Get ready for new employment rights - April 2026
UK homecare providers face sharply higher absence costs and administrative burdens as major worker protections under the Employment Rights Act 2025 take effect in April 2026.
Key takeaways
- •The Employment Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in December 2025, introduces phased reforms starting early 2026, with a significant tranche hitting on 6 April 2026 including day-one statutory sick pay without earnings thresholds or waiting periods and immediate access to paternity and unpaid parental leave.
- •These changes will increase payroll and staffing pressures in the low-margin homecare sector, where part-time and variable-hour workers are common and sickness absence already strains thin staffing levels.
- •Employers risk higher unfair dismissal claims, doubled penalties for collective redundancy failures, and union organising ease, while workers gain stronger immediate protections but may face indirect trade-offs in hiring caution or wage restraint.
Sweeping UK Worker Rights Reforms
The Labour government's Employment Rights Act 2025 marks the most substantial overhaul of employment law in decades, enacting pledges from its Plan to Make Work Pay. After receiving Royal Assent in December 2025, the Act phases in changes across 2026 and 2027 to strengthen worker security, family rights, and enforcement while modernising trade union rules.
From 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay (SSP) becomes a day-one entitlement for virtually all employees, eliminating the lower earnings limit (previously excluding very low earners) and the three-day waiting period for payment. The SSP rate rises to £123.25 per week. Day-one rights also extend to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, removing the current 26-week and one-year qualifying periods respectively; paternity leave restrictions linked to shared parental leave vanish, and bereaved partners gain expanded unpaid leave entitlements.
Other April 2026 measures double the maximum protective award for breaching collective redundancy consultation rules to 180 days' pay per employee, simplify trade union recognition processes, and introduce menopause workplace guidance alongside voluntary equality action plans for larger firms.
In the homecare sector—dominated by small providers delivering essential support to elderly and disabled people—these reforms arrive amid persistent staffing shortages, high turnover, and tight local authority funding. Many carers work part-time or zero-hours contracts, making expanded sick pay and immediate family leave particularly costly; providers may need to hire more staff or adjust rotas to cover absences, potentially squeezing already narrow margins. Increased union activity through easier recognition and industrial action rules adds another layer of complexity in a workforce with variable conditions.
While the changes aim to improve retention and worker wellbeing in a socially vital industry, critics highlight risks of reduced flexibility for employers already struggling with recruitment and rising National Minimum Wage pressures. The phased rollout gives some preparation time, but inaction could lead to compliance failures, higher tribunal claims, or operational disruptions as the Fair Work Agency ramps up enforcement.
Sources
- https://www.homecareassociation.org.uk/trainingandevents/get-ready-for-new-employment-rights-april-2026.html
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act/plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act-timeline-update
- https://www.business.gov.uk/campaign/employment-changes
- https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025
- https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/employment-rights-bill-timeline-2026-beyond
- https://ogletree.com/insights-resources/blog-posts/the-year-ahead-in-uk-employment-law-an-overview-of-changes-scheduled-in-2026