It forms part of the Government’s wider Plan to Make Work Pay agenda and is being implemented in phases, with a significant first wave having taken effect in April 2026.
In this blog, we highlight the main changes now in force and the practical steps you should consider taking in response.
If you are planning (or already running) a restructure involving collective consultation, the stakes are now higher. Since 6 April 2026, the maximum protective award for failing to comply with collective consultation requirements has increased from 90 days’ to 180 days’ pay per affected employee. In practice, this raises the potential cost of getting process wrong (or starting consultation too late), particularly in larger exercises.
Employers with 250+ employees already publish annual gender pay gap reports. The next step is more action focussed. The ERA 2025 will require employers with 250+ employees to publish equality action plans addressing (a) steps being taken to reduce gender pay gaps and (b) steps being taken to support employees through the menopause. Equality action plans were introduced on a voluntary basis from April 2026, with mandatory publication taking effect in April 2027 (or March 2027 for public authority employers). The government has published guidance for employers on how to create an action plan.
Since 6 April 2026, ERA 2025 has extended whistleblowing protection to include disclosures of sexual harassment (subject to the usual requirements, including reasonable belief and public interest). Practically, you should ensure that your reporting routes are clear, managers know how to respond and that whistleblowing, harassment and grievance processes align so that concerns are handled promptly and consistently across your organisation.
Since 6 April 2026, the qualifying service requirement has been removed for unpaid parental leave. This means that employees can now request this type of leave from the start of their employment (subject to the usual rules on notice, timing and how leave can be taken). You should ensure that your managers are not applying outdated service thresholds and that your handbook wording on notice and process reflect the current position.
Employees can also now take statutory paternity leave from day 1 of employment and the ERA 2025 has removed the restriction which could prevent paternity leave being taken where shared parental leave had been taken first, allowing paternity leave to be taken before or after a period of shared parental leave. However, the qualifying conditions for statutory paternity pay remain unchanged, meaning that some employees will be entitled to paternity leave but not pay.
Separate regulations have also introduced a new right for bereaved fathers/partners to take up to 52 weeks’ paternity leave where the child’s primary carer dies within the first year. The Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026 have applied since 6 April 2026 (where the bereavement occurs on or after that date).
Since 6 April 2026, SSP is payable from day 1 of absence (removing the three “waiting days”) and the lower earnings limit has been removed, widening eligibility to lower-paid and part-time staff. For some employees, SSP will be calculated at 80% of normal earnings (if that is lower than the flat weekly rate). You should check your payroll settings and update your absence reporting guidance to reflect these new rules.
Another practical change is a new duty (inserted into the Working Time Regulations) requiring all employers to keep records demonstrating compliance with statutory holiday entitlement and holiday pay. Records must be retained for six years, and non-compliance may be a criminal offence with potentially unlimited fines. With April 2026 now behind us, the key question for employers is whether they can evidence what they do in practice, particularly if their holiday calculations are complex (for example, involving variable hours, overtime/commission elements, or part-year working patterns). A short audit now can identify gaps before they become an issue.
April also brought the usual uplifts to statutory rates and limits. Since 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage (age 21+) is £12.71 per hour (with corresponding increases for younger workers and apprentices). Key tribunal limits also increased on 6 April 2026, including the cap on a week’s pay to £751 and the unfair dismissal compensatory award cap to £123,543 (where applicable). These changes will affect baseline exposure in redundancies and routine dismissals, particularly when combined with the higher protective award for collective consultation failures.
BTO’s Employment Team is already supporting a number of employer clients to update their policies and handbooks in response to the changes that have already been introduced by the ERA 2025 and the wider “Make Work Pay” reforms. If you would find it helpful to sense-check that your documents and day-to-day practices reflect the current rules, we can carry out a focused policy and template audit, provide suggested revisals, and support implementation through manager briefings and training.
This update contains general information only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. For further information and advice on this topic, please contact a member of our Employment Team.
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