TL;DR: The UK right to disconnect is not included in the Employment Rights Act 2025 – and the government has published no Code of Practice, consultation or timetable for one, and it does not appear in the government’s implementation timeline (updated October 2026). A Code of Practice, if one is issued, would not create a standalone legal right but would carry weight in employment tribunals. That would be a lighter approach than France (where larger employers must negotiate on the right to disconnect) or Australia (where it is a formal workplace right).

If you work remotely in the UK, the boundary between “on” and “off” can feel blurry at the best of times. A Slack message at 9pm. An email flagged urgent on a Sunday morning. The expectation that because your laptop is at home, you’re always available.

At Remote Work Europe we focus on what news like this actually means for people earning a remote income across Europe.

A formal right to disconnect was one of the headline promises in Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay. But if you’ve been waiting for it to arrive alongside the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes, you’ll need to keep waiting – and there is currently no official date to wait for.

What’s Actually Happening

The right to disconnect is not included in the Employment Rights Act 2025. The Act as passed contains no right-to-disconnect provision; the idea appeared in Labour’s pre-election Plan to Make Work Pay policy material.

Commentators have suggested it could come instead as a statutory Code of Practice, delivered separately from the Act. But no Code of Practice has been published or consulted on, and the government’s implementation timeline for the Employment Rights Act, updated in October 2026, does not include one. Any 2027 date reported elsewhere is commentators’ inference, not a government commitment.

What a Code of Practice Would Mean

A statutory Code of Practice is not the same as a legal right. If one were issued, it would not create a standalone cause of action – you couldn’t sue your employer simply for sending a late-night email. But it would carry weight.

Employment Tribunals are required to take statutory codes into account when deciding cases. If an employer routinely contacted staff outside working hours and that behaviour contributed to, say, a constructive dismissal claim, a Code would be relevant. In practical terms, it would set a benchmark for what reasonable employer behaviour looks like.

That would be a lighter-touch approach than countries like France, Belgium, or Australia have taken. France’s 2017 law requires larger companies to negotiate on the right to disconnect. Australia made the right to disconnect a formal workplace right in 2024.

A guidance-based route would be consistent with the broader tone of the Employment Rights Act reforms.

Why This Matters for Remote Workers

The always-on culture hits remote workers hardest. When your office is your kitchen table and your commute is twelve steps, the signals that mark the end of a working day disappear.

A Code of Practice wouldn’t solve that on its own. But it would signal to employers that expectations around out-of-hours contact need to be formalised and reasonable – and give workers something to point to when those expectations aren’t met.

What to Do Now

The government has not announced a consultation on a draft Code. In the meantime:

  • Check your contract and policies – does your employer already have guidance on out-of-hours contact?
  • Set your own boundaries – use tools like scheduled send, notification snoozing, and explicit sign-off times
  • Document patterns – if you’re regularly contacted outside working hours, keep a record

The right to disconnect may not arrive with the force of law. For remote workers who’ve been waiting for formal recognition that “available” and “working” aren’t the same thing, the honest position for now is that nothing official is scheduled – so your own boundaries and records matter more than any future Code.

This article covers evolving UK employment policy. Details may change if the government announces a Code or consultation. For the latest on UK employment rights changes, see our April 2026 employment rights update and flexible working rights guide.

Sources: GOV.UK – Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update | Employment Rights Act 2025 (legislation.gov.uk) | GOV.UK – Employment Rights Roadmap | Lewis Silkin – What’s in the Employment Rights Act | Mondaq – In the Pipeline, March 2026

If you are weighing up the UK more broadly, start with our UK country guide.