April’s employment law shake-up: What HR needs to do right now
Summary
April 2026 begins the first major wave of the Employment Rights Act reforms — described by government as the most significant overhaul of workplace rights in a generation. From 6 April employers must implement immediate changes covering Statutory Sick Pay, family leave eligibility, collective redundancy penalties, tribunal time limits, protections for sexual harassment reporters, duties around third-party harassment, and the launch of the new Fair Work Agency. Several other reforms (unfair dismissal qualifying periods, zero-hours protections, trade union rights) are due later in 2026–27.
Key Points
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is payable from day one of sickness; the three-day waiting period is abolished and the Lower Earnings Limit is removed.
- Paternity and ordinary parental leave become day-one employment rights — no more 26-week or one-year qualifying periods.
- Failure to comply with collective consultation obligations now carries a maximum protective award of 180 days’ pay (up from 90 days).
- The tribunal claim window for employees doubles from three months to six months, extending employer exposure to legacy claims.
- Employees who report sexual harassment gain formal whistleblower-style protections; employers also have a duty to prevent harassment by third parties (clients, contractors, customers).
- The Fair Work Agency (FWA) starts operating as a single enforcement body with investigatory and penalty powers from 7 April.
- Gender pay gap reporting and menopause action plans remain voluntary for now but are expected to become mandatory for firms with 250+ employees in spring 2027.
- This is wave one — further changes on dismissal qualifying periods, zero-hours contracts and trade union rights are staged through 2026–27.
Context and relevance
These reforms shift risk and operational burden onto employers: payroll systems, absence policies, onboarding and manager training all need prompt review. The new enforcement landscape (FWA) means documentation, consistent processes and transparent decision-making will materially reduce legal and financial exposure. For HR teams this is not just compliance paperwork — it affects workforce planning, managers’ behaviour and the employee experience from day one.
Organisations that treat this as a chance to tidy managers, records and processes will fare better than those applying one-off fixes. The voluntary window for gender and menopause plans is a useful lead-in to avoid a rushed compliance exercise when mandatory rules land.
Why should I read this
Short version: you need to act — now. Update payroll logic, rewrite absence and family-leave wording, train managers and tighten consultation paperwork. If you don’t, you could face costly tribunal claims, bigger redundancy awards and scrutiny from a new enforcement agency. We’ve done the heavy lifting here so you can skip the deep dive and get straight to the to-do list.