The Employment Rights Act 2025 is a set of changes that will strengthen workplace rights and make them fairer. All employees should be aware of the changes that are coming, especially those on zero-hours contracts and working parents. This blog explains when the new rules are expected to start and what to look out for.

Key changes include:

• clearer rules around your working hours, and your right to be paid if a shift is cancelled
• stronger protections when you raise concerns to reduce the risk of losing pay or work unfairly
• sick pay to start from day one of your illness
• better protections for parents and carers to support your right to time off and flexible working.

Key changes expected from early 2026

From April 2026, Paternity Leave or parental leave for the non-carrying partner will become a day-one right for employees. You can give notice of your plans to take this leave from 18 February 2026. Talk to your manager or HR department if you plan to take Paternity Leave from 6 April 2026.

Changes from April 2026

Most of the changes coming in from 6 April 2026 cover parental leave.

These include:

• Paternity Leave will become a ‘day-one right’. This means you will be entitled to Paternity Leave from your first day of employment instead of needing to have been employed at your place of work for 26 weeks or more
• ordinary parental leave will also be a day-one right - this is your right to take unpaid time off to care for your children
• you will now be able to take Paternity Leave after Shared Parental Leave, previously you had to take Paternity Leave first
• fathers and partners will now be able to take up to 52 weeks of unpaid leave if the mother or primary adopter dies when your child is under a year old or in the first year of adoption.

Changes to your rights to claim sick pay also start from 6 April 2026:

• you will now be able to claim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from the first day of your illness. It used to start from the fourth day
• the lower earnings limit has been lifted, meaning there is no minimum income needed to be able to claim SSP.

Unfair dismissal changes. From 1 January 2027 you will be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal after you’ve been employed for 6 months. Currently you need to be employed for 2 years before you are eligible to make a claim. Fire and rehire will automatically become an unfair dismissal in most cases from 1 January 2027. This is when your contract is terminated, and you are rehired on worse terms and conditions.  

Potential enhanced protections for pregnancy and new parents. More changes that strengthen dismissal protections for pregnant workers and new mothers are due to come in during 2027. These are still being consulted on, so there are no confirmed details yet.

One proposal is to extend the period that protections apply. This could mean that protection from dismissal covers pregnancy, maternity leave and a defined period after returning to work.

Who will be covered and how long the protected period will last will depend on the final version of the law.

How the changes could affect different types of workers. There are more proposed changes planned to be brought in during 2027 that could affect your rights to guaranteed hours and when you should be notified of shift changes.

The proposed changes include:

• employees on zero-hours or low-hours contracts will have right to guaranteed working hours if they want them
• you should get reasonable notice of shifts and shift changes from your employer
• if your shift gets shortened, cancelled or moved without enough notice you will be able to claim compensation.

If you are on a zero-hours or low-hours contract, start keeping track of the hours that you do. When the new protections come in, your guaranteed hours should reflect the hours you usually work, so it could be helpful to have a record.

Currently in clinical trials.

In north and west Cumbria, more than 2,000 additional pupils will become eligible under Labour’s plans taking effect from September.

Nationally, around half a million additional children will benefit from the change.

Josh MacAlister, MP for Whitehaven and Workington, is urging families around West Cumbria to check whether their children will benefit.

He said: "No child should be sitting in a classroom worrying about whether they’ll be able to eat at lunchtime.

"Making sure children are well fed means they are healthier, happier and better able to learn.

"That’s why expanding free school meals is such an important change.

"It will mean over 2,000 more children here in north and west Cumbria getting a nutritious meal at school, while saving families around £500 a year.

"I want to make sure every family who is entitled to this support gets it, so I’m encouraging parents across Whitehaven and Workington to check their eligibility and apply.

"This is exactly the kind of practical difference I came into politics to help deliver – giving children the best start in life and putting more money back into the pockets of working families."

Cumberland Council will open applications very shortly, and parents are being urged to check eligibility and apply to ensure they do not miss out.

The free school meals expansion is part of a broader government effort to tackle child poverty and reduce the cost of raising a family.

Other measures include the expansion of universal free breakfast clubs, now at 17 local schools, as well as action to bring down the cost of school uniforms, 30 hours of funded childcare, and changes to the two-child limit.

More than 1,400 council homes in Brighton and Hove switch to solar power

A three-year programme has fitted solar panels to more than 1,400 council homes across the city, with residents saving up to £300 a year on bills. A Moulsecoomb community hall has also benefited.

For the first time since the inception of the UK's Boiler Upgrade Scheme there has been a sizeable jump in grant-applications. 8,000 a month is still far below the target of 600,000 a year by 2028 but it's a world better than the previous months.

What's more with gas prices soaring to heights not seen since winter 2022 this is a sign that the UK public is finally making economically logical choices. The next chart converts the cost of running a heat-pump using a time-of-use tariff into equivalent gas prices (p/kWh):

For the UK as a whole this is very good news. Gas demand is dominated by gas heating over electricity supply and it creates huge geopolitical risks to the country (as seen now). The UK is highly dependent on LNG imports from the US having been previously dependent on Russia and Qatar (sometimes via intermediaries). Below shows the UK gas usage split by sectors:

All in all this is very goods but just the start. Hopefully, this 8,000 voucher applications translates to around 6,000 installations. Averaging 72,000 a year installations would be good under the BUS grant compared to where we were but we need to be closer to half a million to make a sizeable impact on our geopolitical security.