Social care leaders and industry experts gathered in central London on 27 January to discuss the future of the sector under the upcoming Employment Rights Bill.

Hosted by workforce management platform Sona at the Kimpton Fitzroy, the breakfast briefing offered a constructive look at how care providers can adapt to the most significant shift in employment law in decades.

Speakers, Alex Watson, a partner at Fieldfisher, and members of Sona’s leadership team, Paul Watson (vice-president) and Zac Da Rocha (head of product) outlined how the new legislation will shift the focus from reactive management to proactive prevention and tighter process control.

The panel identified three key areas where providers should address operations to support a smooth transition to the new spring standards.

• Responsive rostering: Rostering systems need to be capable of automating complex scheduling rules and guaranteed hours to mitigate the risk of manual error and new associated fines.
• Audits: Providers must be able to evidence digitally their reasoning behind shift changes and offers, creating clear audit trails.
• Digital record-keeping: The panel advised that robust, accessible data is now essential for staying on top of compliance in an increasingly complex legal environment.

While the reforms are more extensive, the speakers clarified that they will be implemented in phases. The briefing outlined the following timeline for providers:

• April 2026: The initial phase includes strengthened...

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