Get your terms of employment right
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is changing and it’s important to understand the changes, how they affect you and your employees, and ensure you comply to avoid ending up in an expensive tribunal.
- Statutory Sick Pay – From 6th April 2026 the waiting period to be able to claim has been eliminated. That means that you must pay the employee from day one of sickness. Currently it is received from the 4th day of sickness, so this change must be advised to your HR and payroll teams.
- Paternity leave and ordinary parental leave (or unpaid parental leave) allowances are changing. From 6th April 2026, paternity leave will be available from day one of employment. Currently employees need to have worked for at least 26 weeks for the employer before being eligible.
Ordinary parental leave or unpaid parental leave will also become a day one right. Currently employees have to have been employed for one year. The actual entitlement of days and rates has not changed, just the eligibility.
- Unfair dismissal rights; from 1st January 2027 the qualifying period for an employee to be able to claim this reduces from 2 years of employment to 6 months.
- Amendments to zero hours contracts. Although no date given as yet, it’s expected to come into force in 2027. The Act will give rights to individuals to have guaranteed hours and reasonable notice to shift changes. There will also be compensation for cancellation of shifts.
While this gives employees more stability, it may challenge smaller companies, particularly those who run a business that has seasonal highs and lows. It may mean that a different approach to staffing needs to be considered, such as using contractors or temporary workers.
- From 2027, also with no actual date given as yet, there is an amendment to flexible working. This will require employers to provide a genuine business reason for refusing flexible working. This will cover working from home options, condensed hours, etc.
All these changes may impact the overall profitability of your business, so it’s important to be aware of them and consider how you will accommodate that as they come into effect. If you have any questions on the terms of your employment right, then feel free to get in touch with the Cook & Partners team and we’ll be more happy to assist!
