Since April 2026, employment law has undergone significant changes. Are your HR policies keeping up?

Nicola Charlwood
Jun 4
4 min read

Photo of a desk with a HR Policy Folder, keyboard and calculator. — Updated HR Policy Template Bundle, April 2026.

Most small businesses already have HR policies in place.

In many cases, they began as downloadable templates, a quick and practical way to make sure the essentials were covered and the business stayed compliant. And for a long time, that approach works well.

But employment law doesn’t stand still, and neither do businesses. As teams grow, roles evolve, and ways of working shift, policies need to keep pace.

That’s why the latest round of employment law changes is a timely reminder for business owners: now is the right moment to check that your HR policy templates are still up to date and fit for purpose.

Changes to Employment Law April 2026 and why it matters

From 1st April 2026, several important employment law changes came into effect, impacting how small businesses manage their people.

Statutory Sick Pay Changes April 2026

One of the most significant changes is to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). The current three-day waiting period has been removed, meaning SSP will now be payable from day one of sickness absence. In addition, the earnings threshold is being scrapped entirely, which means all employees - including part-time and lower-paid staff - will be eligible. The calculation method is also changing, with SSP increasing to the lower of £123.25 per week or 80% of average weekly earnings.

Staff Leave Changes

There are also changes to family-related leave rights. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave will now be available from day one of employment, rather than after a qualifying period. Notice requirements are being reduced, and new protections are being introduced for bereaved partners.

National Minimum Wage Changes April 2026

Alongside this, increases to National Minimum Wage rates will bring more employees into higher pay brackets, the changes are below:

Workers aged 21 and over (NLW): £12.71 per hour (up from £12.21) — a 4.1% increase
Workers aged 18 to 20: £10.85 per hour (up from £10) — an 8.5% increase
Workers aged 16 to 17 and apprentices: £8 per hour (up from £7.55) — a 6% increase
Accommodation offset: £11.10 per day (up from £10.66) — a 4.1% increase.

Other Changes

Statutory sick pay (SSP): increases from £118.75 to £123.25 per week, alongside the removal of the lower earnings limit
Statutory family leave payments (including statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental bereavement and neonatal care pay): increase from £187.18 to £194.32 per week for periods where the minimum cap applies
Lower earnings limit: increases from £125 to £129 per week (£6,708 per year).

There are also strengthened penalties around redundancy consultation failures, as well as clearer protections for employees raising concerns about sexual harassment under whistleblowing legislation.

A new Fair Work Agency will also begin enforcement activity, alongside increased expectations around record-keeping for areas such as holiday pay and statutory entitlements.

For small businesses, these changes don’t just sit in the background. They directly affect how policies should be written, applied, and communicated across the organisation.

Why this is the right moment to review your policies

Even if your current HR templates are compliant, changes in legislation are a reminder that policies should never be static documents.

They should reflect:

Current employment law
How your business actually operates
The expectations placed on managers day to day
The reality of how decisions are made in practice

When policies fall out of date, the risk isn’t just non-compliance. It’s inconsistency. Managers start making decisions based on judgement rather than guidance, and employees may experience things differently depending on who they speak to.

Over time, this can create uncertainty and avoidable friction within teams.

Your policies also need to be communicated to your teams, and managers need to understand them. It may be worth putting on a brief training session for your managers so that they can communicate the policies to their teams.

The value of starting with strong HR policy templates

For many small businesses, the simplest and most effective starting point is a set of well-structured, compliant HR policy templates.

When they’re up to date and well written, they provide:

A clear framework for managers
Consistency across decision-making
Confidence that key legal requirements are covered
A practical foundation that can be implemented straight away

They take the pressure off business owners and managers by giving them something reliable to work from.

This is particularly important during periods of legal change, where having clear, current policies in place reduces uncertainty and helps teams adapt more smoothly.

The difference tailored support can make

While templates provide a strong foundation, every business is different.

The way your team communicates, your management style, your size, and your culture all influence how policies are experienced in real life.

This is where Nicola from Holistic HR can really make a difference to the management of your staff.

Alongside the policy templates, Nicola offers dedicated consultancy time to help you tailor them to your business. This isn’t about starting from scratch — it’s about making sure what you already have genuinely works in practice.

That might include:

Helping managers apply policies consistently
Adapting wording to better reflect your culture and values
Supporting real-life decision-making scenarios
Ensuring policies are embedded, not just documented

When policies are aligned properly with your business, they stop being static documents and become practical tools that support both managers and teams.

A combined approach

The templates give you a strong, compliant starting point, ready to download and implement straight away.

The consultancy support helps you take those templates further, ensuring they are fully embedded in your business and supporting the way your team works.

Both options work independently. But together, they create a far stronger and more confident approach to people management.

Clarity, Consistency and Confidence for your Team

New employment law changes are a timely reminder that HR policies should never be left to gather dust.

Keeping your templates up to date ensures you remain compliant and protected. But ensuring they reflect your business and are properly embedded in practice is what really makes the difference to day-to-day management.

With the right combination of up-to-date HR policy templates and practical HR support, you can create clarity for managers, consistency across your team, and confidence in how your business handles people matters.