Labour’s plan to make “work pay” is to bring UK employment rights legislation into the 21st century and to extend employment protections already given by the best employers to millions more workers. This sets the scene as to the changes coming over the next 12 months.
The roadmap has been suggested to allow employers to have time to prepare and plan so the changes are being phased in across April 2026, October 2026 and January 2027 onwards.
In this article, Excello Law partner Sarah King focuses on the first changes on the roadmap. The first substantial changes come into effect on 6th April 2026.
Changes to pay
The Collective Redundancy Protective Award will increase. The award for failure to inform and consult is going to double from the current maximum 90 days’ pay will double to 180 days’ pay.
The biggest change for employers is the changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), particularly for small businesses. First of all, the key change is to remove the lower earnings limit and the waiting period. SSP will be payable from every day of sickness. Where there were previously waiting days which were unpaid before an employee then moved onto SSP, statutory pay is now payable from the first day of absence. This means effectively any day that an employee has time off, they are now going to be entitled to SSP.
The rate will also increase from 6th April 2026 in line with the usual annual increase from £118.75 to £123.25 per week. Some employers already offer contractual or discretionary pay for a period anyway, so the bigger impact is likely to be for smaller owner managed businesses.
Rights around leave
There are some changes to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave rights. Prior to the changes, paternity leave is only available for those with 26 weeks service, as is unpaid parental leave. When we say unpaid parental leave, this is the 18 weeks per child per year unpaid; shared parental leave is managed differently.
Service requirements for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are going to be effectively removed, and it will be a day one right. Any employee that starts will now be entitled to take paternity leave and also unpaid parental leave.
However, paternity pay entitlement has not changed, so this is now going to be out of sync. An employee will still need 26 weeks service to get paid for that paternity leave, but the right to take the paternity leave is a day one right.
There is currently a restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave, which will also be removed. Where previously you had to take your paternity leave first before you took any shared parental leave, that restriction is being removed.
In the last change for April on the family friendly rights, a new right is being introduced called the bereaved partners paternity leave. It allows bereaved fathers or partners (of course including in same sex couples) to take up to 52 weeks of unpaid paternity leave if the mother or the primary adopter dies within the first year of a child’s life or adoption placement. This is obviously welcome to give those grieving extra time, but comes without any financial support.
Additional changes
Other April changes include whistleblowing protections for workers who blow the whistle and sexual harassment. Sexual harassment will become a qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing. Anybody who makes a protected disclosure related to sexual harassment would then get protection from dismissal and also detriment which are day one rights including the ability to bring an automatic unfair dismissal claim. This will not be a massive change as workers could still bring a victimisation claim for being dismissed/terminated or subject to a detriment after doing a protected act in any event, so it is just a different vehicle to enable a claim.
Another change is introducing voluntary menopause action plans and guidance and gender equality plans. These are voluntary initially, but are going to be mandatory after 2027. Guidance has been issued in March 2026 and it is at this stage optional. The intention is that employers with over 250 employees will have to publish their equality action plans to deal with menopause and gender pay gaps within the workplace.
Finally, there are some changes to the trade union recognition process. Some of those have already taken effect in December 2025 and February 2026, around minimum service level rules and how much notice the union has to give for industrial action and the thresholds to hold ballots. Labour has repealed most of the changes that the Conservatives made in the trade union law to try to reduce strikes and the ability to strike.
Next steps
Employers need to consider what practical steps need to happen as a result of the changes. Employers with policies or a handbook that covers family friendly policies and sickness policies are going to need to be updated.
With the changes to sick pay, employers may see more odd day sickness and enhanced levels of sickness absence, particularly in the lower paid staff or sectors like hospitality and manufacturing. They may find that they have staff who will now not come to work when they may previously have done so, perhaps with colds, flu or other minor illnesses. Holding return to work meetings after any period of absence will take an increasingly important role.
More changes are on the horizon that will require more practical change and planning for employers so more updates will follow.
