The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December 2025. The result of this is a number of changes to legislation being implemented over the next two years.
The next scheduled changes take effect in April 2026, each of which are detailed below.
Paternity leave and ordinary parental leave – date of changes 6 April 2026
- Paternity Leave:
Currently, employees need 26 weeks’ continuous service by the end of the 15th week before the expected birth week to qualify for paternity leave. This will become a day 1 right, allowing employees, who have a baby due, on or after 5 April 2026, to give notice of their intention to take Paternity Leave from the first day of employment.
New starters will, therefore, get the same two weeks’ paternity leave entitlement as everyone else although it is important to note that qualifying criteria for statutory paternity pay, however, remains in place. This brings paternity leave in line with maternity leave, which is already a day one right. As a result new employees can take paternity leave, but unless your Company policy says otherwise, the leave would be unpaid, until they meet the set criteria to be entitled to pay.
The requirement to provide you with the relevant notice to take such leave has also not changed as employees still need to give notice of entitlement by the 15th week before the expected week of birth (in essence giving 15 weeks’ notice), then confirm their choice of specific dates 28 days in advance. There is a temporary exception to this which is detailed below:
On 18 February 2026, a temporary reduced notice period was introduced. Fathers and birth partners can give 28 days’ notice, instead of 15 weeks. This is only for parents who will become newly eligible because of the law change as it allows them to take paternity leave from the first day of the new law.
The temporary 28-day notice period applies if:
- the employee will become eligible for paternity leave on 6 April 2026 because of the change in the law
- the expected due date is between 5 April and 25 July 2026
If the due date is 26 July 2026 or later, the usual 15-week notice period will apply.
- Paternity Leave:
The restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave will be removed. Therefore, employees will be able to take a period of paternity leave, after any period of Shared Parental Leave should they wish to.
- Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave:
An eligible employee will be entitled to take up to 52 weeks’ unpaid Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave (BPPL) to care for a child where the child’s primary carer has died within 52 weeks of the child’s birth or placement for adoption. The right to take BPPL applies where the primary carer dies on or after 6 April 2026 and is intended to support continuity of care for children in highly distressing circumstances.
BPPL must generally start and end within the same 52-week period following the child’s birth or placement. There is a limited exception to this where the bereavement occurs less than 14 days before the end of that period. In those circumstances, the employee may take up to 14 days’ BPPL.
The eligibility criteria have been set deliberately wide. An employee will be eligible where they:
- are the father of a child whose mother has died; or
- were the spouse, civil partner or partner of the child’s deceased primary carer;
- have, or are expected to have, the main responsibility for the upbringing of the child; and
- are taking leave to care for the child.
Notice requirements
Naturally, bereavement can be a difficult area to navigate, and the legislation adopts a pragmatic approach to the notice the employee must give.
Where BPPL begins within eight weeks of the bereavement, the employee may give notice verbally and on short timescales. Within that eight-week period, they must then confirm in writing how much BPPL they plan to take and their intended return date.
If the employee wishes to take BPPL more than eight weeks after the bereavement, they must give at least one week’s written notice. They may vary or cancel BPPL and amend their intended return date, subject to minimum notice requirements.
Flexibility in these circumstances is helpful, but it will be imperative that internal guidance is clear and manager handling is consistent.
Employees taking BPPL will benefit from protections broadly aligned with those for employees taking other forms of family leave, including:
- continuation of contractual terms and conditions (excluding pay);
- the right to return to the same role, or a suitable alternative depending on the length of the leave;
- protection from suffering a detriment and automatic unfair dismissal protection where dismissal is connected to taking, or seeking to take, BPPL;
- Where BPPL lasts six weeks or more, enhanced redundancy protection will apply for up to 18 months after the child’s birth or placement. This aligns BPPL with recent reforms extending family leave redundancy protection.
Employees may work up to ten “keeping in touch” days during leave, by agreement, without bringing the leave to an end.
