Employment Law Breakfast Seminar
A huge thank you to John Skelly for hosting our breakfast seminar on the up and coming changes on Employment Law, it was super insightful! Thanks to everyone who attended also.
The first act:
6 April 2026 - ‘day-one’ rights and enforcement.
April 2026 marks one of the most significant phases of implementation.
‘Day-one’ statutory rights
Paternity leave and ordinary parental leave will become ‘day-one’ rights, removing the current qualifying service requirements
Statutory Sick Pay (‘SSP’) will be payable from the first day of sickness, and the lower earnings limit will be abolished – making employers liable to pay SSP from day one and to a wider group of staff
The second act:
1 October 2026 - dismissals, harassment and time limits
A further set of high-impact changes will take effect in October 2026.
‘Fire and rehire’
The Grand Finale:
1 January 2027 – seismic changes to unfair dismissal
In a remarkable plot-twist late last year the government pivoted from its ‘day one’ right manifesto pledge. Instead, come 1 January 2027, we’ll get the following:
Six-month qualifying period
The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims will reduce from two years to six months.
Comment:
Whether or not the Employment Rights Act 2025 quite lives up to its billing as ‘the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation’, there can be no doubt it packs a punch.
Increased ‘day-one’ entitlements, wider access to SSP, strengthened trade union powers, tighter restrictions on dismissals, extended tribunal time limits, the extension of unfair dismissal rights, and removal of the compensation cap.
Yep, the curtain is up and there is no shortage of plot lines.
At the risk of stating the obvious, employers that take a proactive approach now – reviewing policies, contracts and management practices – will be far better placed to manage risk and avoid disruption as these changes take effect.
