Employment rights are changing in April. Here’s all you need to know

If you are employed you need to know that some major changes to employment rights are taking place from April, as part of the Employment Rights Bill. Some of these changes may affect you.

We referred to the Employment Rights Bill in our earlier article Do you get tips at work? Important changes you should know when it was in the early stages of development, and outlined some of the potential measures being considered. In this article we look at the latest information about what is going to be in the Employment Rights Bill for the following areas related to employment:

• Unfair dismissal;
• Flexible working;
• Zero hours contracts;
• Sick pay;
• Parental and bereavement leave.

Unfair dismissal

The initial plan had been to give workers protection from unfair dismissal from their very first day in a new job. However, this protection has now been changed to 6 months in the job. This is considerably less than the current qualifying period for unfair dismissal of 24 months.

Workers will still be protected against discrimination and automatically unfair grounds for dismissal from day one, including stronger dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers. The Employment Rights Bill will make it unlawful to dismiss a pregnant woman during and in the six months following her maternity.

The Employment Rights Bill also bans so-called “fire and rehire” practices. This is when a business tries to change employees’ terms and conditions – for example reducing pay or changing shift patterns – by dismissing workers then offering to hire them back on the new terms and conditions. In future this will only be legal if a business is at serious risk of becoming insolvent.

Flexible working

The Employment Rights Bill requires employers to consider any flexible working requests made by employees from day one, and agree to any reasonable request. In this sense, flexible working will become the default for all workers, enabling them to negotiate start and finish times and working from home with their employer.

Employers are required to agree to an employee’s request for flexible working unless they can prove it is unreasonable. Legitimate reasons for refusal could include:

• additional costs caused by the arrangement;
• reduced ability to meet customer demand;
• inability to allocate work fairly among existing or new staff;
• reduction of quality of work.

Zero hours contracts

If you work a zero-hours contract – also known as a casual contract – you are not guaranteed specific hours from your employer, and you are also not obliged to work when asked.

The Employment Rights Bill will entitle you to a guaranteed-hours contract if you want one. If so, this will be based on typical hours that you currently do during a 12-week period.

However, if you would prefer to be on a zero-hours contract you will still be able to do this. If so, you will be entitled to reasonable notice ahead of changes being made to your shifts, and compensation if your shift is either cancelled or finishes earlier than expected.

Sick pay

The Employment Rights Bill requires employers to provide Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from the first day of illness rather than the fourth day as at present. SSP will also be available to all employees rather than just those earning at least £123 per week. 

These changes to SSP, which will come into effect in April, will entitle employees to £116.75 per week SSP if you are too ill to work, and will be paid by your employer for up to 28 weeks. If your employer has a sick pay scheme this amount of money will be higher.

Parental and bereavement leave

The Employment Rights Bill requires employers to offer unpaid parental and bereavement leave from day one. Currently, parents are only allowed to take unpaid parental leave if they have been employed by a company for more than a year. 

Bereavement leave is available to an employee when a dependent dies. This could be their spouse, partner, child, parent, or anyone else who either lives with them or relies on them.

As part of the Employment Rights Bill, a new Fair Work Agency is also to be established to improve the enforcement of employment rights, including not just the new measures of the bill, but other issues such as National Minimum Wage, holiday pay and worker abuse. The Fair Work Agency will have the power to investigate, inspect and take action against businesses that are flouting the law. 

If needed, the Fair Work Agency will also help to bring employee’s cases to an Employment Tribunal.  Employees will also have an extended time period of 6 months (up from the current 3 months) to make an Employment Tribunal claim.

We hope that the above information is useful in understanding some of the changes that will happen when The Employment Rights Bill becomes law in April. If there are further changes added we will cover them in a future article so that you are up to date on your rights as employees in the UK. So do visit us here again soon at Loans 2 Go.

Meanwhile, if you and your family need any additional finances to navigate your way through 2026, remember that Loans 2 Go offer a range of personal loans which may be able to help. Full details, including terms and conditions are available on our website. Borrowing is optional and may not be suitable for everyone, so always consider your circumstances and affordability before applying.

Check back here soon with us at Loans 2 Go for more hints and tips on family finances and everyday living.