Employment law changes in April 2026

April 2026 is set to be an incredibly busy month for employment and HR professionals, with significant changes taking effect.

Statutory rates

The increases to statutory payments taking effect this April are as follows:
 

National Minimum Wage

• National Living Wage increases from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour.
• 18 – 20 rate increases from £10 to £10.85 per hour.
• 16 – 17 rate increases from £7.55 to £8 per hour.
• Apprentice (aged under 19, or 19 or over but in the first year of their apprenticeship) rate increases from £7.55 to £8 per hour.
• Accommodation offset increases to £11.10 (from £10.66) per day.

Employment tribunal payments

• Limit on a week’s pay increases from £719 to £751.
• Minimum basic award for certain dismissals (e.g. health and safety) increases from £8,763 to £9,157.
• Maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal increases from £118,223 to £125,543.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

• The amount paid will be the lower of £123.25 (up from £118.75) or 80% of the employee’s weekly pay.

Family related pay

• The prescribed rate for statutory maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave increases from £187.18 to £194.32 per week

Employment Rights Act 2025

April 2026 is one of the key implementation dates for the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms. We have summarised the key reforms below:

• Changes to the collective redundancy protective award – the maximum period of the protective award will double from 90 days to 180 days’ pay – these awards are payable per effected employee,  where an employer fails to meet its collective redundancy consultation obligations. The Government fact sheet on the changes to collective redundancy can be found here.
• Day 1 paternity and parental leave - from 6 April 2026 paternity leave becomes a day one right, removing the previous requirement for 26 weeks continuous service. Employees that are newly eligible for day 1 rights have been able to give notice of intention to take leave since 18 February 2026. The 26-week qualifying period for statutory paternity pay remains unchanged.  Ordinary parental leave is also becoming a day one right. Please see Stone King’s FAQ page, and the Government fact sheet.
• Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave (N.B, this is not a ‘Make Work Pay’ measure) – from April 2026 bereaved fathers and partners will be able to take up to 52 weeks of paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the first year of the child’s life. There is no provision for statutory pay.
• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – SSP will be payable from the first day of illness (the waiting days will be removed) and there will be no minimum earnings threshold. The weekly rate of SSP will be the lower of the prescribed rate (£123.25) or 80% of the normal weekly earnings.  The Government fact sheet can be found here.
• Fair Work Agency (FWA) – FWA will be launched on 7 April 2026. It has wide ranging powers of enforcement. The timetable for when FWA will be fully operational is not yet published.  The Government fact sheet can be found here.
• Duty to keep records relating to annual leave – from April 2026 records relating to annual leave must be kept for 6 years. The information must include ordinary and additional annual leave, annual leave carried forward from previous years, details of holiday pay and any payments in lieu of annual leave. This measure was not included in the Government’s timeline for changes but appeared in the recently published commencement regulations.
• TU recognition rules – for a trade union’s application for recognition to be accepted by the Central Arbitration Committee (the CAC), the CAC must be satisfied that a certain percentage of workers in the bargaining unit are union members. Currently this is 10%. Regulations may amend this percentage so that it is not greater than 10% and not less than 2%. The requirement for a trade union to demonstrate that there is likely to be majority support for recognition at the stage of making an application to the CAC will be removed. In addition, where a ballot is held, the requirement for the union to have the support of at least 40% of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit, will also be removed.
• Sexual harassment disclosures – currently an employee may be protected as a whistleblower if they report sexual harassment but this is not definite. From April 2026 reports of sexual harassment will be added to the list of qualifying disclosures (subject to meeting the existing conditions needed for it to be a protected disclosure).
• Voluntary action plans on menopause and gender equality – from April 2026 employers with 250 employees or more can publish equality action plans on supporting women through menopause and gender pay gaps. These reports will be mandatory from April 2027. Government guidance was issued in March, along with a list of recommended evidence-informed activities, and can be found here.
• Umbrella companies – changes to the ultimate obligation to account for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Class 1 National Insurance Contributions, where an umbrella company is involved in engaging an individual.

To proactively prepare for these changes we recommend that employers review and update relevant polices where necessary, ensure that payroll and absence recording systems are ready and ensure that your line managers, payroll and HR are aware of the updates. For further information and insights please visit our Employment Rights Hub or contact our team of experts.