Employment Rights Bill – Actions up to April 2026

Trade Union Restrictions to be Lifted – Expected February 2026

The UK Government has made it clear that it does not agree with the current restrictions placed on Trade Unions by the last Government.

They are therefore proposing to repeal many of these restrictions, which may mean that you have more union involvement in your business than you have seen before.

• If you already recognise Trade Unions, then we advise you to review the wide-ranging changes to the existing Trade Union laws. Labour is due to repeal these laws when the bill is ratified, possibly as soon as February 2026.

• If you don’t currently recognise a Union or have a unionised workforce, then look at all of your pay, benefits and worker support packages. Unions will gain greater access to workplaces to sign up new members, and this won’t necessarily mean only large corporations. It could also affect smaller entities.

• Consider forming a workforce group with representatives from different departments. This may help to ward off any Union membership activity if the workforce is already satisfied that the Company is listening to them.

• Review your processes around pay and benefits. Maybe think about having a Pay and Benefits Policy in place to give employees more certainty about how pay rises and benefits are awarded

Sickness Absence – April 2026

• The New Employment Rights Bill is changing the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rules to make SSP payable from the first day of the sickness absence period. The Bill currently stipulates that this will be the lower of the SSP weekly rate or 80% of the employee’s average weekly pay.

• Our advice is to review how this would have affected you had this been in place for the last 12 months. This calculation will show you what the additional cost of the new SSP rules will be for your organisation.

Collective Redundancies Penalty Increase  – April 2026

• When a Company makes a collective redundancy (more than 20 employees within a 90-day period), there is a statutory requirement for a consultation period before the redundancy is made. This is 90 days. If this consultation period is not adhered to and cut short, a penalty of 90 days’ salary is applied to each affected employee. This fine is proposed to be doubled to 180 days once the Bill has been brought into law. Make sure that if you are making more than 20 redundancies in one go, the statutory consultation period is adhered to.

Day One Rights For Paternity & Parental Leave – April 2026

• Currently, an employee must be employed for 26 weeks prior to the 15^th week before the baby’s due date to be eligible for Paternity Leave. Employees must have 1 year’s service to qualify for Parental Leave. The Bill brings both of these qualification periods forward to give rights from the first day of employment.

• Review your Family Friendly Policies, as these changes will need to be reflected once the Bill has been passed.

Protection For Sexual Harassment Whistleblowers – April 2026

• Any employee or worker who raises a Whistleblowing complaint regarding Sexual Harassment claims will be protected against termination of employment and detriment.

• Make sure that you have reviewed all of your Sexual Harassment and Whistleblowing-related policies and procedures by April 2026. You should train the workforce on these policies and procedures and record this on their employment records. You should ensure that you have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment from taking place in the work environment and completed a risk assessment.

Fair Work Agency Implementation – April 2026

The Fair Work Agency has been created to police various areas of employment law.

The Agency’s proposed powers are likely to be wide-ranging.

We advise all our clients to prioritise ensuring the following actions are taken as soon as possible.

1. Check that the Organisation’s employees are receiving at least the current National Minimum Wage rate. Don’t forget to include all hours worked when completing the calculation, including overtime, call-outs and out-of-hours work.

2. Check that you are calculating each employee’s holiday entitlement and pay correctly. This should be the equivalent of 5.6 weeks or 28 days holiday which can include bank and public holidays. Holiday pay should be equal to the average pay earned over a 52 week period including contractual commission, bonuses and overtime.

3. Check that you are applying the Statutory Sick Pay rules correctly as a minimum for staff sickness absence.

4. Check your Modern Slavery Policy and ensure that it is up to date and has been shared with all employees and contractors. Provide training on the policy and ensure this is recorded on the employment records.

Summary

Over the last 12 months, HR Smart has advised its clients to be aware of the above areas. We hope that you have this under control and have assessed the major areas of your business likely to be impacted by the Employment Rights Bill.

However, if it is still on your list of things to do, we urge you to take action now to avoid becoming non-compliant with the proposed new laws.

Please take a look at our Impact Assessment for details on how the changes may impact your organisation.

As always, should you need any help or advice, please email Jon at jon@hrsmartuk.com or call 01903 754107 if you need specialist advice on this subject.