The Employment Rights Act introduces the following changes today, 06 April 2026.  Are you ready?

It is imperative that you check your organisation is compliant. 

O6 April 2026 – The Employment Rights Act Introduces:

• Day-one parental leave.
• Day-one paternity leave, and the ability to take paternity leave after a period of shared parental leave. Under transitional provisions set out in Schedule 1 to the Commencement No 1 Regulations, the paternity leave provisions only apply in relation to:
  • Children born on or after 6 April 2026.
  • Children born prior to 6 April but whose EWC starts on or after 5 April 2026.
  • Children placed for adoption on or after that date (or who enter Great Britain on or after that date in an overseas adoption case).
  • Children whose primary carer dies on or after that date (regardless of the date of birth, EWC or placement).
• Statutory trade union recognition: simplification – changes to the percentage threshold for the CAC to accept a trade union application.
• Voluntary action plans on gender equality and supporting employees through the menopause (for employers with 250 employees or more).
• Increase to the maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult from 90 to 180 days’ pay.
• The definition of a “qualifying disclosure” will be amended to include a disclosure that sexual harassment “has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur.”
• Obligation on employers to keep certain records relating to compliance with annual leave and pay for annual leave for six years from the date they were made.

06 April 2026 – changes to SSP entitlement
Statutory Sick Pay will be paid from the first day of sickness, instead of the fourth day and the lower earnings limit will be removed.

 06 April 2026 – SSP rate changes
From 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay will be either:

• 80% of the worker’s average weekly earnings
• £123.25 per week

Eligible workers will be entitled to whichever rate is lower. It will be paid from the first day of sickness absence.

More Changes from 07 April 2026
The Fair Work Agency will be established.

What you need to dO

If you have not already done so, you should:

• Review contractual documentation, staff handbooks and workplace policies to ensure they reflect the upcoming reforms.
• Check payroll and absence reporting systems to ensure that SSP pay and entitlement will be paid and calculated correctly.
• Monitor sickness absence levels going forward. The removal of SSP thresholds may lead to increased ad hoc absence.
• Review  sickness absence policy to ensure it provides clear processes for managing absence.
• Review data retention policies to reflect the new obligations to retain working time records to demonstrate compliance with annual leave and pay.

Our one day training UK Employment and Equality Law training courses covers all these changes with breaking news and updates. These updates include the further changes currently planned this year, 2027 and 2028.  We update content each time our courses run so they always reflect the very latest situation.