This Practice Note considers the legal and practical implications of the changes made from 1 January 2027 by section 25 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) and ERA 2025, Sch 3 to unfair dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996), namely: • the reduction of the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal from two years to six months, and • the removal of the statutory cap on the compensatory award In particular, this Practice Note considers the potential impact of these changes on: • employers’ dismissal processes and risk assessments • valuing potential claims for settlement purposes • claims brought by higher earners and employees with bonuses, commission, high-value pensions, share options, long-term incentive plans (LTIPs) or other incentive arrangements, and • the pleading and settlement of related claims, including discrimination and protected disclosure (whistleblowing) claims For information on the implications of the changes for probationary periods, see Practice Note: Probationary periods. This Practice Note is not intended to provide a full explanation

The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) has published a briefing on Scotland’s failure to deliver on access to justice under Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention. The Scottish Government has until 1 October 2024 to implement all six recommendations to provide access to justice that is  ‘fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive’.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (1974). US pension legislation, now sometimes used as a generic term to cover the whole US pension market.

Emergency Reference Levels are the doses to an individual that could be avoided if a particular countermeasure were deployed in the event of an accident at a nuclear facility.

Emergency Response Organisation

CASE HUB ARCHIVED—this archived case hub reflects the position at the date of the Commission’s decision to accept commitments on 9 July 2026; it is no longer maintained. See further, timeline Case facts Outline Commission Article 102 TFEU investigation into SAP’s practices relating to the provision of maintenance and support services for its on-premises Enterprise Resource Planning software (Case AT.40823). Latest development On 9 July 2026, the Commission accepted commitments offered by SAP. Parties • SAP SE (SAP): SAP is a German multinational enterprise software provider. It develops Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for businesses, supplied both on-premises and via the cloud. SAP also supplies maintenance and support services for its ERP software. Background On 25 September 2025, the Commission opened formal proceedings and adopted a Preliminary Assessment setting out its preliminary competition

Employer's requirements

Euratom Supply Agency: an agency established under the Euratom Treaty with the remit to ensure a regular and equitable supply of nuclear fuels to EU Member States. To perform this task the ESA applies a common supply policy and countersigns qualifying contracts for the supply of nuclear fuel.

The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) has released a report titled 'Towards EU climate neutrality: progress, policy gaps and opportunities', in which it recommends various actions to help the EU meet its climate neutrality goals by 2050. Some of the findings of the report include more actions needed urgently across the sectors, especially in the in buildings, transport, agriculture and forestry sectors, based on a review of more than 80 indicators, to achieve the EU climate objectives from 2030–2050, and that emissions in agriculture were not reducing, which was due to inadequate financial incentives for farmers. The report also highlights 13 key recommendations for an effective implementation and design of the EU climate policy framework.

The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority—ESAs) has published its fourth annual report on the extent of voluntary disclosure of principal adverse impacts (PAIs) under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation EU) 2019/2088 (EU SFDR). The report highlights continued progress by financial market participants (FMPs) in meeting EU SFDR disclosure requirements, with an improvement in the completeness and quality of information provided. The findings confirmed previous patterns and included feedback from National Competent Authorities (NCAs).

The three European Supervisory Authorities (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority—ESAs) have issued a joint Opinionon the European Commission’s rejection of the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) concerning the subcontracting of critical information and communication technology (ICT) services under Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 Digital Operational Resilience Act(DORA). The Commission rejected the original draft RTS, stating that certain elements exceeded the ESAs' powers under DORA. The ESAs acknowledge the Commission’s assessment and confirm that the amendments proposed by the Commission align the draft RTS with DORA's mandate.

The three European Supervisory Authorities (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority—ESAs) have published a stocktake of BigTech direct financial services provision in the EU. It identifies the types of financial services currently carried out by BigTechs pursuant to EU licences and highlights inherent opportunities and risks, and regulatory and supervisory challenges.