March 10, 2026
By Rachel Ford-Evans
Read time: 4 minutes
The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) introduces major reforms to statutory sick pay (SSP) and family-related rights, including additional protections for pregnant employees and new types of statutory leave.
Our employment law expert, Rachel, explains what is changing, when the changes take effect, and what employers should be doing now to prepare.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
- The current law: Unwell or injured workers can be paid SSP for up to 28 weeks. Any calculation is made from the fourth qualifying day of their sickness (with the first 3 days being unpaid), and they are only eligible if they earn at least £125 per week.
- What’s changing and when: From 6 April 2026, SSP will be payable from the first day of a period of sickness absence and the 3-day waiting period is removed. In addition, the minimum weekly earnings for eligibility for SSP will be removed.
- What this means: This will bring many more workers and many more periods of short-term sickness absence into scope for payment of SSP, increasing employers’ sick pay bills and requiring careful budgeting.
Paternity Leave
- The current law: Employees with at least 26 weeks of continuous service with their employer may take up to two weeks’ paternity leave following the birth or adoption of a child.
- What’s changing and when: From 6 April 2026, eligible employees can take paternity leave from the first day of their employment and still qualify for statutory paternity pay.
Parental Leave
- The current law: Eligible employees with legal parental responsibility, and at least 1 year of continuous service with their employer, can take up to 18 weeks’ total unpaid leave before their child’s 18th
- What’s changing and when: From 6 April 2026, eligible employees can take parental leave from the first day of their employment. This leave remains unpaid, and there are still complex rules over how and when the leave can be taken.
Maternity Leave – Protection from Dismissal
- The current law: Employees who are either pregnant or on maternity leave are protected from dismissals where the principal reason relates to their pregnancy or maternity leave. They also have priority for suitable alternative roles in redundancy situations.
- What’s changing and when: From 2027 (the exact date isn’t known yet), it will be automatically unfair in law to dismiss employees who are or have been pregnant, until 6 months have passed after their return to work following giving birth.
These enhanced protections will apply to all reasons for dismissal, not just redundancy. The test that employers will have to meet to fairly dismiss an employee covered by these protections will be set out in future regulations.
- What this means: This is a big change and means that employers will need to be much more careful when considering dismissing an employee who is or has recently been pregnant.
As well as protecting employees during and after pregnancy, it’s also likely that equivalent protections will be given to employees who have taken other types of family leave, such as adoption or shared parental leave. We’re still waiting for the details of this.
Bereavement Leave
- The current law: Employees may take two weeks of paid parental bereavement leave after the death of their child under the age of 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks. There’s no wider right to bereavement or compassionate leave in other cases.
- What’s changing and when: From 6 April 2026, there will be a new category of “Bereaved partners’ paternity leave” under which employees will be entitled to up to 52 weeks of unpaid leave following the death of their child’s primary carer. From 2027, there will be a new right to one week’s unpaid bereavement leave following the death of a close family member or pregnancy loss occurring prior to 24 weeks.
What should employers do next?
The ERA brings a lot of changes to employees rights to take leave and the protections to which they’re entitled as a result of taking statutory leave. To keep on top of the changes, we recommend that employers:
- Update policies and contracts: Ensure that you update your policies and employment contracts to ensure they are accurate. Employers will also need new policies to cover the new types of statutory leave that will be introduced.
- Ensure policies are visible: Updated policies should be accessible for all staff. Employees should understand what they are entitled to under the new laws.
- Inform managers of changes: Managers should know about the new entitlements so they can plan accordingly.
Find out more
Darwin Gray’s employment law experts will be discussing these reforms in more detail in the sixth webinar in our free bitesize webinar series on 18 March 2026. We’ll also discuss the reforms being made to the flexible working regime, which will introduce additional requirements on employers.
Our bitesize webinar series is designed for employers, HR professionals, senior managers, and anyone responsible for managing people or involved in important employment decisions. Each 20-minute session will focus on a key area of the ERA 2025.
Secure your free place, here.
You can also reach out to our employment law experts on 02920 829 100, hello@darwingray.com or via our Contact Us form.
02920 829 100 
Family-friendly rights in focus: employment law changes coming April 2026
