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06 Aug 2025
Everything you need to know about the updates on the Employment Bills Act - without the jargon
What will be coming in April 2026:
- Doubling of the protective award for collective redundancies (good news: This only applies if you're making 20 or more redundancies)
- ‘Day one' paternity leave and unpaid parental leave (removing the current qualifying period)
- Enhanced Whistleblowing protections
- A Fair Work Agency will be established (Intended to support ACAS and an already overloaded tribunal system — especially once ‘day one' rights come into force!)
- Statutory sick pay from day one of sickness
These changes will then be followed, in October 2026, by:
- The end of fire and rehire practices
- A tightening of the tipping laws that are already in place
- A requirement for employers to take ‘all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment of their employees (Yes — that beautifully vague language and at this stage we don't know what ‘reasonable steps' will involve!)
From 2027 major changes will include:
- Gender pay gap and menopause action plans will become mandatory for businesses of 250+ employees (but this will be good practice for smaller businesses)
- Enhanced protections for pregnant women and new mothers
- Introduction of Bereavement leave to extend the current parental bereavement leave framework
- Stronger protections against zero‑hour contract abuse
- Improved access to flexible working.
And the Godzilla of the changes…….
- Day-one protection from unfair dismissal
What should you do now?
Don't panic! Despite the media headlines, there's no need to worry — there is plenty of time to get things in order and understand what the changes will mean to your business.
Got a specific concern or question, or just want to talk through the changes in more detail? Come and visit us on stand B951.