The UK’s Employment Rights Act Tracker

Key changes taking effect over the next 12 months include:

Collective redundancy consultation

From April 2026, employers who fail to collectively consult when proposing 20 or more redundancies at one establishment may face penalties of up to 180 days’ pay per affected employee, doubling the current maximum of 90 days’ pay and greatly increasing the financial consequences of non-compliance. 

Paternity and parental leave 

From April 2026, employees will qualify for both paternity and parental leave from the start of employment, removing the current continuous service requirements (26 weeks for paternity leave and one year for parental leave).

Sick pay

Workers on sick leave are not currently entitled to receive statutory sick pay (SSP) for the first three days of absence. SSP is only payable from “day 4”. From April 2026, workers will become entitled to SSP from the first day of sickness absence. The earnings threshold for SSP eligibility will also be removed. 

Sexual harassment 

From April 2026, sexual harassment will expressly be a type of wrongdoing disclosure classified as a “protected disclosure”, which qualifies for whistleblowing protection. For protection, workers will therefore no longer need to link their disclosure to another category of wrongdoing.

From October 2026, employers will be under a duty to take “all reasonable steps” (a higher standard than the current “reasonable steps”) to prevent sexual harassment of their staff at work, placing greater emphasis on employers taking proactive measures.

Third party harassment

Also from October 2026, employers will be under a duty to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent third party harassment of staff (such as by customers or suppliers). Employers have less control over those individuals, so this obligation is going to be particularly onerous. 

Employment tribunal time limits

The time limit for bringing most employment tribunal claims will increase from three months to six months no earlier than October 2026, resulting in a likely increase in claims and prolonging uncertainty for employers.

“Fire and rehire” practices

From January 2027, it will be automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a “restricted variation” to their employment contract (including changes to pay, hours, and time off), unless the employer can show “financial difficulties”, and that the changes could not reasonably be avoided. 

Unfair dismissal qualifying period and compensation cap

From 01 January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection will be reduced from two years to six months (short of the government’s original proposal for a day‑one right), and the existing cap on unfair dismissal compensation will be removed.

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Andy Norris is an experienced employment lawyer and advises both senior employees and partners and employer clients on the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment matters.