The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, making it law after more than a year of parliamentary debate. The Act introduces phased UK employment reforms with major updates from 6 April 2026. These updates change the rules for statutory sick pay (SSP), parental rights, dismissal rules, and enforcement through a new regulator. However, changes such as the reduction of the unfair dismissal qualifying period is delayed until January 2027.
Parental leave rights is the second of our updates for you!
The immediate changes with effect from 6 April are:
- Parental Leave becomes a right from the first day of employment which means that the one-year qualifying service requirement is removed.
- Paternity Leave also becomes a right from the first day of employment so the 26 week qualifying service requirement is removed. However, statutory paternity pay (SPP) remains subject to its existing qualifying conditions, including 26 weeks’
- Employees will be able to take paternity leave (and, if eligible, receive SPP) even if they have already taken shared parental leave (ShPL) for the same child.
Employees who are eligible are still entitled to up to two weeks’ paternity leave, Employees will be able to take paternity leave even if they have already taken ShPL for the same child (and, if eligible, can receive SPP after shared parental pay), which removes the previous restriction.
Each parent continues to be entitled to up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave per child before the child’s 18th birthday. However, employers can limit leave to four weeks per year per child, require it to be taken in blocks of a week, and may postpone leave for up to six months if their business would be unduly disrupted.
If you are an employee or employer seeking advice on the changes the new Employment Rights Act 2025 brings then please do get in touch.
