Don't let April employment law changes fool you - what employers need to know

April 2026 sees a raft of employment law changes coming into force, including some of the key changes under the Employment Rights Act.   Any employers which haven't done so already will need to ensure that their policies, contracts and payroll arrangements have been updated to reflect these changes. 

Statutory payments and limits

National Minimum Wage rates, statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, sick pay, shared parental leave pay and adoption pay will all increase - full details are available here.  Similarly, the maximum award for unfair dismissal, Vento bands for injury to feelings awards in discrimination claims and the cap on a week's pay for statutory redundancy pay will all increase.  

Collective redundancy protective award

The maximum award for failure to consult collectively will be increased from 90 days' pay per affected employee to 180 days, considerably increasing the cost of non-compliance. 

Statutory sick pay

From 6 April, the 3 day waiting period will no longer apply, so that SSP will be payable from the first day of absence, and the lower earnings limit is being removed.   There are somewhat complex transitional provisions for periods of sickness absence that start on 4 or 5 April, but for simplicity employers may wish to pay SSP from the first day of absence for any periods of absence starting from 1 April. 

Parental leave and paternity leave

Eligible employees will now enjoy these rights from the outset of employment rather than them being subject to a qualifying period of service. 

Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave will enable bereaved fathers and partners to take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of the child’s life. 

Annual leave records and the Fair Work Agency

Employers will from 6 April be legally obliged to keep adequate records to demonstrate that they have complied with their obligations in relation to annual leave under the Working Time Regulations, including giving workers the correct amount of leave and paying holiday pay correctly during employment and on termination. Failure to do so will be a criminal offence.  This will ultimately be enforced by the Fair Work Agency (which will take over some HMRC employment law enforcement functions from 7 April), but the enforcement powers in relation to holiday pay will not come into force immediately. The FWA's immediate focus is likely to be on minimum wage enforcement, gangmasters and modern slavery and domestic agencies supplying migrant labour.

Trade unions

From 6 April, trade unions applying to the Central Arbitration Committee for formal recognition will have lower thresholds to satisfy - only 10% of workers in the proposed bargaining unit will need to be members and the union will only need a majority of those voting in the recognition ballot to vote in favour, rather than requiring 40% of the workforce to vote in favour. 

Whistleblowing  

Disclosures related to sexual harassment will now explicitly be treated as protected disclosures under whistleblowing law provided the other requirements are met.  While such disclosures were highly likely to be protected in any event, this clarification is helpful. 

Employers with 250 or more employees will be encouraged to publish equality action plans explaining how they will address their gender pay gaps and support staff experiencing menopause.  Initially this will be on a voluntary basis, but the Government intends to make this a mandatory requirement by 2027, with the first mandatory reports to be published in 2028.

Employers should ensure that their core employment documents, such as handbooks and contracts, reflect these changes and that they are prepared for the more significant changes coming into force over the next 12 months.