In this episode 259 of the employment law and HR podcast, we delve into some of the detail of the forthcoming changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025. In this episode I am covering the key changes taking place from April 2026.

In this episode we cover:

• Changes to Paternity Leave
• Paternity Leave will become a day 1 right for all employees
• Statutory paternity pay will still have the qualifying period of 26 weeks
• Unpaid Parental Leave will become a day 1 right
• The requirement for all employers to keep holiday records for 6 years
• All employers need to keep records of annual leave entitlement and time taken off
• Employers also need to keep records of how much an employee is paid when they take holiday
• Why it is important to reconsider how you hold holiday records
• The new Fair Work Agency
• The risks to employers in terms of penalties and reputation if the Fair Work Agency intervene
• Changes to Statutory Sick Pay
• The impact on employers of the new SSP rules
• Why managers need to be aware and to tighten up the management of short term regular sickness absence
• Why it is important to start taking action now to get ready for the new law.

Key takeaway:

Employers need to start taking action now to educate and empower managers to proactively manage employees for success.

You need to review and update policies on Paternity Leave, Parental Leave and Statutory Sick Pay.

You also need to consider how you store your holiday records and how you are going to store them going forward.

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