Scarcely believable we know, but with less than a week to go, the Government has finally published the enabling regulations that confirm the Statutory Sick Pay changes coming into force on 6 th April 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 remove any remaining uncertainty about what is changing and when - and for small employers, the time to act is now. What's Actually Changing? Three significant reforms take eff

The modern workplace includes people who think, communicate and behave in different ways. In reality, it probably always has done, but increasingly dissatisfied employees are looking to the Courts to redress perceived or real poor treatment at the hands of employers. It is now estimated that 1 in 100 adults may be neurodivergent, yet only around 21.7% to 32% of autistic adults in the UK are in some form of paid employment, representing the lowest employment rate among all di

We all love a Public/Bank holiday, don’t we? Unless you are in the Payroll Department of course, when the holiday year is April to March, and Easter jumps around between April and March. For the holiday year of April to March of 2026/27, the reality is that there are 2 sets of Easter Public/Bank holidays within the same holiday entitlement. How do you deal with this? The Law on Public/Bank Holidays All employees are entitled to a set number of days off work each year by way

When this Government set out on their journey, they were ambitious in the scale of the changes they wanted to make to the employment relationship, but reassured us all that there would be lots of consultation. They said the same to the House of Lords. However, last week, they quietly released an update with potentially significant consequences for employers. With little fanfare, an Unfair Dismissal Factsheet was added to the Employment Rights Act 2025 webpage. It revealed two

Most employers are well aware that the Government is embarking on an ambitious series of reforms. These are aimed at rebalancing, in their eyes, the employment relationship. As part of these changes, from 1 st December 2025, the ACAS Early Conciliation period has been formally extended from six to twelve weeks, following regulations laid before Parliament on 4 th November 2025. This change comes amid rising demand for conciliation services and growing delays - currently ave

Overview The Government intends to reduce the unfair dismissal qualifying period from 2 years to 6 months under the Employment Rights Bill. It is also considering removing the caps on unfair dismissal compensation. While the Bill is still progressing, employers should plan on the basis that these changes are likely, although as yet we are not sure when. For SMEs, where Management resources are stretched, this significantly increases the early-stage risk of Tribunal action. An

Sexual harassment is a difficult issue for any workplace, but ignoring it is never an option. Since October last year, it has become a proactive duty for employers to prevent sexual harassment, rather than the previous duty, which was to react to such harassment when it happened. So how do we reckon employers are doing one year on? Well, probably not as well as they could is the short answer. Remember the legislation was introduced by the previous Government, with the aim of

It is now estimated that 1 in 7 people within the UK population are probably neurodiverse. Consequently, it is perhaps no surprise that...

If your business has offices, clients, or colleagues in Europe, you will want to be aware of an important change in UK travel rules that...

New laws on Sexual Harassment came into force last October, and the Government has threatened to tighten these even further, with the...

Since the Supreme Court ruling in April that changed the narrative over gender issues, the Courts have not had a chance to consider how...

The True Cost of Getting Right to Work Checks Wrong In July 2025, a fish and chip shop owner was left in “total shock” after being hit...

Everybody tells us that AI is going to replace many of the roles and functions currently carried out by real people. And in some areas...

Commentary The new Employment Rights Bill marks the most significant overhaul of workplace law in a generation, reflecting the...

The Supreme Court recently delivered its verdict on the rights of women and men, and the implications of biological sex and gender. And,...

TUPE situations can be complicated and involved. Not to mention stressful and uncertain for everyone they affect. But what happens when...

Pensions have become a significant extra cost for some employers, and an important benefit for many employees. But they are often set up...

The Court of Appeal’s decision in Hewston v Ofsted offers valuable guidance for employers handling conduct-related dismissals. What...

We meet SME employers every day. And we are regularly surprised at how often their contractual documentation has not been looked at for...

Over the past 10 years, there has been an increasing awareness of the effects of stress, unhappiness and genuine mental illness at work....