Six Employment Law Changes That Came Into Force This Week. Here’s What They Mean For You.

If you work in the UK, this week matters. The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent last December, and today marks the first significant wave of changes coming into force. These aren’t minor technical adjustments. Several of them affect the basic terms on which you go to work every day.

Here’s a plain-English breakdown of what has changed, why it matters, and what to do if you think your employer isn’t playing by the new rules.

The Pay Rises

The National Living Wage, which applies to workers aged 21 and over, rose from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour from 1 April 2026. That’s an increase of 50p per hour, or roughly £1,040 per year for someone working full-time.

Younger workers and apprentices also saw increases. The rate for 18 to 20 year olds jumped from £10.00 to £10.85, and the 16 to 17 rate (and apprentice rate) rose from £7.55 to £8.00 per hour.

If you’re not being paid at least the rate for your age group, your employer is breaking the law. That’s not a technicality; it’s a criminal offence. The new Fair Work Agency (more on that below) now has the power to pursue underpayments on your behalf.

Sick Pay Finally Becomes Fair

This is the change I’m most pleased to see. From today, Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is payable from the very first day of illness. Gone are the three unpaid “waiting days” that meant anyone who was sick for less than four days received nothing at all.

Just as important: the lower earnings limit has been scrapped. Previously, you had to earn at least a minimum weekly threshold to qualify for SSP at all. That threshold excluded huge numbers of low-paid and part-time workers, the very people who could least afford to lose income when sick. From today, all employees qualify regardless of what they earn.

The weekly rate is now £123.25, or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is the lower figure. Roughly 1.3 million additional workers are now eligible who weren’t before.

Day-One Rights for Paternity and Parental Leave

Two forms of family leave are now available from the first day of employment for eligible employees. Previously, paternity leave required 26 weeks of service and unpaid parental leave required a full year. Both qualifying periods have been removed under the Employment Rights Act 2025.

The paternity leave day-one right applies to babies born on or after 6 April 2026, or whose expected week of childbirth (EWC) is on or after that date but who arrive early. That second point matters: if your baby was born prematurely before 6 April but their due date fell on or after that date, you’re covered. The right also applies to adoptions where the placement begins on or after today. Statutory Paternity Pay still requires 26 weeks of service, so the financial support doesn’t yet match the leave entitlement, but the right to take the leave is there from day one.

A separate new right also takes effect today for bereaved partners. If a mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of a child’s life, their partner can now take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave. There’s no statutory pay attached, but the leave protection exists.

Statutory Family Pay Has Also Increased

It’s easy to miss this one, but it affects anyone currently on, or about to start, maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental or parental bereavement leave. The weekly rate for all of these payments rose from £187.18 to £194.32 from 6 April 2026.

You receive whichever is lower: the flat weekly rate or 90% of your average weekly earnings. If you’re currently mid-leave and haven’t seen your payments updated, check with your employer’s payroll team. The new rate should apply from the first pay period after 6 April.

Neonatal care leave pay has also increased to the same rate for eligible employees.

Redundancy Consultation Failures Now Cost Twice As Much

This one will matter to anyone whose employer is in financial difficulty or going through a restructure. Where 20 or more redundancies are proposed at a single establishment, employers are required by law to consult collectively with employee representatives. Failure to do so triggers a “protective award” payable to each affected employee.

From today, that maximum protective award doubles from 90 to 180 days’ pay per employee. That is a significant financial deterrent for employers who try to cut corners on consultation. In large-scale redundancy situations, the total liability could run into millions.

If you’re facing redundancy and your employer has not followed the proper consultation process, this change makes it well worth taking advice. The potential award is substantial.

The Fair Work Agency Is Now Open

On 7 April, the Government launched the Fair Work Agency, a new single enforcement body that brings together functions previously split across HMRC’s National Minimum Wage team, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.

Critically, it can investigate without a complaint from an individual worker. It has the power to inspect premises, demand records, issue civil penalties, and pursue tribunal claims on behalf of workers. It can also publicly name non-compliant employers and claw back up to six years of underpayments.

The agency’s immediate focus is minimum wage and holiday pay compliance. Its full enforcement strategy won’t be published until April 2027, and trade unions have raised concerns that it could prove toothless in practice. I think those concerns are worth taking seriously. An enforcement body is only as good as its willingness to use its powers. But even at this early stage, the direction of travel is clear: the state is no longer leaving workers to fight these battles entirely on their own.

Compensation Limits Have All Gone Up

For anyone bringing an employment tribunal claim, several key compensation figures have been updated from today.

In discrimination claims, the Vento bands (the ranges used to assess injury to feelings awards) have increased:

• Lower band (less serious cases): £1,300 to £12,600
• Middle band: £12,600 to £37,700
• Upper band (most serious cases): £37,700 to £62,900
• Exceptional cases: above £62,900

In unfair dismissal claims, the compensatory award cap has risen to £123,543. This is likely to be the last increase before the cap is abolished from January 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025, after which there will be no ceiling on compensation.

The weekly pay cap used to calculate the basic award for unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy pay has also increased, from £719 to £751. The minimum basic award for certain automatically unfair dismissals (including whistleblowing and trade union activity) rose to £9,157. If you’re working through potential compensation figures with an adviser, make sure these updated numbers are being used.

Whistleblowing Protection Expands to Cover Sexual Harassment

From today, reporting sexual harassment at work now explicitly qualifies as a protected disclosure under whistleblowing law. Previously, making this kind of report could fall within whistleblowing protections, but it wasn’t guaranteed. The change removes that uncertainty and means workers who report sexual harassment are now clearly protected from detriment and dismissal as a result.

Any dismissal connected to a sexual harassment disclosure is now automatically unfair. You don’t need to prove the harassment itself was upheld; the act of making the report in good faith is what the protection attaches to.

Employers Must Now Keep Holiday Records for Six Years

This one is less dramatic than the others but it matters for anyone who suspects they’ve been underpaid for annual leave. From 6 April 2026, employers are legally required to keep records of workers’ annual leave and holiday pay for six years. The records must cover ordinary and additional leave, any leave carried forward, holiday pay calculations, and any payments in lieu of untaken leave.

Why does this matter to you as an employee? Because it substantially strengthens your position if you want to bring a claim for underpaid holiday pay. Employers who fail to keep adequate records will struggle to defend themselves, and the Fair Work Agency will have enforcement powers over holiday pay compliance as its remit expands.

Trade Union Recognition Gets Simpler

Finally, a change that will primarily affect workers in non-unionised workplaces who want collective bargaining. The rules governing trade union recognition have been simplified under the Employment Rights Act 2025. The threshold of union membership required for the Central Arbitration Committee to accept a recognition application has been reduced, and the requirement to demonstrate likely majority support at the application stage has been removed.

In practice, this makes it easier for workers to organise and for unions to gain a foothold in workplaces that don’t currently have one. If you work in a sector where collective bargaining has felt out of reach, the landscape has shifted.