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Written by Joanne Hughes, Policy & Compliance Specialist at Policy Pros
Last reviewed:
Employment Rights Act - 6 April 2026 Employer Checklist
Six provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 take effect on 6 April 2026. If you haven't already updated your employment contracts, handbooks, SSP policy, and redundancy procedures, you have a narrow window. This checklist covers what needs to change, who needs to change it, and what the consequences are if you don't.
The 6 April 2026 Checklist
1. Paternity leave - day-one right
- What's changing: the 26-week qualifying period for ordinary paternity leave is removed. Employees have the right from their first day of employment.
- What to update: employment contracts (remove qualifying period reference), employee handbook (paternity leave section), manager guidance
- Consequence of not updating: contracts and handbooks that reference the old qualifying period will be incorrect and potentially create disputes
Source: Pinsent Masons, ERA timeline guide
2. Unpaid parental leave - day-one right
- What's changing: the 12-month qualifying period for unpaid parental leave is removed
- What to update: employment contracts, employee handbook (parental leave section)
- Consequence: incorrect documentation and potential employee claims
3. SSP - no waiting period, no lower earnings limit
- What's changing: the three waiting days are abolished (SSP payable from day one of illness); the lower earnings limit is removed (all employees eligible regardless of earnings). Rate rises from £116.75 to £123.25/week.
- What to update: SSP policy, sickness absence policy, payroll system configuration, manager guidance on sickness reporting
- Consequence: failing to pay SSP correctly from day one exposes the employer to Employment Tribunal claims and HMRC enforcement
4. Collective redundancy protective award - doubled
- What's changing: the maximum protective award for failure to collectively consult rises from 90 days' pay to 180 days' pay per affected employee
- What to update: redundancy consultation procedure, HR manager guidance, any template letters or scripts used in collective redundancy processes
- Consequence: a collective redundancy of 30 people without proper consultation could now result in awards of up to 180 x 30 = 5,400 days' pay in aggregate
5. Statutory family pay rates
- What's changing: statutory maternity pay (SMP), statutory paternity pay (SPP), statutory adoption pay (SAP), and statutory shared parental pay (ShPP) all rise to £194.32/week
- What to update: payroll configuration, any enhanced pay calculations that reference the statutory rate, offer letters and contracts that quote statutory rates
- Consequence: underpaying statutory family pay results in HMRC penalties and potential employee claims
6. Annual leave and holiday pay records
- What's changing: employers must now maintain records of annual leave taken and holiday pay paid
- What to update: implement a record-keeping system if not already in place, review existing HR systems to confirm they capture required data, update the holiday/annual leave policy to reference the record-keeping obligation
- Consequence: failure to maintain adequate records leaves employers unable to defend holiday pay claims and may attract enforcement action
Quick-Reference Summary
| Change | Effective date | Document to update | Urgency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paternity leave - day-one right | 6 April 2026 | Contracts, handbook | Now |
| Unpaid parental leave - day-one right | 6 April 2026 | Contracts, handbook | Now |
| SSP - no waiting days, no LEL | 6 April 2026 | SSP policy, payroll | Now |
| Protective award - 180 days | 6 April 2026 | Redundancy procedure | Now |
| Statutory family pay - £194.32 | 6 April 2026 | Payroll, contracts | Now |
| Holiday pay record-keeping | 6 April 2026 | Holiday policy, HR systems | Now |
What's Coming in January 2027
Two further major changes take effect in January 2027: the unfair dismissal qualifying period reduces from two years to six months, and the fire-and-rehire ban takes effect. Employers who act on the April changes now will be well-placed to tackle the January 2027 changes in a planned way rather than reactively. For full details, see our updated ERA timeline.
How Policy Pros Can Help
Need help updating your contracts, handbooks, and HR policies before 6 April? Policy Pros offers urgent contract review packages and can turn around updated documentation quickly.
If your existing documentation needs a broader update, our policy review service can identify everything that needs changing and deliver updated documents on a fixed-price basis.
