Delegates at The Morning Advertiser‘s recent MA Leaders conference, which took place in London earlier this month (Wednesday 4 March) heard from employment solicitor at Thackray Williams, Lydia Button.
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She said: “[The] removal of the lower earnings limit will mean all employees will be eligible for SSP from day one of sickness, not day four as it is currently.
“The rate of SSP will be set at whichever is lower of 80% of earnings or at the flat rate, which is currently £123.25 (per week), coming into effect from 6 April 2026."
Button urged operators to prepare by ensuring all absence management procedures are reviewed and updated to reflect the new changes.
Wider ramifications
She added: “The Fair Work Agency is a new body that is going to be established on 7 April 2026.
“Currently, most employment rights are enforced by individuals through employment tribunals and only a limited number are state enforced such as national minimum wage is usually enforced by the state.
“However, as of 7 April this year, the Employment Rights Act is consolidating all state enforcement functions meaning holiday pay, SSP will come into the scope of the Fair Work Agency’s powers later on.
“Essentially, it’s not down to the employees now, which exposes businesses a bit more because even if we think your employees don’t know about this, there could be ramifications from the wider powers.
“It’s really important everyone makes sure they are following the rules, reviewing policies and making sure everything is up to date.
“The Fair Work Agency will be creating a more proactive landscape so make sure you can get ahead of the changes.”
Legal changes
She also outlined further parts of the bill that impacts hospitality operators. This included the trade union reforms where as of 18 February 2026, the majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 was repealed.
Some changes include a shortened notice period for employees to give notice of industrial action from 14 days to 10 as well as ballot mandates now last for 12 months instead of six, meaning unions have more time to act following a successful ballot.
Looking ahead to October this year, there will be a new duty on employees to inform workers of their right to join a union alongside strengthened trade union access rights to recruit members - currently unions don’t have that access but means if employers don’t allow that access once the change comes in, there will be consequences such as financial penalties.
Furthermore, this change also means employees are protected from dismissal for taking industrial action.
Button said: “Before 18 February 2026, employees were protected from dismissal for the first 12 weeks of strike but now, since that change, the protection runs throughout the entire strike action so from the point employees engage in industrial action, they will be protected from unfair dismissal.
“There are around 6.1m union members across England, Scotland and Wales so we are expecting increased union activity and we’re advising our clients to prepare for that.”
She advised how operators can plan ahead of any potential action.
Button added: “[You] need to look at employee relation strategies. Make sure you are prepared for trying to minimise any disputes from occurring by looking at employee engagement surveys, seeing if there are any issues already in the workplace, training managers to recognise those and then acting accordingly to make sure any dispute resolution processes within the businesses are as strong as they can be to mitigate it going any further.
“Some additional practical steps might be investing in wellbeing and engagement and reviewing and updating policies, strengthening fairness and inclusion practices and ensuring managers understand not only recognising whether there’s any disruption or concerns among the workforce but making sure they understand what these implications could be and how to respond appropriately.”
