With first swathe of reforms set to come into force in April, experts warn of ‘fundamental shift’ in relationship between employer and employee
28 January 2026
Employees lack a clear understanding of how upcoming changes under the Employment Rights Act will affect them personally, research has revealed.
The legislation includes day-one rights to paternity and parental leave, reform of statutory sick pay and the reduction of the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months.
Despite the scale of the reforms, 41 per cent of employees surveyed by employee benefits provider Reward Gateway Edenred said they did not know how they would be affected by new redundancy rights or pay transparency and discrimination laws.
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Two in five (42 per cent) employees said they were unclear about how reforms to parental leave included in the legislation would impact them, with 21 per cent admitting they did not understand the changes at all.
The first wave of reforms under the Act are set to come into force in April this year and will include changes to statutory sick pay and an extension of trade union rights.
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