- Parental Leave:
Currently employees must have worked for their employer for one year to be eligible for Parental Leave, this will become a day one right.
Sick pay – date of changes 6 April 2026
The following will apply effective from 6 April 2026:
- Statutory sick pay (SSP) will be paid from the first day of illness, instead of the fourth day.
- Currently, workers must earn a minimum amount to be eligible for statutory sick pay, this lower earnings limit will be removed. Therefore, all employees, regardless of how little they earn, will be entitled to SSP.
- Payment will be 80% of an employee’s average weekly earnings or in line with SSP £123.25 whichever is lower.
What if an employee was sick prior to 6 April 2026?
An employee who was on sick leave but was not entitled to SSP:
If an employee started their sickness absence before 6 April 2026 but was not entitled to SSP because they earned below the lower earnings limit, they may be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026.
An employee will be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or:
- after 22 September 2025; or
- before 21 September 2025, but they had periods where they returned to work between 22 September 2025 and 5 April 2026
For these employees, you should calculate their average weekly earnings based on the period before their sickness started, they are entitled to this weekly rate for SSP for up to 28 weeks.
An employee will not be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or before 21 September 2025 and continued without a break until 5 April 2026. This also applies to any linked sickness absence that continues on or after 6 April 2026. They will only become entitled to SSP again once they have returned to work for at least 8 weeks.
An employee on sick leave receiving SSP:
An employee receiving SSP before 6 April 2026 should be paid the new, increased rate from 6 April 2026. However, if an employee was already off sick and their average weekly earnings would mean their SSP rate would reduce, they should be paid the new increased SSP rate instead of 80% of their average weekly earnings. This will apply if the employee:
- earns between £125 and £154.05 per week
- was receiving SSP before 6 April 2026, and is still off sick on that date
This ends when the employee returns to work or their SSP entitlement ends. If they return to work after 6 April 2026 and later go off sick again, they should be paid 80% of their average weekly earnings for that new absence, even if that absence is linked.
Waiting Days
An employee who has a period of sickness absence which has just started and would otherwise have had waiting days, these days will no longer apply from 6 April 2026.
If an employee restarts a sickness absence from 4 or 5 April 2026 and it continues on or after 6 April 2026, the number of qualifying SSP days depends on how long the sickness absence lasts. If it lasts:
- 3 days or less — SSP is only paid for qualifying days on or after 6 April 2026
- 4 days or more — SSP is paid for any qualifying days from the first day of the restarted sickness absence
Collective redundancy protective award – date of changes 6 April 2026
The maximum ‘protective award’ for failure to comply with collective redundancy consultation will double from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay per affected employee.
Whistleblowing protections for sexual harassment – date of changes 6 April 2026
Sexual harassment will become a ‘qualifying disclosure’ under whistleblowing law. This will mean protection from detriment and unfair dismissal for whistleblowers making a sexual harassment disclosure.
Gender pay gap and menopause action plans – date of changes 6 April 2026 and 2027 (date to be confirmed)
Employers with 250 plus staff are encouraged to voluntarily create and publish action plans around supporting employees experiencing menopause and gender pay gaps. However, this will become mandatory sometime in 2027, although a specific date is yet to be confirmed this is expected in Spring 2027.
Trade union recognition – date of changes 6 April 2026
How a trade union can be recognised in a workplace will be simplified. Unions will no longer need to demonstrate that most workers in a proposed bargaining unit are likely to support recognition, removing the requirement for petitions or similar evidence. When recognition is decided by ballot, unions will only need a simple majority of votes cast, with the former 40% support requirement removed.
An updated Code of Practice on trade union recognition supporting this is expected to come into force in October 2026.
Fair Work Agency
The Fair Work Agency will be established on 7 April 2026, to:
- bring together existing enforcement bodies
- take on enforcement of other employment rights, such as holiday pay and statutory sick pay
Written by Lucy Williams FCILEx
Head of Employment Law & Human Resources at Key Group Services Ltd