Employment Law newsletter – Spring 2026
Welcome to our Spring newsletter. It’s been an extremely busy few months. Many significant measures contained in the Employment Rights Act 2025 were implemented in April and numerous consultation papers have been published about the Act’s future reforms. There have been wide-ranging changes to the Immigration Rules and changes for sponsor licence holders as well as changes announced for the pensions salary sacrifice cap. We have also had some interesting Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decisions about issues as varied as the fairness of performance management proceedings and the consequences of withdrawing a conditional job offer.
Articles
Acas survey on impact of Employment Rights Act 2025
Changes to statutory sick pay topped the list of measures likely to have the biggest impact in the workplace.
Equality Action Plans: what employers need to know
The purpose of Equality Action Plans is to help women to succeed at work.
Important changes for sponsor licence holders
New Home Office guidance issued in March and April 2026 increases and enhances sponsor accountability.
Changes ahead for pensions salary sacrifice cap
The National Insurance savings on pension contributions via salary sacrifice will be capped at £2,000 per year from 6 April 2029.
Paying domestic workers less than overseas workers on a visa was indirect race discrimination
Domestic support workers were at a disadvantage compared to overseas workers because of their lower rate of pay.
Withdrawing job offer amounted to a breach of contract
Withdrawing a conditional job offer was a breach of contract even though the employee had not started work.
Important changes proposed for Non-disclosure agreements
Future reforms will limit the use of NDAs in cases of workplace harassment or discrimination.
Employment Rights Act 2025: consultation papers and updated timeline published
Seven consultation papers and an updated implementation timeline were published in February 2026.
Changes to statutory sick pay introduced
Removal of the lower earnings limit and a day-one right to SSP are now in force.
Importance of fair performance management proceedings
Doubt cast on the fairness of a performance management model described as “up or elsewhere”.
Immigration Rules changes
March 2026 saw a wide range of work, study, family and visitor routes and business-related changes.
Team news
I am delighted to announce the promotion of Jane Biddlecombe to Partner. This reflects Jane’s exceptional work and commitment to clients as well as expertise. Congratulations Jane on your promotion, it is very well-deserved.
Webinars
We will be holding our next Employment webinar on 16 June 2026. At the session, we will be discussing Talent Management: the legal and practical issues and I’m delighted to inform you that this will be a joint webinar with Partners of the Employment and Immigration teams. For more details of the webinar, our speakers and how to register, please see our invitation here.
The webinar is part of our Employment Forum webinar series.
On 21 May 2026, we will be providing an update on the Employment Rights Act 2025: where are we now and what’s on the horizon? The webinar will highlight some of the key measures recently introduced, the changes we can expect in October 2026 and the impact of the high-profile unfair dismissal changes in January 2027. For more details and how to register, please see our invitation Employment Rights Act 2025 update.
We do hope you can join us at the webinars.
Finally, I would just like to remind you that we have published our Handy Fact Card 2026/2027 which has the details of the new statutory rates and limits.
I hope you will find all the articles above informative and helpful, and if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual Blake Morgan contact.
Tags: Employment Rights, newsletter
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