Key Legislative Updates
What is new?
Employment Rights Act
Effective from 6 April 2026
Changes to zero-hours contracts.
Simplification of Trade Union recognition procedures.
Day 1 entitlement to paternity leave & unpaid parental leave.
Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of sickness absence.
Inclusion of sexual harassment as a protected disclosure within whistleblowing legislation.
Introduction of voluntary gender equality and menopause action plans for employers with 250+ employees.
Introduction of Unpaid bereaved partner's parental leave, up to 52 weeks, from the day after the mother, main adopter or main intended parent (adoption/surrogacy arrangements) dies, to care for a child under one year old.
What is Coming Later in 2026?
1 October 2026
Using fire & rehire to change certain terms & conditions of employment will be automatically unfair.
Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment & prevent harassment of its employees by third parties.
Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment, including liability for third‑party harassment across all protected (All reasonable steps, i.e. documented risk assessments, training, and reporting systems.
What is Coming in 2027?
1 January 2027
The qualifying service to claim unfair dismissal reduces from 2 years to 6 months for new recruits.
Gender Pay Gap and Menopause Action Plan (250+ employees) mandatory publication by 30/03/27 Public Sector 04/04/27 Private Sector Practical Impact on Employers: Mandatory disclosure, cross-linking of the gender pay and menopause duties, data collection, policy integration, manager training, risk assessments, audit trails.