Upcoming family leave changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025

Following our recent post about changes to Statutory Sick Pay, Helen Russell, lead HR consultant and solicitor in our employment team, looks at the other imminent changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) relating to family leave, which take effect on April 6 2026.

Noting that the changes are in relation to statutory measures, all employers will need to turn their attention to Handbooks, policies and procedures to ensure that the new entitlements are reflected and honoured.

Paternity leave becomes a day-one right

Employees no longer need 26 weeks of continuous service by the 15^th week before the expected birth of their child to qualify for statutory paternity leave.

Furthermore, the restriction preventing employees from taking paternity leave after a period of shared leave will be removed. This provides families with more flexibility in the way they combine different types of leave in their child’s first year, though it will add complexity regarding arrangements for cover.

Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) itself is not becoming a day-one right at this stage, but as more employees qualify for paternity leave, employers should expect a corresponding increase in claims for statutory pay where the earning conditions are satisfied.

Unpaid parental leave becomes a day-one right

Employees no longer require one year of continuous service to qualify for unpaid parental leave.

This unpaid leave, of up to 18 weeks per child (with a usual maximum for 4 weeks annually, unless the employer agrees to more), is not taken that often simply because it is unpaid, but since employees have the right to it, employers should be aware and make sure that their managers and payroll departments process requests appropriately.

Employers can postpone this leave in certain circumstances, but care should be taken when managing requests under this statutory right.

Bereaved partner’s paternity leave

This is a new statutory right and applies when the child’s mother (or primary adopter) dies in the first year after birth or placement.

Eligible employees are entitled to take 52 weeks of unpaid leave during the first year of the child’s life, and this is in addition to any ordinary paternity leave entitlement.

The precise interaction between this right and existing bereavement leave and pay provisions will be clarified in future guidance, but employers should already consider how they will support bereaved partners, and how this extended leave will be managed in practice.

How this impacts employers

With the 6 April implementation date fast-approaching, employers should be considering these provisions now.

Key actions include:

• Audit your current policies and contracts to ensure that they are not inadvertently reflective of more restrictive criteria than the (new) statutory minimum.
• Update your family leave sections in handbooks, your onboarding materials and any line management guidance, to clearly demonstrate the new regulations and to ensure your employees are well-informed.
• Train HR and line managers to ensure that their understanding of the new reforms is understood and implemented.
• Plan for the workforce and resourcing impact day-one rights and the extended leave for bereaved partners may increase the unpredictability of staffing levels; this should be built into your workforce planning, including cross-training, succession planning, and the use of temporary or interim cover where appropriate.

Other April changes

Other changes are coming too:

• Whistleblowing protections will apply to sexual harassment disclosures.
• An increase in the protective award maximum (payable in circumstances in which employers have failed to follow collective consultation obligations) which doubles from 90 days’ pay per employee to 180 days.
• The Fair Work Agency is to be created.
• Statutory Sick Pay is payable from the first full day of sickness, and there is a new Statutory Sick Pay calculation (see our earlier post in this regard).

We have and shall be posting about these in due course, but if you have immediate concerns, do please get in touch with the team at [email protected] or call 01772 258321