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A summary of changes effective from April 2026
The rollout of the Employment Rights Act 2025 marks a major reset in UK employment law. Rather than arriving all at once, the Act is being implemented through a phased roadmap, set out by the government in July 2025. Changes from April 2026 introduce immediate, worker-focused protections, while further changes coming into effect from October will shift toward deeper structural and cultural change in the workplace.
A new Fair Work Agency is also established to bring together different government enforcement bodies. The new agency will have powers to enforce the payment of statutory payments to employees and will be able to bring tribunal claims on behalf of individuals who are unwilling or unable to do so themselves. Where an individual has started tribunal proceedings, the agency will be able to provide legal support, assistance or representation.
Below is a summary of some of the key changes being phased in.
April 2026: Strengthening day-one rights
The changes in this phase focus on making core protections available immediately and expanding access to basic entitlements, including:
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – payable from day one of absence and the lower earnings limit removed, widening eligibility
- Day-one family leave rights – paternity leave and unpaid parental leave available from the start of employment with removal of minimum service requirements
- Bereaved partner’s paternity leave – new entitlement to extended leave in cases of parental death
- Expanded whistleblowing protections – reporting and disclosures made around sexual harassment, that are in the public interest, including that it has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur, will qualify as a ‘protected disclosure’.
October 2026: Driving workplace accountability and culture
The second phase introduces broader reforms aimed at enforcement, fairness and collective rights:
- Fire and re-hire – restriction of employers’ ability to use fire and re-hire by treating dismissals for failing to agree to ‘restricted variations’ to a contract of employment as automatically unfair unless the employer can meet strict criteria
- Enhanced duty to prevent sexual harassment – employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment
- Third-party harassment – make employers liable for third-party harassment (eg customers, clients)
- Trade union reforms – greater trade union access in workplaces – employers must inform employees of their right to join a union
- Fairer tipping practices – new measures to ensure tips are distributed fairly to workers
- Extended employment tribunal time limits – more time for workers to bring legal claims, extended from three to six months.
Further changes coming into effect in 2027 will include:
- gender pay gap and menopause action plans (introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026)
- rights for pregnant workers
- introducing a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as ‘reasonable’, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
- stronger protection against blacklisting
- industrial relations framework
- regulation of umbrella companies
- flexible working
- bereavement leave
- day-one right to protection from unfair dismissal.
The government roadmap to implementation provides further details of each of these measures.
ACCA provides a free suite of factsheets for members to use for their employment contracts and includes guidance on the various aspects of employment law. These are regularly updated and members should bookmark the page for future reference.
Further resources