HR Action List

3 Things HR Teams Should Be Doing During June 2026

With a week of rain forecast after the heatwave of the last couple of weeks now is probably the time to be planning and prepping the groundwork you need to be laying for the changes due to hit in October 2026.  September is likely to be hectic so, get ahead of the game now.

1  Make the “knock on changes” required as a result of the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA) Complaints Procedure

Data complaints (in relation to SARs, data breaches or other infringements of data legislation) need to be handled in accordance with your data complaints process from 19 June. However, complainants are rarely clear about how they expect their complaint to be handled and it is easy to see how data complaints (especially subtle ones) could fall between the cracks if they are raised as part of a grievance.

• Have you considered other policies that may be impacted such as your grievance and whistleblowing policies and any applicable managerial guidance?
• Have you updated and re-issued privacy notices? To employees as well as externally?
• Have HR teams been briefed about what a data complaint looks like (they may be very subtle – such as a manager sharing sickness absence details with a team) and how to manage them once identified?

While you are at it double check that your whistleblowing policies and grievance procedures have been updated to recognise that allegations of sexual harassment are now a qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing purposes (May 2025 task list).

2  Keep Thinking about Harassment

On 1 October 2026 an employer’s duty to take reasonable steps prevent sexual harassment that duty increases to an obligation to “take ALL reasonable steps”, coupled with the return of an employer’s liability for from a duty to Third-party harassment liability.

• If you haven’t already start preparing your updated policies, templates, escalation protocols and guidance.
• Audit settlement agreements for NDA clauses which may be void as a result of changes to whistleblowing definitions.
• Carry out risk assessments, document findings and implement remedial actions such as workplace signage.
• Book workforce training for August / September. Employers that have not provided up to date workforce training are almost certainly not going to be able to demonstrate that they have taken ALL reasonable steps.  If you want to make life easy and book tailored workforce training with me, drop me an email [email protected] for more information or to discuss.

3  Manage your Unfair Dismissal Risk – The January 2027 cliff edge actually takes effect later this month!

Given that the qualifying period for unfair dismissal reduces to six months for dismissals from 1 January 2027 anyone onboarded late June onwards is likely to be protected from unfair dismissal.  Assuming that you have reviewed the probation and notice clauses in your contracts (May task) along with relevant manager guidance, possibly the most critical task for this summer is training your managers to ensure that they understand their obligations, the processes to follow and the risks if they don’t.

At the very least, brief all managers in writing about the changes and their obligations to ensure probation protocols are followed.  This is going to be an enormous business change and any historic practices of putting off probation reviews for more urgent tasks will now carry significant business risk.  Employees are going to need to be properly reviewed mid probation and managers need to be clear about what success looks like, be set objectives, documenting review outcomes and ensuring that action points are followed up.

To minimise risk implement appropriate training over the next 3 months to ensure that managers understand obligations and risk. I will be running webinars in July, August, September and October aimed at employers looking to train managers in probation best practice and having hard (but now critical) conversations.  Webinar dates and registration links will follow.  If you want to get ahead of the game, click here.

Happy to Help

If you have been forwarded this by a friend or colleague and would like to receive regular updates please click here to join the mailing list or follow me here.

Author