UK Employment Rights Act: April 2026 changes now in force
A wave of employment law changes under the UK’s Employment Rights Act 2025 took effect on 6 and 7 April 2026, marking the biggest single shake-up of workplace rights in a generation. The changes include statutory sick pay from day one of absence (with the lower earnings limit removed), day-one rights to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, a new Bereaved Partners’ Paternity Leave allowing up to 52 weeks of leave, and the doubling of the protective award for collective redundancy failures from 90 to 180 days’ pay per employee.
Why this matters for remote workers: The Fair Work Agency (FWA), formally established on 7 April, brings together several enforcement functions and will expand to cover holiday pay and statutory sick pay compliance from 2027. For remote workers, this means a dedicated body that can investigate employer non-compliance — including with the new holiday pay record-keeping requirement, which now mandates six years of retention. The flexible working reforms (making blanket refusals harder to justify) are expected in 2027, with the consultation on the new “reasonableness test” having closed on 1 April 2026.
The National Living Wage rose to GBP 12.71 per hour for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April, with immigration fees also increasing from 8 April — including new Skilled Worker application fees and higher sponsor licence costs (GBP 1,682 for large sponsors). For UK-based remote workers considering relocation, the October 2026 tranche brings further changes: a duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union, stronger sexual harassment protections, and the extension of employment tribunal time limits from 3 to 6 months.
What to watch: The unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to just 6 months from 1 January 2027, alongside the removal of the compensatory award cap. Combined with the flexible working reasonableness test (also 2027), this will significantly strengthen the position of employees who are refused remote or hybrid arrangements. See our UK flexible working rights guide for the full picture.