Priority actions
What to do about it
Every live obligation or upcoming change, rated and re-checked daily. Red do now Amber do soon Green on the horizon.
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Red · do now
Six-year holiday pay records & NMW spot-check
What it is: Employers must keep a record of every worker's hours, pay and holiday-accrual calculation going back six years — and must always be paying at least the National Minimum Wage.
Why it matters: Failing to keep adequate records is itself a criminal offence with an unlimited fine, separate from any underpayment — and if records show holiday pay was wrong, the Fair Work Agency can charge a penalty of 200% of the underpayment (capped at £20,000 per worker, halved if paid within 14 days). The Fair Work Agency's first naming round (3 Sep) named 658 employers (B&Q, Five Guys, Tesco and several NHS trusts among them) for minimum-wage underpayment, repaying £4.2m to 27,600+ workers with £7m in penalties — proof the checks are live now, not just from 2027.
Do now: Set up (or check) a dated log per worker showing hours worked, holiday accrued and how each holiday payment was calculated, updated every pay run; also spot-check your lowest-paid, youngest and apprentice staff still clear the April 2026 rates once any deductions (uniforms, accommodation, training costs) are taken into account.
Then later: Full internal audit before the Fair Work Agency starts actively enforcing holiday pay from 2027 — NMW enforcement also transfers fully into the Agency from April 2027, per its first delivery plan.
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Red · do now
Day-one paternity & parental leave wording
What it is: Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights — no minimum service required — from 6 April 2026.
Why it matters: A handbook that still shows a qualifying period is giving staff incorrect information and could support an unfair-treatment complaint.
Do now: Open your paternity and parental leave policy today and delete any reference to a minimum length of service.
Then later: Roll the corrected wording into the next handbook reissue and brief managers who approve leave requests.
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Red · do now
Data-protection complaints procedure
What it is: A duty to acknowledge data-subject complaints (e.g. queries about a subject access request) within 30 days, in force since 19 June 2026.
Why it matters: Missing the 30-day acknowledgement is itself a breach, whatever happens with the underlying complaint.
Do now: Confirm in writing who in your business receives a data complaint and that they know to send a written acknowledgement within 30 days.
Then later: Re-confirm the process each time you update your privacy notice or data-protection policy.
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Red · do now
Harassment duty & wider discrimination risk
What it is: The standing duty to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent harassment, plus a run of tribunal and EAT rulings in August on belief, health, maternity and misconduct dismissals.
Why it matters: Employers have been penalised — tens of thousands each — for treating a protected belief's manifestation as automatic misconduct, assuming intoxication over a health condition, and letting a role lapse during maternity leave; but the EAT has also just confirmed a genuinely fair, well-evidenced dismissal won't be overturned just because a tribunal would have read the evidence differently — so process and paperwork protect you either way.
Do now: Brief managers on four rules: deal with how a belief is expressed through your normal conduct process, not the belief itself; get medical input before assuming a health explanation isn't behind an incident; give any decision affecting someone's job during leave the same documented justification as any other dismissal; and keep every dismissal decision properly evidenced and minuted so it can withstand a tribunal or an appeal.
Then later: Fold these into your next harassment risk assessment and manager training refresh; third-party harassment liability adds from 30 October.
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Red · do now
Audit flat fees & benefits for part-time impact
What it is: The Supreme Court has ruled that a worker only needs to show their part-time status was "an effective cause" of unfavourable treatment, not the sole cause, to bring a Part-Time Workers Regulations claim.
Why it matters: Any flat fee, charge, deduction or benefit rule you apply equally to full- and part-time staff is now far easier to challenge if it costs part-timers more per hour or leaves them worse off (Augustine v Data Cars Ltd [2026] UKSC 30, 12 Aug).
Do now: List every fixed fee, subscription, deduction or minimum-hours benefit rule you apply the same way regardless of hours worked, and flag any that land relatively harder on your part-time staff.
Then later: Pro-rate or objectively justify any flagged charge or benefit rule before your next pay or benefits review.
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Red · do now
Extend right-to-work checks — under three weeks left
What it is: Right-to-work checks extend to cover workers, contractors and gig-economy staff, not just employees.
