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Employment law changes 2026: a care employer's summary

The Employment Rights Act 2025 brings the biggest changes to UK employment law in a generation, phased across 2026 and 2027. For care providers, the changes already in force include day one statutory sick pay, day one paternity and unpaid parental leave, and higher wage rates. The largest changes, guaranteed hours and a shorter unfair dismissal qualifying period, arrive in 2027.

Why this matters for care providers

Employment law changes hit adult social care harder than almost any other sector. The sector employs around 1.71 million people, roughly 21 per cent of whom are on zero hours contracts, rising to about 35 per cent in domiciliary care. Staff costs make up 70 to 80 per cent of a provider's operating costs, and turnover sits between 25 and 35 per cent a year. When the rules on sick pay, leave, contracts and dismissal change, care feels it first and feels it most. This post summarises what has already changed, what is coming, and what to act on now.


What changed on 6 April 2026

Statutory sick pay, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave all became day one rights, and wage rates rose. These are live now and affect every care provider.

The three day waiting period for statutory sick pay has been removed, so SSP is payable from the first day of sickness absence. The lower earnings limit, which previously excluded the lowest earners, has also gone, with pay tapered for those earning below the old threshold. In a sector with large numbers of low paid and part time staff, this widens the pool of eligible workers significantly. The additional cost has been estimated at around £15 per employee.

Statutory paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day one rights, removing the previous 26 week and one year qualifying periods. Eligible parents have been able to give notice since 18 February 2026. The right to take leave is what changed; the qualifying conditions for paternity pay remain separate. There is also a new bereaved partner's paternity leave allowing up to 52 weeks where the mother or primary adopter dies in the child's first year.


From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage rose to £12.71 per hour for those aged 21 and over, with lower bands for younger workers and apprentices. SSP and the family leave pay rates also increased.


What is coming in late 2026

The main expected change is a longer Employment Tribunal time limit, likely from October 2026. Employees are expected to have six months rather than three to bring most claims, which means providers wait twice as long to know whether a claim is coming.

Several measures originally pencilled in for October 2026, including fire and rehire protections and the day one elements of the new dismissal regime, have been confirmed or re-timetabled into 2027 following consultation. Treat any single date as provisional until the relevant regulations are laid, and check GOV.UK or Acas before relying on a deadline. This is exactly why this post is refreshed quarterly.

Not sure where your governance and workforce systems stand against the new rules? Check your readiness with the CareLearner CQC Readiness Assessment and work through the gaps with your management team before the 2027 changes land.

The 2027 changes that matter most to care

Two 2027 changes reshape how care providers staff and manage their workforce: guaranteed hours and a shorter unfair dismissal qualifying period.

From a date in 2027, workers on zero hours and low hours contracts will gain the right to be offered guaranteed hours reflecting the hours they actually work over a reference period, likely 12 weeks. Employers will need to issue written notices and make compliant offers, which workers can accept or decline. For a sector where a third of domiciliary care staff are on zero hours contracts, this is structural rather than cosmetic. Accurate rostering that can calculate reference period hours stops being a nice to have and becomes core infrastructure. There will also be rights to reasonable notice of shifts and payment for short notice cancellations.

From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal protection drops from two years to six months. Day one unfair dismissal was dropped during the Bill's passage in favour of this six month period, but the cap on compensation has been removed. With turnover high and probation decisions common in care, this puts real weight on fair recruitment, structured onboarding and procedurally sound dismissal decisions much earlier in the employment relationship.


Fire and rehire also becomes automatically unfair in most cases from 2027 where an employer dismisses someone for refusing a restricted variation of contract, subject to a narrow financial distress exception.


The counter-intuitive point: the "flexibility" you rely on is the biggest exposure

Most providers think of zero hours contracts as the flexible, low risk part of their workforce model. Under the new rules, that is reversed. The contracts you lean on to cover variable demand are precisely the ones that now generate guaranteed hours obligations, written notice duties, and automatic unfair dismissal risk if you get the process wrong. The part of the workforce that felt lowest commitment is becoming the part that carries the highest compliance load. Providers who audit their zero and low hours population now, rather than in 2027, will have a year's head start on the systems and offers they will need.


What to do now

You do not need to wait for every regulation to be finalised to prepare. Sensible steps for this year:

  • Update sickness absence and family leave policies to reflect the day one SSP, paternity and parental leave changes already in force.

  • Brief line managers, who are usually the first point of contact, on the new entitlements so requests are handled lawfully.

  • Audit your workforce contracts now. Count how many staff are on zero hours and low hours arrangements and model what guaranteed hours offers would look like.

  • Review rostering systems for the ability to track hours over a reference period.

  • Tighten recruitment, probation and onboarding so dismissal decisions stand up under the six month qualifying period from January 2027.


Frequently asked questions

Is statutory sick pay now payable from the first day of absence? Yes. From 6 April 2026 the three day waiting period was removed and the lower earnings limit abolished, so SSP is payable from day one and to a wider group of workers.


Are zero hours contracts banned? No. They are not banned, but from 2027 employers will have to offer guaranteed hours to qualifying zero and low hours workers based on the hours they actually work over a reference period. Workers can decline the offer.


When does the unfair dismissal qualifying period change? From 1 January 2027 the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal drops from two years to six months, and the cap on compensation has been removed.


Do the day one paternity and parental leave changes mean we have to pay from day one? No. The right to take the leave is now a day one right, but the qualifying conditions for statutory paternity pay are separate and unchanged.


Where can I check the confirmed dates? GOV.UK and Acas hold the current position. Because some dates are still subject to consultation and regulations, confirm against those sources before relying on any deadline.


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