Your employee handbook could cost you £123,543*
The biggest shake-up in UK employment law in 30 years. Day-one rights landed in April 2026, and from January 2027 unfair dismissal protection starts at six months with no cap on compensation. Every handbook needs updating. Bounda analyses your policies, fixes compliance gaps, and generates the HR documents you need, all powered by AI built for UK employment law.
*The current cap on unfair dismissal compensation (Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order). From 1 January 2027, the cap is removed entirely.
Most UK businesses are one tribunal away from disaster
The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December and its reforms are phasing in across 2026 and 2027. Day-one statutory sick pay and family leave arrived in April 2026. Expanded sexual harassment duties, including liability for third-party harassment, are expected in October 2026, alongside tribunal time limits doubling from three months to six. From January 2027 the unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to six months and the cap on compensation is removed. And because the six-month rule covers anyone already in post at that date, every hire you make from July 2026 onwards is affected. Your existing handbook almost certainly doesn't reflect any of this.
Sources: Ministry of Justice, Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2026; GOV.UK, Employment Rights Act implementation timeline; Acas, Employment Rights Act 2025.
Your complete HR compliance system
Bounda isn't just a handbook generator. It's an intelligent platform that keeps your policies compliant, generates the documents you need, and answers employee questions — automatically.
Build & maintain compliant handbooks
Paste your existing policies or start fresh. Our AI analyses every section against 15+ UK legislation sources, identifies gaps, and generates compliant redrafts with full legal citations.
Generate HR documents in minutes
From settlement agreements to return-to-work forms, generate legally compliant documents that automatically reference your handbook policies. 40+ document types, guided wizards, instant DOCX export.
Let employees self-serve
Deploy an AI assistant that answers policy questions using your actual handbook. Reduces HR inbox load, provides instant answers, and always directs to the right policies.
Explore our employee handbook software, run a handbook compliance check, or see how the Handbook Chatbot helps employees find policy answers.
Compliant in four steps
Upload or Start Fresh
Paste your existing handbook or start from our template. Bounda structures it into 50+ policy types across 10 lifecycle groups.
AI Analyses Everything
Every policy is checked against ERA 1996, Equality Act 2010, ACAS codes, and the latest 2025 reforms. Issues are flagged by severity with legal citations.
Fix Gaps Instantly
Accept AI-generated compliant redrafts, or edit manually. Cross-references are automatically suggested. Missing policies are drafted from scratch.
Generate & Deploy
Create HR documents that reference your policies. Deploy the Handbook Chatbot. Export your handbook to Word. Stay compliant automatically.
ERA 2025 Timeline: Are You Ready?
Day-one statutory sick pay and day-one paternity & unpaid parental leave
Collective redundancy protective awards double
Expanded sexual harassment duties, including third-party harassment; tribunal time limits double from three months to six
Unfair dismissal qualifying period cut to six months; compensation cap removed
Guaranteed hours for zero/low-hours workers; fire-and-rehire restrictions
Trusted by HR teams across the UK
"Before Bounda, I was just Googling different laws and regulations. Now I have a compliant handbook and can generate any HR document in minutes. It's transformed how we handle HR."