Is your business ready for the Employment Rights Act? The clocking is ticking and change is coming.
26 February 2026Significant new employment rights come into effect from 6 April 2026 with more to come later in the year. Here’s a quick summary of what is changing in April:
▶️ Entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay will start from day one of an absence and the Lower Earnings Limit is removed. For many businesses this means an increase in costs and potentially also an increase in short term absence. Now is the time to ensure your absence management procedures are robust enough to deal with this.
▶️ Paternity Leave and Ordinary Parental Leave also become day one rights but note that Statutory Paternity Pay does not, it still requires 26 weeks service. You will need to think about your policy if you currently enhance paternity leave.
▶️ A new right of Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave gives bereaved fathers and partners, a day-one right to extended paternity leave in the first year of a child’s life if they are in the tragic circumstance of losing the child’s mother or primary adopter.
▶️ Getting redundancy collective consultation right will become even more important as the maximum protective award for failure to consult is doubled from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay.
▶️ Trade union organising will become simpler with a union required only to demonstrate that 10% of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit are union members and a simple majority of those who vote in a ballot will be sufficient secure recognition.
If that feels like a lot of complex change and business risk, you are right!
There’s a lot to do to get ready for these changes:
✅ Update and communicate your policies
✅ Update contracts of employment where necessary
✅ Train your first line managers
If you need a partner in managing through these changes, helping you understand the implications for your business with practical advice on actions to take, talk to us at Resourceful People Group Ltd
