April 2026 employment law changes

If a tribunal finds that an employer has failed to comply with its collective redundancy consultation obligations, it can make a protective award of up to a maximum of 90 days' gross pay (including employer pension contributions) per employee in respect of whom a claim has been raised. This will increase to a maximum of 180 days' pay per affected employee in respect of dismissals on or after 6 April 2026.

In respect of children born or placed for adoption from 6 April 2026 onwards:

• employees will not need any minimum service to qualify for statutory paternity leave (but will still need 26 weeks’ service at a certain date for statutory paternity pay)
• employees can take statutory shared parental leave and statutory paternity leave in any order.

Transitional provisions mean the changes apply to some children born before 6 April 2026, and that amended notice provisions apply in some cases.

The one-year qualifying period for parental leave - which allows employees up to 18 weeks' unpaid leave to care for a child up to the child's 18th birthday - is being removed for leave which starts on or after 6 April 2026.

The following changes are coming into force from 6 April 2026:

• the current three-day waiting period will be removed and statutory sick pay (SSP) will become payable from day one of sickness absence
• employees earning below the lower earnings limit will be eligible for SSP
• SSP will be payable at either the statutory flat rate or 80% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

For more information see Employment Rights Act 2025: changes to statutory sick pay from April 2026.

Sexual harassment complaints can already be protected whistleblowing disclosures where they are found to be e.g. a breach of a legal obligation (and meet the other qualifying criteria). From 6 April 2026 disclosing sexual harassment will be added to the list of specified types of malpractice or failure that can amount to a protected disclosure. Workers will still need to demonstrate that they reasonably believe the disclosure to be in the public interest (and meet the other qualifying criteria).

Explicitly making sexual harassment a qualifying whistleblowing disclosure avoids any ambiguity. It will raise awareness and may lead to a change in approach e.g. increase in external disclosures, possibility of interim relief applications. 

Amended rules on statutory trade union recognition are being introduced including:

• giving the government power to vary the 10% threshold for the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to accept a trade union application (and at other stages of the recognition scheme) with a minimum percentage of between 2% and 10%
• removing the requirement to demonstrate that there is likely to be majority support for trade union recognition
• replacing the current 40% support threshold for a successful recognition ballot with a simple majority of voters.

Employers with 250 or more employees will have the option of publishing a voluntary equality action plan alongside their gender pay gap data for the 2026 to 2027 reporting year. This can be uploaded at any time during the reporting year from April 2026.

Gender equality action plans are expected to become mandatory from spring 2027 for the 2027 to 2028 reporting year. Large employers will need to commit to at least one action to narrow any gender pay gap and at least one that supports employees experiencing menopause.

The UK government has published guidance on producing action plans and a list of actions for employers. Additional guidance is due to be published in April 2026.

The Fair Work Agency (FWA) will be established on 7 April 2026, although it is unclear when its enforcement powers will come into force. Its remit will extend to claims in relation to national minimum wage, statutory sick pay, statutory holidays, employment agencies and employment businesses, non-payment of tribunal awards or COT3 settlement sums, modern slavery, gangmasters licencing, and pay for social care workers.

The FWA will have powers including to:

• compel individuals to attend meetings, answer questions and provide information or documents
• enter premises to inspect documents or access computers where necessary for enforcement purposes or to determine non-compliance
• bring tribunal claims on behalf of workers
• issue notices of underpayment to employers going back up to six years
• request a labour market enforcement undertaking.

Bereaved partner’s paternity leave

From 6 April 2026, fathers / partners will have a new day one right to time off to care for a child in the 52 weeks after birth or adoption if the primary carer dies. It is in addition to any right the employee has to statutory paternity leave and pay.

Employees can choose the length of leave as long as it starts after the bereavement and ends within the 52-week period starting with the day after the child’s birth or placement. There is no statutory right to pay during bereaved partner's paternity leave (BPPL). If BPPL was 6 weeks or longer, priority for vacancies in a redundancy situation applies from the end of BPPL until 18 months after the child was born / placed for adoption.

Workbox by Brodies users can access our new page: Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave.

From 1 April 2026 lifetime PVG scheme membership will end, and memberships will expire after 5 years. More information is available on the Disclosure Scotland website.

The national minimum wage rates will increase from 1 April 2026 as follows:

• national living wage (workers aged 21 and over) will increase from £12.21 to £12.71
• development rate (workers aged 18-20) will increase from £10.00 to £10.85
• young workers rate (workers aged 16 and 17 who are not apprentices) will increase from £7.55 to £8.00
• apprentice rate (apprentices under 19 or aged 19 or over and in the first year of apprenticeship) will increase from £7.55 to £8.00
• accommodation offset limit: maximum daily deduction from NMW will increase from £10.66 to £11.10.

From 6 April 2026:

• statutory sick pay will increase from £118.75 to £123.25 per week
• statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental bereavement and neonatal care pay will increase from £187.18 to £194.32 per week
• the weekly lower earnings limit will increase from £125 to £129.
  

• maximum unfair dismissal compensatory award will increase from £118,223 to £123,543, or 52 weeks' gross pay if lower.
• limit on a week’s pay for calculating statutory redundancy pay and unfair dismissal basic award will increase from £719 to £751.