The big challenge for businesses this year is going to be preparing for the changes that are being brought in by the Employment Rights Act 2025, alongside developments such as managing National Minimum Wage increases and tackling prevalent HR challenges, including employee grievances, staff retention and disciplinary matters.
So, what does your business need to know as we look ahead to the next few months?
- The Employment Rights Act 2025 – April Changes
- National Minimum Wage increases
- ‘Trending’ issues for HR
The Employment Rights Act 2025 – April Changes
The Employment Rights Bill was finally passed into law just before Christmas, becoming the Employment Rights Act 2025. As you are likely aware, it will bring significant changes to employment law that will come into effect in stages, with some changes still needing details to be set out in regulations and consultation, but a few are expected to come into force in April. It’s important to make sure you are aware of them, including:
- Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are to become ‘day one rights’
It will be important to make sure that those with people management responsibility in your business are aware of the change and are familiar with these rights. For some businesses, it may mean that more employees become eligible for them sooner, so there will be an increase in take-up. If your business has a policy in place for paternity leave or unpaid parental leave that references the current length of service requirement, this will need to be updated to reflect the change. It’s also important to be aware that the law is changing so that employees will be able to take paternity leave if they have taken shared parental leave first in respect of that child – something which is not currently permitted. We will make an updated paternity leave policy available and provide further information about policy updates in due course.
- Changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
SSP is to be payable from the first day of an employee’s sickness absence, the lower earnings limit for SSP eligibility is to be removed, and employees will receive a flat rate of SSP (£118.75 per week from 6 April 2025) or 80% of their normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower. Again, it will be important to make sure the appropriate people in your business are aware of the change. It will also be important to check your contracts of employment/policies to identify if any changes need to be made. If so, please get in touch to discuss your situation before acting.
We will continue to keep you up to date with developments and information in relation to the Employment Rights Act 2025 to help your business prepare.
National Minimum Wage Increases
If you pay any employees at or near the National Minimum Wage, it’s important to be aware that all the rates are set to rise from 1st April 2026. After what for some businesses may have been a difficult year, further financial pressure may be challenging, but it’s important to be alert to the change and to prepare ahead to avoid falling foul of the law.
Want to know the new rates? You can find them here.
‘Trending’ issues for HR
In the last few months, we have helped a lot of businesses deal with grievance and disciplinary issues, with grievances in particular seeming to be on the rise. With no sign that these common HR issues are going to abate any time soon, it will be important to make sure your business is alert and prepared to appropriately deal with matters if they arise. Need a quick refresher? You can find out more about these topics below:
- ChatGPT, help me write a grievance letter to my employer…
- Disciplinaries and Grievances: Your Questions Answered
- Top tips for successfully dealing with conduct issues
- Workplace Grievances – How Managers Can Get it Right
Employee retention is also likely to remain a priority for many businesses over the next few months, with January often a time when employees look for new jobs. If you are considering ways of retaining staff, it’s worth bearing in mind that this doesn’t always need to be about pay rises or bigger bonuses. If your business isn’t in a position to consider those sorts of steps, remember that employees often value other benefits too, such as flexibility, training and career progression opportunities, and a positive workplace culture, so don’t overlook such things if you are thinking about an employee retention plan for your business.
If an employee in your business does resign, knowing what to do can save you time. If it’s a straightforward written resignation with no issues, e.g the employee simply wants to move on to a fresh challenge, and they have given you the necessary notice, all that will usually be needed is for you to accept the resignation in writing and to put steps in place to ensure a smooth handover. Need a resignation acceptance letter? We are here to help, so please get in touch to save yourself time. If the situation is a bit more complicated, for example, the employee raises a complaint in their resignation letter, there are underlying issues, or you are unclear when the employee intends their last day of service to be, please get in touch for specific advice and support before acting.
Need help with an HR issue in your business? Remember, we are here to help.