Key changes from April 2026

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Unpaid parental leave becomes a day-one right

The minimum service requirements for Statutory Paternity Leave and unpaid Paternal Leave will be removed, meaning that employees will be entitled to this leave from the first day of employment. 

Extensions to statutory sick pay

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SSP will become payable from the first day of absence, removing the existing three-day waiting period. The lower earnings limit will also be removed, extending SSP to lower paid employees. 

Bereaved Partners' Paternity Leave

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Bereaved fathers and partners will be entitled to take up to 52 weeks of unpaid paternity leave if the child's mother or main adopter dies within the first year of the child's life.

Other changes that are due to take effect from April 2026 are:

• The Fair Work Agency will be established – this new body will take on responsibility for enforcing workers’ rights such as payment of the National Minimum Wage, protections for agency workers, gangmaster licencing and holiday pay. Whilst the agency does not create new obligations for employers, there may be changes to inspections and enforcement activity.
• Employers will be under a duty to keep records of annual leave and pay. Records should include details of the amount of leave taken, how much holiday pay was paid and how it was calculated, and any payments made in lieu of untaken holiday. Employers should keep these records for 6 years.
• The maximum period of the protective award for collective redundancies (the payment employers must make to redundant employees for failing to meet collective consultation requirements) involving 20 or more employees, will double from 90 to 180 days’ gross pay per affected employee.
• Employees who ‘blow the whistle’ on sexual harassment will receive protections from unfair dismissal and other detriments. Whistleblowers will no longer need to show that their disclosure falls into one of the existing categories for protected disclosures, such as a risk to health and safety.
• Employers with 250 or more employees will be encouraged to develop and publish action plans on steps they will take to reduce their gender pay gap and support employees through the menopause. Note that whilst voluntary at this stage, these will become mandatory in 2027.
• Trade union recognition arrangements will be simplified, although the detail supporting this in the form of an updated Code of Practice is not expected until October 2026.
• In August 2026 there will be changes to trade union ballot arrangements, allowing trade unions members to vote electronically for things like industrial action and union elections, if both the union and employer agree to this. The requirement for a 50% turnout for industrial action ballots will come into effect after the changes to balloting arrangements comes into effect. This was originally expected to take place in April but has been postponed.