Employment in the news | January 2026

More than a year after its introduction, the Employment Rights Act became law on 18 December 2026. You can read more about the Act here and watch our Employment Bite here. In January, the government confirmed that some key aspects of the Act will come into force in April.

As expected, paternity and unpaid parental leave become day one rights from 6 April 2026, and parents will now be able to take paternity leave even if they have already taken shared parental leave. Employees who will qualify for leave from April because of the changes can start giving their employers notice of this from 18 February.

Next steps

• Review paternity and unpaid parental leave policies to remove service requirements.
• Pay policies can remain unchanged as statutory paternity pay is not becoming a day one right and parental leave remains unpaid.

The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act came into force at the end of December 2025. This means that paternity leave becomes a day one right for the father/ second parent if a child's mother or primary adopter dies slightly earlier than it does for other employees.

More fundamentally, the draft Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave Regulations create a new right to a longer period of leave for the bereaved parent if a child's primary carer dies. From 6 April, they will be able to take up to 52 weeks of leave after a bereavement to allow them to care for their child in the first year of its life.

Except for remuneration, an employee's normal terms and conditions continue to apply during leave. They can work up to 10 KIT days by agreement, and they have a right to return to the same job, or in some cases to a suitable alternative role. They must also be offered available suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation in the same way as employees who are on or who have returned to work from other types of family leave. However, any period of leave is unpaid.

Next steps

• Consider whether to offer paid leave to a bereaved parent and whether to amend existing policies to cover the detail of the new right.
• Ensure that HR teams can advise eligible employees if required.

The EAT decision in Micro Focus Ltd v Mildenhall is the first UK appeal decision to grapple with the implications of the CJEU decision in UQ v Marclean Technologies. Marclean caused uncertainty in the context of collective redundancy consultation by endorsing a look back/ look forward approach to whether there had been the relevant number of dismissals over a 90-day period. The Mildenhall decision provides more clarity for employers.

During a reorganisation, an employer took provisional decisions about whether to dismiss, retain or transfer employees in November 2021. By March 2022, a “master spreadsheet” listed employees who would be dismissed. Relying on the spreadsheet, and on the decision in Marclean, the tribunal concluded that there must have been a proposal to make at least 45 employees redundant from early January.

However, the EAT observed its reliance on Marclean meant that the tribunal might have focused on the wrong issue. A proposal to dismiss 20 or more employees within 90 days triggers a duty to inform and consult. An employer does not have consultation obligations simply because it dismisses 20 or more employees over the period. Focussing on the actual number of dismissals in the relevant period based on a look forward/ look back approach meant the tribunal didn't address whether and when the employer was proposing the relevant number of dismissals. As the absolute number of dismissals didn't answer that question, the case had to go back to the tribunal for further analysis.

Next steps

• The decision is a reminder of the need to focus on “proposals”, not the number of dismissals in isolation, as the trigger for collective consultation.
• However, the overall number of dismissals within a 90-day period will be relevant evidence from which a tribunal could conclude that the employer was proposing the necessary number of redundancies, if it addresses the correct legal question.
• Remember that failing to comply with consultation obligations will become more expensive once the maximum protective award increases from 90 to 180 days' pay, expected in April.