The first major implementation milestone for Employment Rights Act 2025 is coming on 6th April 2025. For those of you who don’t have time to read the 289 pages, here’s our summary for employers of what needs to be actioned now:
- Paternity leave will be a Day One right
However, the eligibility rules for statutory paternity pay remain the same (i.e. it will only be payable if the employee has 26 weeks’ service at the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC) or matching week for adoption, and has earnings above the lower earnings threshold in the 8-week period prior to 15th week before EWC.
ACTION – Update your policies to remove any reference to there being a 26-week qualifying period before employees can take paternity leave.
- Paternity leave can be taken after Shared Parental Leave
If an employee chooses to take a period of Shared Parental Leave first, before taking any paternity leave, they can still take paternity leave following their return (provided it’s taken within 52 weeks of birth/adoption).
ACTION – Remove any reference to this being precluded in your Paternity Policy and/or Shared Parental Leave Policy.
- Parental Leave becomes a day one right
ACTION – Update your policies to remove the (current) requirement of one year’s service.
- Statutory sick pay paid from the first day of illness
Statutory sick pay (SSP) will be paid from the first day of sickness, instead of the fourth day. The lower earnings limit will also be removed.
The amount of SSP payable will be the lower of the statutory rate of SSP (currently £118.75 per week but due to rise in April, reportedly to £123.25 per week) and 80% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings.
ACTION – Payroll systems will need to be updated for the change, as will any sick pay policies. It is also worth checking contracts of employment as they may include reference to waiting days. If they do, consider issuing a variation letter to current employees explaining the changes being made from April 2026. Update any template terms and conditions to be issued to new staff going forward to reflect the change.
- Reporting sexual harassment will become a ‘qualifying disclosure’ under whistleblowing law
ACTION – Update your Whistleblowing Policy to reflect this as a separate and specific potentially protected disclosure. We’d also recommend taking the time to update training materials for managers to make it clear that reprisals against those who make sexual harassment allegations are simply NOT acceptable.
There are other ERA 2025 changes coming into force in April 2026 but, for the most part, they do not require any immediate action on the part of HR teams. For example:
- The maximum protective award in a collective redundancy situation will increase from 90 days to 180 days per employee but the legal requirements for collective consultation remain the same, at least for now.
- There will be changes to the way in which trade unions go about gaining recognition. However, they will not require any proactive changes by the employer – they just change the framework within which the recognition process operates.
Further reading
- Employment Rights Act 2025: Imminent employment law changes – Hunter Law
- ‘Day one’ unfair dismissal dropped and compensation cap removed – Hunter Law
- Revised rollout of the Employment Rights Bill – Hunter Law
- Read the implementation document in full.
- Employment Rights Bill – Top 8 significant changes – Hunter Law
- Employment Rights Bill: factsheets – GOV.UK
- Post General Election update – How will a Labour Government impact your workplace? – Hunter Law
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The team at Hunter Law is here for you. We can handle your HR issues, finesse your policies, and keep you up-to-date on evolving legislation. Please get in touch with our legal team, we’d love to help.
