A new website has been launched by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) offering practical guidance and support on the changes that the Employment Rights Act will introduce and what they can do to get ready.
The website provides details of upcoming changes, including several that come into force from April 2026. These include:
- Statutory Sick Pay - No earnings threshold and no three-day waiting period mean more employees will now qualify.
- Day-one family leave - Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave a right from the first day in a job.
- Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave - A new right for time off following the death of a child’s mother or primary adopter.
- Collective redundancy protections - The protective award for non-compliance is being increased.
- Stronger protections for workers who report sexual harassment.
- A new body called the Fair Work Agency will work to uphold workers’ rights and support businesses with compliance.
The website includes details on how to prepare for changes and a timeline of when further changes will be introduced. It can be found here and would be well worth saving to your browser favourites
HMRC have proposed a new criminal offence for making reckless, untrue statements or declarations about what's known as 'direct taxes' - Income Tax, National Insurance and the like. For Customs and Excise and VAT ('indirect taxes'), it is already possible to prosecute individuals who make untrue statements or submit incorrect documents either knowingly or recklessly, without the need to prove dishonesty. The penalties for such offences can be severe, including substantial fines and imprisonment. The direct tax regime does not currently contain an equivalent offence.
A new Freedom of Information (FOI) request has discovered that health and safety violations cost British employers over £44 million per year. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that serious breaches have resulted in an increasing number of prosecutions between 2023 and 2025.
