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When the Government published its roadmap of changes in July 2025, it highlighted the key amendments and when employers can expect each piece of new legislation to land.
This article focuses on the first phase of changes confirmed for April 2026. We explain the key changes to employment rights legislation and their implications for North West SMEs and HR teams. Under each theme you will find practical tips and actions you need to follow before the changes become law. People teams across Cheshire, Altrincham and Manchester take note!
Legislation changes due in April 2026 and covered in this article are:
Paternity and parental leave
Statutory sick pay (SSP)
Sexual harassment whistleblowing
Collective redundancy protective award.
What is the Employment Rights Bill?
The Employment Rights Bill sets out fundamental changes to employment rights for UK workers. It aims to give employees improved rights at work on emotive topics such as zero-hours contracts, fire and rehire, collective redundancy, and flexible working.
The Bill had its first reading in Parliament in October 2024. At the time of writing, it has been approved by Parliament and is progressing through the House of Lords. Take a look at its progress. As we write, the Bill has progressed through the House of Commons and the House of Lords and is now going through a final round of amendments before becoming UK law.
How did the Employment Rights Bill develop?
In October 2024 the 149-page Bill was first introduced to Parliament. It contained a series of significant changes the new Labour government had promised to enhance UK workers’ rights.
Between October 2024-March 2025 the Bill went through a formal consultation process, subject to amendments from the House of Commons and House of Lords.
In July 2025 the Government published its Employment Rights Bill roadmap setting out four key phases when measures will be introduced. Reforms to Statutory Sick Pay and day one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are confirmed to come into effect in April 2026.
In Autumn 2025 we expect the final Bill to be given Royal Assent to become the Employment Rights Act 2025. Immediate measures to repeal most of the Trade Union Act 2016 and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, and protections against dismissal for taking industrial action will take effect.
In early 2026 the Employment Rights Act 2025 will become UK law.
Employer responsibilities under the new Employment Rights Act
We’ve listed the changes in the order they are expected to be written into UK law and the actions you can take to prepare before the legislation comes into effect. This doesn’t mean you should not prepare now for changes two years down the line!
Ask us about the resources and support packages we have available to help small and medium-sized businesses navigate the Employment Rights Bill roadmap.
Paternity Leave and Parental Leave
Both paternity and parental leave will become day-one rights, moving away from the current qualifying period of service.
Take Action! Prepare updates to policy documents. Train managers about the changes and inform employees of their updated rights.
Statutory Sick Pay
The removal of three waiting days means that employees will qualify for SSP from their first day of illness. The lower earning threshold will also be removed, meaning all employees will be eligible to receive statutory sick pay.
Take Action! Review your absence policies and procedures and improve management of short-term absence. Use AI to track data and anlyse trends. Align with finance team on budgets for coming year.
Sexual harassment whistleblowing
There are three areas of change, the first of which is due to come into force in April 2026. Disclosing sexual harassment will become a ‘protected disclosure’ and covered by the whistleblowing regime.
We expect two further changes in October 2026. The current requirement of employers must take ‘just reasonable steps’ is proposed to change to ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment and third-party harassment in the workplace. In addition, employers will be liable for third-party harassment unless they took all reasonable steps to prevent it.
Take action!
Conduct workplace risk assessments.
Update sexual harassment policies and consider introducing anonymous reporting mechanisms.
Train employees to raise awareness and be sure to retain all training documents.
Follow policy and maintain a thorough and complete paper trail to demonstrate compliance.
Act on complaints immediately. Monitor and evaluate actions.
Engage your employees in the conversation. Ask for their suggestions.
Consider displaying relevant signage, if appropriate.
Review any third-party documentation relevant to your business.
Collective redundancy protective award
The Government has said it will look at new ways of strengthening redundancy regimes. We await further guidance on complying with collective consultation requirements.
A Protective Award will come into effect proposing to double the maximum protective award for failure to consult in collective redundancy from 90 to 180 days’ pay. This makes it imperative that employers follow correct process and procedure.
Take action!
Review and update your redundancy policies.
Train and brief managers on the changes and your employer responsibilities.
Gender pay gap and menopause action plans
The roadmap includes a requirement for large employers (i.e. those with 250+ employees) to create action plans around menopause and gender pay gaps. These will be voluntary measures from April 2026 and are not expected to become mandatory until the final phase of changes in 2027.
As a bare minimum you should review relevant HR policies and procedures to ensure compliance. If you require any support with this or any of the other recommended actions in this blog, get in touch today.
Employment legislation changes coming in October 2026
The Employment Rights Bill includes more legislation changes due in October 2026 and further measures landing in 2027. Areas of focus include the end of fire and rehire, additional requirements to prevent sexual harassment at work, employment tribunal time limits and further protections and rights for trade union members.
We are keeping up to date on developments and will share more details as soon as we have the full picture of what these mean for UK SMEs and your employees.
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