HOT TOPIC
Measures that will take effect at Royal Assent or soon afterwards include: 1.) Repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. 2.) Repeal of the great majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 (some provisions will be repealed via commencement order at a later date). 3.) Protections against dismissal for taking industrial action. Measures that will take effect in April 2026 include: 1.) Collective redundancy protective award – doubling the maximum period of the protective award. 2.) ‘Day one’ paternity leave and unpaid parental leave. 3.) The Fair Work Agency body to be established. 4.) SSP – remove the LEL and waiting period. Measures that will take effect in October 2026 include: 1.) Ending unscrupulous fire and rehire practices. 2.) Tightening tipping law. 3.) Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. 4.) Strengthen trade unions’ right of access. 5.) New rights and protections for trade union reps. 6.) Employment Tribunal time limits to be extended. Commencement of the Mandatory Seafarers Charter is expected in December 2026. Measures that will take effect in 2027 include: 1.) Gender pay gap and menopause action plans (introduced on a voluntary basis in April 2026). 2.) Enhanced dismissal protections for pregnant women and new mothers. 3.) Regulation of umbrella companies. 4.) Collective redundancy – collective consultation threshold. 5.) Improving access to flexible working. 6.) Bereavement leave. 7.) Ending the exploitative use of zero- hour contracts and applying zero-hour contract measures to agency workers. 8.) ‘Day one’ right – protection from unfair dismissal.
that the balance comes from the removal of the waiting days, meaning these employees may be paid less per week, but they will be paid from the first day of absence. In the consultation response, it states: “An employee earning an average of £125 and working two days per week (approximately five hours per day at national living wage) would cumulatively be entitled to more SSP for the first nine weeks of a sickness absence.” This is a poignant place to clarify that even though the rules of SSP are changing, and this is the statutory minimum an employer must pay their employees, employers have the right to pay occupational or company sick pay to their employees, if they so wish. Devolved nations The consultation outcome explained that even though SSP is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, the changes to SSP will be implemented to remain at parity with the United Kingdom. This is a positive step, seeing the alignment of payroll rules and regulations spanning across devolved nations. It will also reduce administrative burdens and confusion for those processing payrolls across both the UK and Northern Ireland. Parental leave and pay review In other news announced on 1 July, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the DWP announced a new CfE which ran until late August, to review parental leave and pay. This review focussed on four main objectives: l maternal health l economic growth through labour market participation l best start in life l childcare. The review also focussed on “three cross-cutting considerations in all areas of its work”: l fairness and equality l cost l social. It’s not a secret that the UK has got some improvements to make to the parental leave and pay system to even come close to family friendly policies in some of the countries in the European Union.
As always, the CIPP policy and research team jumped at the chance to work closely with DBT policy officials. This resulted in the team facilitating a Think Tank on 22 July between you, our wonderful members, and DBT officials to ensure Government could hear your views first-hand. The topics of conversation fed into our formal response to the CfE, which you can read here: https://ow.ly/ LQ6g50WlBMP. The road ahead… The roadmap goes into detail of what’s due to be implemented and when. Please review the linked documents from the Government to see the full roadmap, but the key things to highlight for payroll professionals are shown to the right. Next steps The changes coming into force most quickly for our industry are the changes to SSP. This will mean ensuring your software provider has updated software accordingly. And remember that it’s you who’s responsible for testing it works correctly! As more information is received and the policy and research team can inform you of what’s happening with things like linking periods of sickness, you’ll be able to start thinking about getting those test scripts ready for testing ahead of the 2026/2027 tax year. For this, consider situations like having an individual who’s sick for five days in March 2026 and earns under the LEL, who’s then sick for a further five days in April 2026 – they’ll now be due SSP, but when will their 28 weeks start? Just one of the questions we’re currently considering. With the Fair Work Agency’s remit covering national minimum wage, SSP and holiday pay, it’s something the policy and research team is keeping an eye on. We’ve suggested a balance needs to be found between support and enforcement, to ensure people who try to follow the rules have the resources to comply, without getting heavily penalised if they get things wrong simply in error. As the team hears more news on the advancement of the roadmap, we’ll report our findings to you through our news pages and News Online , here: https://ow.ly/8q8T50WlBVx. n
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 113 | September 2025
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