Day-One Sick Pay and Paternity Leave Changes
Getting Ready for April
A cluster of Employment Rights Act 2025 changes lands on 6 April 2026. Individually, none of them are complicated. Together, they touch payroll, absence management, and family leave policies at the same time — which makes early preparation worthwhile.
Statutory Sick Pay becomes a day-one right
Currently, employees need to wait through a qualifying period before SSP kicks in, and there's a lower earnings limit below which it isn't payable at all. From 6 April 2026, both of those restrictions disappear. SSP becomes payable from the very first day of sickness absence, with no earnings threshold, at a new rate of £123.25 per week.
For employers, this means updating absence management systems and payroll processes to remove the waiting period, and briefing managers who are used to a short buffer before sick pay obligations begin. It's also worth revisiting any contractual sick pay schemes that were designed around the old statutory floor, since the interaction between company schemes and the new statutory minimum needs checking.
Paternity and unpaid parental leave become day-one rights
Employees will be able to give notice of paternity leave and unpaid parental leave from their very first day of employment, rather than needing 26 weeks' service (paternity) or a year's service (parental leave) as under current rules. Notice for leave starting on or after 6 April could be given from 18 February 2026 onwards, so some employers may already be handling early notifications by the time this reaches you.
A related addition worth flagging to line managers: employees can also take up to 52 weeks of bereaved partner's paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the child's first year. It's a day-one right, though whether it's paid is at the employer's discretion — worth deciding your organisation's position on this before it comes up in practice, rather than in the moment.
What hasn't changed
It's worth being precise here, because it's easy to over-correct. The rate of paternity pay isn't changing — only the noticerules are becoming day-one rights. Employers should make sure managers understand this distinction, since misapplying it either way creates its own problems.
A short pre-April checklist
Update payroll systems to remove SSP waiting periods and earnings thresholds ahead of 6 April.
Brief line managers on the shift to day-one paternity and parental leave notice, particularly if new starters are already asking.
Decide your policy on paid bereaved partner's leave, rather than deciding it reactively.
Review any related policies — return-to-work processes, absence triggers, family leave guidance — that reference the old thresholds.
None of these changes are individually dramatic, but they land on the same date and touch several systems at once. A short internal audit now avoids a scramble in the first week of April.
Blue Rock Investigations supports employers navigating the practical fallout of legislative change — from grievances about inconsistent policy application to disputes arising during periods of leave.
