In April the government will serve up the next round of updates from the Employment Right Act 2025, alongside the usual inflation-based increases to minimum wage and other statutory payments.
Here is what you need to know as we head into the new tax year.
Paternity Leave
(Eligible employees are entitled to one or two weeks of paternity leave. If they choose to take two weeks, this can be in a two-week block or as two separate weeks.)
- Statutory paternity leave will be a Day One right for eligible employees. The 26-week continuous employment qualifying period has been scrapped (although it still applies when determining eligibility for statutory paternity pay).
- Eligible employees will be able to use their paternity leave before or after any period of shared parental leave. Previously, employees had to use their paternity leave first or lose it.
- A new right to Bereaved Parent Paternity Leave will also be introduced, allowing a bereaved parent to take up 52 weeks’ unpaid paternity leave where the mother or primary adopter dies during the first 52 weeks after birth / placement. This addresses the gap for employees not eligible for shared parental leave and pay.
Parental leave
(Eligible employees are entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave per child, to be used up to the child’s 18th birthday.)
- Parental leave will be a Day One right for eligible employees. Currently, this right is only available to eligible employees with at least one year of continuous service.
Sick pay
(Eligible workers are entitled to up to 28 weeks of statutory sick pay.)
- The 3-day ‘waiting period’ for statutory sick pay will be removed. Currently, statutory sick pay is only payable from day four of sickness absence. From 6 April, eligible workers will be entitled to receive sick pay from their first day of sickness absence.
- The lower earnings limit will be also removed, meaning workers will not need to earn a minimum amount to be eligible for statutory sick pay.
Whistleblower protection
(Employees who report certain types of wrongdoing at work are protected against detrimental treatment and dismissal.)
- The categories of wrongdoing will be extended to expressly include reports by a worker that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur. This type of wrongdoing was probably caught by the existing categories, which include breach of a legal obligation, but this change puts the matter beyond doubt.
Collective redundancy protective award
(Employers who propose to dismiss 20 or more employees at one establishment within a 90-day period are required to collectively consult with employee representatives.)
- Where an employer fails to comply with their duty to collectively consult, employees may claim compensation in the form of a protective award. The protective award will double from 90 days’ pay per affected employee, to 180 days’ pay per affected employee.
- We await further details of a new, additional, threshold which will aggregate dismissals across all of an employer’s establishments alongside the existing one-establishment threshold.
Annual rates increase
Lastly, it wouldn’t be April without the usual refresh to the minimum wage and other statutory pay rates. The new figures from 1 April 2026 are as follows.
National Minimum Wage
- 21 and over – £12.71
- 18 to 20 – £10.85
- Under 18 – £8.00
- Apprentice – £8.00
Accommodation offset – £11.10 per day
Flat rate for statutory sick pay – £123.25 per week
Flat rate for paid family-related leave – £194.32 per week
(This includes statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay, shared parental pay, parental bereavement pay and neonatal care pay.)
A week’s pay – TBC
Unfair dismissal compensation – TBC (cap to be removed from 1 Jan 2027)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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