The provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 continue to be implemented with a number of key employment law changes taking effect from April 2026.
Rebecca List, Employment Partner at Tollers Solicitors summarises the key changes below and in addition, provides commentary on what employers should be doing as a result of each change.
Increased National Minimum Wage
As of April 1, 2026, the National Minimum Wage increased from:
- £12.21 to £12.71 per hour, for those 21 and over;
- £10 to £10.85 per hour, for those aged 18 to 20;
- £7.55 to £8 per hour, for those under 18; and
- £7.55 to £8 per hour, for apprentices (those aged under 19 or over 19 but in the first year of their apprenticeship).
Employers must ensure that they are familiar with these new rates, and increase employees’ pay where applicable.
Increased statutory rates
As of April 5, 2026 there have been changes to the Statutory Rates of Pay including Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Shared Parental Pay, Maternity Allowance, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, which all increased to £194.32 per week.
In addition, the maximum weekly amount to calculate statutory redundancy pay and the basic award in a successful unfair dismissal claim rose from £719 to £751.
Employers should ensure that they are familiar with the new rates, and that they are applied in the above situations.
Changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) entitlements
As of 6 April 2026:
- The SSP rate rose to £123.35 per week;
- The waiting days have been removed, which means that SSP
becomes payable from day one of a period of sickness; - The lower earnings limit has been removed, which means that
everyone will be entitled to SSP; and - When determining what amount of SSP to pay someone employers are now required to pay the lower of either the SSP rate of £123.35 or 80% of the employee’s weekly earnings
Familiarise yourself with these changes and ensure that any employee who is off sick is paid in accordance with the above prin-ciples. In particular, you must ensure that employees are paid SSP from day one of absence.
Changes to Family Leave entitlement
Parental Leave and Paternity Leave are now a ‘day one right’. This means that employees are entitled to these types of leave as soon as they commence employment with you.
Plus, Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave now gives bereaved fathers and partners of a mother or primary adopter who dies within the first year of a child’s life, the right take up to 52 weeks of unpaid paternity leave.
Familiarise yourself with these changes and ensure that employees are aware that they can take these types of leave in accordance with the principles above.
Whistleblowing
Sexual harassment has been added to the list of things that an employee can ‘blow the whistle’ on.
As you may be aware, employers already have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Therefore, this change should not require any specific action, assuming that measures are already be in place to ensure that you are taking steps to prevent sexual harassment.
Increase to the protective award for failure to collectively consult
When an employer proposes to make 20 or more employees redundant within a 90-day period, it is required to engage in collective consultation.
If an employer fails to engage in collective consultation when required, or if the consultation is not meaningful, affected employees are entitled to compensation for the lack of meaningful consultation. This is known as a ‘protective award.’
The protective award has been doubled, to a maximum of 180 days gross pay.
If you find yourself in a situation where your business needs to make 20 or more employees redundant within a 90-day period, you must engage in meaningful collective consultation.
Easier trade union (TU) recognition
There is now a simpler process for a TU being recognised by an employer. Ensure that familiarity with the new process so that you are equipped to deal with your employees’ TU.
Establishment of the Fair Work Agency
A new body called the Fair Work Agency came into being on April 7. This agency has a remit to cover issues of non-compliance relating to:
- National Minimum Wage (NMW);
- SSP;
- Holiday Pay;
- Modern slavery and labour exploitation; and
- Employment Tribunal penalty scheme.
The Fair Work Agency has power to carry out investigations relating to any of these topics, as well as issuing underpayment notices and bringing claims in the Employment Tribunal on behalf of employees. The risks of claims in respect of these issues may therefore increase.
The key thing to ensure is that employees are receiving at least the NMW, the correct amount of SSP and holiday pay.
These changes are far reaching and it is important for all businesses to understand their impact. Tollers has an experienced team of specialist employment solicitors who are able to provide advice to employers to assist a business with the implementation and interpretation of these changes.
If you would like advice, email enquiries@tollers.co.uk, call 01604 258558 or visit the Tollers website.
