18 December 2025
Today, 18 December 2025, the Employment Rights Act received Royal Assent.
The Department for Business and Trade’s press release shares:
- “Over 15 million people across the UK to benefit from new worker protections, including those on the lowest pay and in the most insecure jobs.
- New rights confirmed including day one paternity leave and parental leave, statutory sick pay, protections for pregnant workers, increased protection from unfair dismissal, an end to exploitative zero hours contracts, and a new right to bereavement leave.
- Government to continue work with business and workers on how reforms are implemented, with changes introduced gradually over a two-year period.”
The biggest change for the pay profession which will be enacted from 6 April 2026, is the changes to Statutory Sick Pay. The policy team shared a BeKnowledgeable on the changes to expect; CIPP members can watch this back by accessing the recording here.
An updated factsheet will be published here by the Department for Business and Trade shortly.
Information provided in this news article may be subject to change. Please make note of the date of publication to ensure that you are viewing up to date information.