UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / September 17, 2026 / A set of Employment Rights Act reforms will take effect this October, including extended employment tribunal time limits, new duties on employers to prevent sexual harassment, and strengthened trade union access rights.

Pallet Trucks UK says that while most businesses are focused on updating contracts and HR policy ahead of the changes, this is also a sensible moment to review manual handling compliance and equipment standards at the same time.

From 1 October, the time limit for bringing most employment tribunal claims doubles from three months to six, giving employees considerably longer to raise a claim. Later in the month, employers take on a new legal duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, alongside further changes strengthening trade union access rights.

Businesses are rightly treating this as a significant compliance moment, but it's one that tends to get siloed within HR, when a lot of the same discipline applies equally to health and safety obligations around manual handling.

Phil Chesworth, Managing Director at Pallet Trucks UK, said, "Whenever changes like this land, we see a real spike in businesses reviewing their policies and paperwork, which is exactly the right response. What we'd add is that it's a good opportunity to widen that review slightly, rather than treating it as purely an HR exercise."

Longer tribunal time limits mean businesses need to be more confident than ever that their processes, records and equipment can stand up to scrutiny months after an incident, not just immediately afterwards. If someone raises a manual handling issue six months down the line, having clear records of equipment maintenance, training and inspection makes a genuine difference.

Chesworth added, "If you're already updating policies and making sure documentation is in order for October, checking that the equipment your staff are using day – such as pallet trucks, stackers and lift tables – are properly specified, maintained and recorded takes relatively little extra effort, but it closes a gap a lot of businesses don't think about until they need to.

"Don't let this become a tick-box HR exercise. Use the moment properly, and equipment compliance should be part of that conversation."

For more information, please visit: www.pallettrucksuk.co.uk.