Category: Employment Law
Employment Law 2026: What Every Employer Needs to Know
The UK employment law changes in 2026 are introducing significant new requirements for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Keeping up with the latest employment law updates is essential for maintaining HR compliance in the UK and avoiding costly legal penalties. Following our recent employment law seminar, the team at Access2 Human Resources has outlined the key legislative changes you need to be aware of, and the practical steps needed to protect your business.
Statutory Sick Pay Changes 2026 – A Major Update For UK Employers
One of the most impactful employment law changes in 2026 is the reform to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). From April 2026, SSP will be payable from day one of illness, eliminating the previous three-day waiting period. In addition, the lower earnings limit of £123 per week is being removed, meaning virtually all employees will now qualify for some level of sick pay.
Employees will receive SSP at 80% of their normal weekly earnings, or the flat rate of £123.25 per week, whichever is lower. While this is a fair and supportive change for genuinely unwell workers, it also increases the financial burden on employers and makes proactive employee absence management more important than ever.
Unsure how SSP changes will affect your payroll and absence costs? Get in touch with our HR specialists to review your policies.
Managing Employee Absence: Best Practice for Employers
According to a 2025 CIPD and Simply Health survey, UK employees took an average of 9.4 sick days per year. For a business paying the National Minimum Wage, that equates to around £900 per employee annually, rising to £1,500 for a £40,000 salary. With the SSP changes tightening the financial picture further, a robust absence management policy is no longer optional.
Key steps to managing absence effectively include:
- Publish and consistently apply your absence management policy
- Set clear absence triggers (we recommend a formal review after three absences in a six-month period)
- Conduct return-to-work (RTW) interviews after every absence
- Record all absences accurately – tools like BreatheHR make this straightforward.
Struggling to manage employee absence effectively? Let us help you implement a clear, compliant absence management strategy.
Unfair Dismissal: The 2027 Change You Must Prepare For Now
From January 2027, employees will be protected from unfair dismissal after just six months’ service, down from the current two-year qualifying period. This is one of the most significant UK employment law changes in recent years, and crucially, its impact begins now. Any employee who joins your organisation from July 2026 onwards would already have six months’ service by the time the new rules take effect, increasing the risk of an unfair dismissal claim if processes are not properly followed.
Employers should take the following actions immediately:
- Ensure probationary employment periods are concluded within six months
- Be prepared to make performance decisions more quickly and with full documentation
- Invest in effective probationary period management, including SMART objectives, regular one-to-ones, and honest feedback
- Expect an increase in employment tribunal claims and ensure your procedures can withstand scrutiny.
Are your probation processes strong enough to handle the 2027 changes? Contact our team to reduce your risk.
Other Key Employment Law Changes in 2026
The pace of change does not stop at SSP and unfair dismissal. Several other significant updates come into effect this year:
Paternity Leave and Parental Leave – From 6 April 2026, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave both become day-one rights, removing previous service requirements. Employees can take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave per child, up to their 18th birthday.
National Minimum Wage Increases – From April 2026, the NMW for workers aged 21 and over rises to £12.71 per hour. Employers should review payroll immediately to ensure full compliance.
The Fair Work Agency – A new enforcement body will consolidate worker protections including National Minimum Wage, holiday pay, and agency worker regulations. Employers who do not already follow best practice should act now to review compliance.
Prevention of Sexual Harassment – Employers are now legally obliged to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. From April 2026, sexual harassment is also added to the list of protected disclosures under the whistleblowing policy. If you do not have a policy in place, this must be addressed urgently and if you’d like some inhouse training for your teams, we can provide that too.
Finding it difficult to keep up with multiple legal changes? Partner with us to ensure your business stays compliant.
Protecting Your Business From Employment Tribunals
At our seminar, we emphasised that employment tribunal outcomes are very often determined by the procedure followed, not the decision itself. Common reasons employers lose tribunal cases include failure to follow a fair process, lack of documentation, poorly communicated policies, and inconsistent management practice.
To protect your business:
- Ensure all employment contracts, policies and employee handbooks are up to date and legally compliant
- Communicate policies clearly and keep evidence of employee receipt
- Keep detailed, accurate records of all meetings and decisions
- Invest in a management training course so your team leaders are equipped to handle HR situations confidently.
Worried about tribunal risks? Book a compliance review with our HR experts.
How Access2 Human Resources Can Help
Access2 Human Resources has been supporting businesses with outsourced HR services for over 15 years. From employment contracts and handbooks to disciplinary and grievance procedures, absence management, and employment tribunal support, we provide practical, professional HR advice tailored to your business.
Access2 Human Resources provide professional support and advice for all HR matters. We can provide a retained service or ad-hoc project work.
Ready for peace of mind? Get in touch today to explore HR support tailored to your business needs.
Question and Answers
Statutory Sick Pay [SSP]
Do we not need a Fit Note anymore?
Yes you do. If an employee is unwell and unable to work for more than seven consecutive days, including weekends they are obliged to provide a fit note from their healthcare professional. Healthcare professionals who can provide fit notes include;
GP’s Nurses, Pharmacists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists
How does SSP work for zero hours workers?
Zero Hours or irregular hours workers are entitled to SSP on a pro-rated basis.
From 6 April 2026, SSP for irregular-hour workers is calculated as 80% of their average weekly earnings, and payable from the first day of sickness.
What questions are we allowed to ask if an employee calls in sick?
Ask, what is wrong? (what is their ailment). How are they feeling? How long do they believe they will be absent? Is there anything they need from you? (their employer)
We had a new employee who came in for a 2-hour induction, hurt his arm and went off sick for a month. We tried to implement reasonable adjustments. Would we have to pay them as they only worked for 2 hours?
An employer is obliged to pay an employee / worker at least NMW for their age band for every hour they work – so yes, you would need to pay them for their 2 hours work.
Parental Leave
Is the 4 weeks per year allowance for any reason?
Yes, any reason. The child doesn’t need to be sick, a parent can simply take time off to spend with their child.
The entitlement is 18 weeks unpaid leave during the first 18 years of the child’s life with a maximum of 4 weeks per year.
If an employee’s child is sick, can parental leave be taken immediately?
If an employee needed to take immediate time off to support a sick child, they would need to request unpaid dependent leave.
Carers Leave
Regarding carers leave does this include stepparents?
Any employee responsible for giving or arranging care for a dependent needing long term care is entitled to take carers leave. Dependents include, husbands, wives, partners, children, parents or someone who relies on them for care such as an elderly relative or neighbour.
Unfair dismissal
From January 2027 does unfair dismissal include a fixed term or seasonal contract if longer than 6 months or if 2 subsequent Fixed term contracts are issued?
Yes, any employee who has been employed for 6 months or more consecutively will have employee rights. An employer would need to follow a fair process (conduct, capability, redundancy etc) if they need to their employment. This includes, apprentices, employees on a fixed term contract or employees on maternity cover.
Protection from Redundancy
What happens if you have started a redundancy procedure and one of the effected employees tells you they are pregnant.
If one of the affected employees confirms they are pregnant, they should be given priority for any suitable alternative roles, they would be protected from redundancy from the date they tell you they are pregnant up to 18 months after the birth of the baby.
Whether you need a one-off review of your employment documents, ongoing HR support under a retainer agreement, or management training workshops, our experienced team is here to help.