Employment Law – what changes to expect in 2026

By David Coward

2026 is set to be a pivotal year for changes in employment law with the most comprehensive overhaul of workplace rights in many years.  A summary of some of the key changes are:

Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will become a day one right. Currently there is a requirement to have worked for the employer for 26 weeks for paternity leave and for a year for unpaid parental leave. These changes will take place in April 2026.

Statutory sick pay will be paid from the first day of illness instead of the fourth day. The lower earnings limit will be removed. These changes will take effect in April 2026.

The fair work agency will be established in April 2026. It will take on enforcement of some employment rights such as holiday pay and statutory sick pay.

Dismissing someone and then re-hiring them on worse terms will become automatic unfair dismissal in most cases. This change will be introduced in October 2026.

Unfair dismissal, employees will be able to bring claims for unfair dismissal after six months of employment instead of being required to have two years’ continuous employment. This change will come into effect in January 2027.

There are some other changes intended to be brought into effect in 2027 including:

• a new right to statutory bereavement leave in addition to current parental bereavement leave
• workers on zero hours contracts will be entitled to guaranteed working hours if they want them.
• employers will find it more difficult to reject requests for flexible working as they will need to justify their decision by stating one of the current statutory reasons and explain why their refusal is reasonable.

In addition to these statutory changes, there will inevitably be many other employment law changes arising from precedents set by new cases.  For more information contact David Coward on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 01722 410664.

David Coward