Section A: Employment Rights Act 2025 – April 2026 employer update
The Government’s phased implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025 enters a major operational phase in April 2026. While some headline reforms, including changes to unfair dismissal qualifying service, have been deferred until 2027, the April 2026 changes will materially affect sickness absence management, enforcement exposure, collective consultation risk, family leave entitlement and trade union processes.
These reforms are not technical or marginal. They alter cost assumptions, shift enforcement dynamics and increase financial exposure where employers fall short. Planning and policy updates are therefore needed well in advance of April 2026.
Section B: Statutory Sick Pay reforms from April 2026
From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay will apply far more widely than under the current framework. The lower earnings limit and the three waiting days will both be removed. All workers will become eligible for SSP from the first day of sickness absence, regardless of earnings.
Payment will be set at the lower of 80% of the worker’s usual earnings or the statutory SSP flat rate. For the 2026–27 tax year, the statutory rate is expected to be £123.25 per week, while the lower earnings limit is expected to be £129 per week.
One consequence of the new structure is that some lower-paid workers will receive less SSP than they do under the current rules. Workers earning between £129 and £154.05 per week, based on current projected thresholds, would fall into this category.
1. Transitional protection and eligibility changes
Department for Work and Pensions guidance confirms that workers serving waiting days on 6 April 2026 will become eligible for SSP immediately, regardless of how many waiting days have already been served. Workers already on sick leave but previously earning below the lower earnings limit will also become eligible from that date.
Where a worker is already receiving SSP and would otherwise see a reduction due to the new 80% calculation, transitional protection applies. Those individuals will continue to receive the flat statutory rate until they return to work, exhaust their 28-week entitlement or their employment ends.
2. Earnings calculations and linked absences
The 80% calculation will be based on average weekly earnings over an eight-week reference period. Any resulting payment will be rounded up to the nearest penny. Where there are linked periods of sickness absence, the original reference earnings figure will continue to apply.
From an employer perspective, the removal of waiting days and earnings thresholds increases day-one cost exposure and heightens the importance of effective absence management, return-to-work processes and oversight of short-term sickness patterns.
Section C: Fair Work Agency and enforcement risk
A new Fair Work Agency will be established from April 2026, consolidating enforcement functions currently spread across bodies such as HMRC and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.
The agency will have powers to recover underpayments of statutory entitlements within its enforcement remit directly from employers, without relying on individuals to pursue tribunal claims themselves. It will also be able to bring Employment Tribunal claims on behalf of workers and provide legal assistance or representation where claims have already been issued.
1. Cost recovery and claims support
Where enforcement action is successful, the Fair Work Agency will be able to recover its costs from the employer. The practical effect is that enforcement risk will no longer depend on whether an individual worker has the appetite or resources to litigate. Low-value claims, which have historically gone unenforced, are more likely to be pursued.
Section D: Collective consultation – increased protective awards
In collective redundancy situations involving 20 or more proposed dismissals, including dismissals connected to contractual changes, the maximum protective award will double from 90 days’ pay to 180 days’ pay.
The legal thresholds for collective consultation are unchanged, but the financial exposure where consultation is mishandled will be significantly higher. Employers planning restructures, site closures or contractual changes affecting larger groups will need to be more disciplined around timing, information provision and representative engagement.
Section E: Paternity and parental leave as day-one rights
The qualifying service requirements for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will be removed from April 2026. Both forms of leave will become day-one entitlements, aligning them with maternity leave.
Notice requirements are not changing. Employees will still be required to give the statutory notice to take paternity or parental leave.
For employers, the operational impact lies in workforce planning rather than volume. These entitlements will apply immediately to new starters, including those recruited into operationally sensitive roles.
Section F: Sexual harassment disclosures and whistleblowing protection
Disclosures relating to sexual harassment will be added to the list of qualifying disclosures under whistleblowing law. Reports that harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur can qualify, provided the individual reasonably believes the disclosure is true and made in the public interest.
The disclosure does not need to be substantiated at the point it is made. Any dismissal connected to such a disclosure will be automatically unfair, regardless of length of service, provided the statutory whistleblowing tests are met.
This change increases the overlap between grievance handling, whistleblowing procedures and harassment investigations, with greater risk where concerns are poorly categorised or handled informally.
Section G: Trade union recognition and balloting reforms
From April 2026, once the relevant provisions are commenced, employers will be restricted from engaging in unfair practices as soon as the Central Arbitration Committee accepts an application for trade union recognition.
Once an application is accepted, the proposed bargaining unit cannot be expanded to include newly recruited staff, even where recruitment continues during the process.
Balloting procedures will also be modernised, with the introduction of electronic balloting and email becoming the preferred method for communicating ballot outcomes.
Section H: DMS Perspective: What this means for HR teams
For HR teams, the April 2026 reforms shift the focus from policy compliance on paper to operational control in practice. Several of the changes increase exposure at the point where HR hands off responsibility to line managers, particularly around sickness absence, whistleblowing and consultation processes.
Statutory Sick Pay reform will require HR to work closely with payroll and managers to ensure absence is recorded accurately from day one and that short-term sickness patterns are identified early. The removal of waiting days removes a natural filter, so inconsistent application of return-to-work processes will quickly translate into higher cost and employee relations risk.
The creation of the Fair Work Agency raises the stakes for technical errors. HR teams will no longer be able to assume that low-value underpayments or process failures will go unchallenged. Record keeping, audit trails and timely correction of errors will matter more, as enforcement can now be driven externally rather than by individual complaints.
Collective consultation changes mean HR will need to be involved earlier in workforce change planning. The increased protective award makes procedural shortcuts far harder to defend, particularly where consultation timetables are driven by commercial pressure rather than legal readiness.
Day-one paternity and parental leave entitlement requires HR to revisit onboarding processes, manager guidance and resourcing assumptions. Leave planning will need to account for immediate eligibility, not just established staff.
Finally, extending whistleblowing protection to sexual harassment disclosures increases the risk where concerns are handled informally or mislabelled. HR teams should expect greater scrutiny of how issues are categorised at intake stage and how retaliation risks are controlled throughout investigations.
Overall, April 2026 places HR teams firmly on the front line of employment risk management. Preparation is less about drafting new policies and more about tightening processes, training managers and stress-testing how decisions are made in real situations.
Section I: Need assistance?
The April 2026 reforms are close enough to require active preparation rather than high-level monitoring. Employers should be reviewing sickness absence policies and payroll systems, whistleblowing and harassment procedures, collective consultation frameworks, family leave policies and industrial relations strategy.
Manager training will also be particularly important. Several of the changes increase exposure not because of the law itself, but because of inconsistent or poorly documented decision-making at line manager level.
Further phases of the Employment Rights Act reforms will follow into 2027, but April 2026 marks the point at which the Act begins to reshape day-to-day employment risk for most UK employers.
For guidance on how prepare your organisation for the upcoming changes, contact us to arrange a fixed-fee telephone consultation with one of our experts.
