The Employment Rights Act 2025 started to take effect through 2026. These are the changes that are already in force — what they are, and when each one landed.
If there is a single thread running through the 2026 changes, it is the removal of qualifying periods. Rights that once depended on length of service — sick pay from the fourth day, family leave after a period of employment — increasingly apply from the first day. For employers this shifts the emphasis onto onboarding and records: the point at which an obligation attaches is now the start of employment, so the information you capture on day one, and the way you record absence and leave from the outset, matters more than it used to. The sections below take each 2026 change in turn, with what it means in practice.
From 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay (SSP) is payable from the first day of sickness rather than the fourth, and the lower earnings limit was removed, so lower-paid employees who previously did not qualify now can. In practice this means sickness absence needs to be recorded accurately from day one, because pay may be due from day one.
In cash terms the SSP change has two parts. Removing the waiting days means pay can be due from the first qualifying day of absence, so short absences that previously attracted no SSP now can. Removing the lower earnings limit brings lower-paid employees into SSP who were previously excluded. Both make it essential to record sickness accurately and consistently from day one — the payroll consequence now starts immediately, and disputes about whether and when someone was off are answered by the record.
Also from 6 April 2026, paternity leave and parental leave became day-one rights, removing the previous qualifying service. Your policies and onboarding should reflect that these rights now apply from the start of employment.
Employers must now keep annual-leave (holiday) records for at least six years. This is a concrete record-keeping duty: it is not enough to run holiday informally, the records must exist and be retained. It sits alongside the other records employers must keep — see employment records employers must keep.
A new enforcement body, the Fair Work Agency, was established in April 2026, bringing together enforcement of a range of employment rights. It changes the enforcement backdrop: the practical response is making sure your records and evidence are in order. See the Fair Work Agency, for employers.
From 1 October 2026, the time limit for bringing most employment-tribunal claims extended from three to six months, and employer liability for third-party harassment was widened (with an “all reasonable steps” defence). Longer limits mean claims can arrive later, so keeping contemporaneous records for longer matters; wider harassment liability raises the value of clear policies and delivered training.
Where an employer fails to properly consult on collective redundancies, an employment tribunal can make a protective award. In 2026 the maximum protective award was doubled to 180 days’ pay per affected employee (from 90). For any business contemplating larger-scale redundancies, that materially raises the cost of getting consultation wrong — and makes documented, timely consultation more important than ever.
A disclosure that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring, or is likely to occur was added as a qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing protection. That means workers raising sexual-harassment concerns can attract whistleblower protection against detriment — another reason employers need clear reporting routes and a culture that responds to concerns rather than penalising them.
2026 also brought union-facing changes, including permission for electronic balloting for industrial action and the earlier removal of minimum service levels during strikes. These matter most to unionised workforces, but they are part of the same package and worth noting alongside the employment-rights measures.
Employers were enabled to publish voluntary gender-pay-gap and menopause action plans in 2026, ahead of these becoming mandatory for larger employers later in the reform. Treating 2026 as the year to build the habit — and the underlying data and records — makes the eventual mandatory version far less painful.
On top of the whistleblowing change, the wider legal expectation is that employers take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment — a proactive duty, not merely a duty to respond after the fact. Combined with the October 2026 extension of liability to third-party harassment, the practical bar is a live, trained anti-harassment policy, clear reporting routes, and a record that concerns are acted on. An employer relying on a dusty policy nobody has seen is exactly the position the “all reasonable steps” test is designed to expose.
Making paternity and parental leave day-one rights removes the previous qualifying service, so a new starter can be entitled from the outset. The practical change is in policy wording and manager expectations: policies that still refer to a qualifying period are now out of date, and managers need to know that a recently joined employee may already have these rights. It is a small legal change with a real onboarding and communications tail.
The common thread is evidence: accurate sickness records from day one; holiday records kept for six years; proof that anti-harassment policies were trained and that concerns were handled; consultation documentation for redundancies; and contemporaneous records kept for longer now claims can be brought within six months. None of the 2026 changes are satisfied by a policy alone — each is ultimately proven by a record.
2026 let employers publish voluntary action plans on the gender pay gap and on supporting employees through the menopause, ahead of these becoming mandatory for larger employers later in the reform. Even while voluntary, they are worth starting: building the data, the analysis and a credible plan is a multi-month exercise, and employers who begin in 2026 will not be scrambling when the duty becomes compulsory.
The Employment Rights Act’s day-one paternity and parental leave sit within a broader move towards family rights from the start of employment. Separately from the Act, neonatal care leave and pay became a day-one right in April 2025 and applies in 2026, giving eligible parents leave when a baby needs neonatal care. The practical effect for employers is the same: family-leave policies and manager guidance need to reflect that several of these rights no longer depend on length of service.
It is worth being clear about what 2026 did not do, to avoid over-reacting: the big unfair-dismissal change (two years to six months) is a 2027 change, not 2026, and the zero-hours guaranteed-hours rights are also still to come. Treating those as already in force is a common error — in 2026 they remain future changes to prepare for, covered on the 2027 guide.
Employment law is largely devolved to Northern Ireland, so this 2026 timetable is a Great Britain one and does not automatically apply in NI, which has its own rules and its own timing. If you employ people in Northern Ireland, check the NI position for each measure separately rather than assuming the GB changes carry across — the same caution applies to the 2027 changes.
Update policies and manager guidance to reflect the day-one rights and SSP change; make sure sickness and holiday records are captured properly; and keep the evidence that your anti-harassment policy is real and trained, not just written. These are records-and-process responses, which is where Complys helps: it holds the policies, training and records with reminders. It does not give legal advice. For what is coming next, see the 2027 changes and the Employment Rights Act guide.
1 Plain-English summary, not legal advice; confirm dates and detail against current guidance. Source: Acas — Employment Rights Act 2025. Reviewed 26 September 2026.
