these employers expect headcount to shrink than grow.<\/p>\n

Cost expectations sit behind much of this. 74% of employers<\/strong> believe the Act will increase their employment costs, but that pressure isn\u2019t evenly spread. In sectors already running on thin margins, it\u2019s sharper: 31% of social care employers and 28% of hospitality employers<\/strong> expect costs to rise \u201cto a large extent,\u201d nearly double the overall average.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a single quarter\u2019s caution either. CIPD\u2019s most recent data shows the balance ticking up slightly since, to +9, but describes the pattern as a \u201clow-hire, low-fire\u201d cycle<\/strong>, employers holding steady rather than genuinely recovering their hiring appetite.<\/p>\n

Why Employers Are Shifting Away From Permanent Headcount<\/h3>\n

The caution described above isn\u2019t abstract. It maps directly onto specific changes covered elsewhere in this series:<\/p>\n