Key Changes Coming into Force April 2026
Below is a summary of the key confirmed changes and some practical action your organisation can start taking now.
Family-Friendly Rights
Changes:
-Paternity leave becomes a day‑one right and unpaid parental leave becomes a day‑one right.
-Bereaved partners will gain the right to take up to 52 weeks of unpaid paternity leave if a mother/adopter dies within the child’s first year.
Action:
-Amend paternity, parental leave, bereavement and other relevant family-friendly policies to reflect day‑one eligibility.
-Ensure that managers and those dealing family leave requests are aware of these changes.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
Changes:
-SSP will be payable from day one, not just from the 4th day of absence.
-The lower earnings limit will abolished which means that all employees will be eligible to receive SSP no matter what they earn.
-SSP will payable at 80% of average weekly earnings or the statutory rate (£123.25pw).
Action:
-Review and update employment contracts and sickness absence policies to reflect day‑one entitlement and eligibility change.
-Ensure that payroll, managers and those dealing with sick leave are aware of the changes.
Collective Redundancy Consultation – Increased Penalties
Change:
-Where an employer fails in its obligation to properly consult in a collective redundancy situation, the maximum protective award that a successful claimant can recover will double from 90 to 180 days’ pay.
Action:
-Brief senior managers and directors on the increased penalties and the legal obligations around collective consultation.
-Review any collective redundancy policies and processes and ensure you can identify when 20+ redundancies are proposed within a 90‑day period at one establishment - including restructures, role changes or contractual variations that amount to dismissals.
-Include potential protective award exposure in the cost modelling of proposed restructures.
Strengthened Whistleblowing Protections
Change:
Making a disclosure of sexual harassment will become protected as a whistleblowing disclosure, providing employees with protection from any dismissal and detriment which occurs in response to it.
Action:
-Review and update whistleblowing and sexual harassment policies and procedures.
-Consider strengthening / providing dedicated reporting channels for sexual harassment and encourage a 'speak up' culture.
Ensure that managers are trained on:
-how any decision after a protected disclosure (including performance management, shift changes, suspension) can later be alleged to be retaliatory;
-what constitutes sexual harassment (including “low‑level” behaviours often incorrectly dismissed as banter);
-handling disclosures without minimising or re‑characterising the allegation;
-the fact that a dismissal by reason of a sexual harassment disclosure will be automatically unfair irrespective of the complainant's length of service.
Other April Measures
Gender Reporting and Menopause Action Plan
Although the requirement to produce plans to address the gender pay gap and menopause support for employers with more than 250 staff will not be mandatory until 2027, these larger employers are being encouraged to publish their plans on a voluntary basis.
Fair Work Agency launches 7 April 2026
It will have remit around:
-Inspecting workplaces and requesting relevant documents to be produced;
-Monitoring and enforcing compliance with employment rights such as the payment of National Minimum Wage, holiday pay, SSP, and unlawful deductions of wages;
-Serving notices on employers for underpayments;
-Taking action on behalf of employees and workers by bringing certain cases in the employment tribunals.
How We Can Help
We are uniquely placed to collaborate with employers to help them anticipate risk, adjust policies, train management teams and embed compliance that meets these new legal thresholds. Please Contact Us if you would like to discuss any of the changes outlined above or any other Employment Law challanges you are facing.