Why it matters: From 1 October 2026 (15 days away) the draft Code confirms penalties of £45k per worker for a first breach (£60k for repeats), plus a new duty to check substitute workers' identities — and if a labour supplier's own checks are inadequate, that liability can pass up the chain to you as the engaging business. The Home Office's revised draft guidance (11 Sep) confirms checks can be delegated to someone else in your business or to a third party, and rules out mandatory digital-verification providers or personal liability for directors — the underlying duty and deadline are unchanged.
Do now: List every non-employee currently engaged (contractor, agency worker, gig staff), run the outstanding right-to-work checks this week, and set up a simple log recording who's been checked and when.
Then later: Document a substitute-identity check process before 1 October.
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Amber · do soon
Union access-request process
What it is: A formal right-of-access regime lets recognised unions request access to workplaces with 21+ employees.
Why it matters: From 30 October 2026 employers must respond to a request within 15 working days — breaching agreed terms risks penalties up to £500k.
Do now: Identify who would receive and log a union access request, and draft a simple response process built around the 15-day clock.
Then later: Test that whoever covers HR knows the process before the regime goes live on 30 October.
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Amber · do soon
Evidence market-forces pay gaps before a claim lands
What it is: The EAT has ruled that genuine recruitment and retention pressures can lawfully justify paying one role more than a comparable role of equal value — but on the same facts still upheld most of the original finding against the employer on premium pay (Next Retail Ltd & Next Distribution Ltd v Thandi and others [2026] EAT 130, 7 Sep).
Why it matters: If you pay a role held mostly by one sex more than a broadly equal-value role held mostly by the other, you're exposed to an equal pay claim unless you can show, with evidence, a genuine market reason — historic practice or "that's just the rate" isn't enough, and premium payments (overtime, unsocial hours, Sunday working) aren't covered by this defence at all.
Do now: List any roles of broadly equal value that you pay differently, and note down the actual recruitment/retention evidence behind each gap (vacancy-fill times, local pay benchmarking, staff turnover) so it exists before a claim, not after.
Then later: Fold this evidence into your next pay review; the store workers' solicitors have said they'll appeal the basic-pay finding further, so watch for a Court of Appeal outcome that could reopen this defence.
Also on watch, not making the top 8 today: tightening probation review points ahead of the 1 January 2027 six-month unfair dismissal threshold (already tracked on the Action checklist), the fire-and-rehire ban (1 Jan 2027) and the Bank of Baroda ruling on legacy collective agreements — all monitor only for now.
This week & recent
What's moving right now
Developments from the last few weeks that change what HR should be doing.
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11 Sep 26
Home Office updates right-to-work draft guidance ahead of 1 Oct rollout
The Home Office published a revised draft Employer's Guide to Right to Work Checks, updating July's version after stakeholder feedback. It sharpens which working arrangements need checking, confirms checks can be delegated within a business or to a third party, and rules out a separate legal category for agency workers, mandatory digital-verification providers, or personal liability for directors — the substantive 1 October duty and penalty tiers are unchanged.
Do: re-read the revised guide against your contractor/gig-worker list before running this week's checks — see the priority action above. -
07 Sep 26
Next wins key EAT round on equal pay — but only partly
The EAT ruled in Next Retail Ltd & Next Distribution Ltd v Thandi and others [2026] EAT 130 that recruitment and retention pressures were a legitimate aim justifying warehouse staff's higher basic pay than store staff, overturning that part of a 2024 tribunal ruling that favoured the mostly-female store workers. But the EAT rejected Next's challenges over night, overtime and rest-break pay, and sent the Sunday-premium question back to a fresh tribunal — so most of the original £30m finding stands. The store workers' solicitors, Leigh Day, say they'll appeal the basic-pay ruling further.
Do: if you pay comparable roles differently, especially where one skews toward one sex, document the market-driven reasons now — see the priority action above. -
03 Sep 26
Fair Work Agency's first naming round: 658 employers called out for NMW underpayment
The Fair Work Agency published Round 24 of the National Minimum Wage naming scheme — its first since taking over the round from HMRC — naming 658 employers including B&Q, Five Guys, Tesco, Whitbread and several NHS trusts. More than £4.2m has been repaid to over 27,600 workers, with penalties totalling £7m; individual underpayments ranged from £8 to £23,871 per worker, commonly from deductions (uniforms, training) or unpaid time that tipped pay below the minimum.
Do: spot-check pay for your lowest-paid, youngest and apprentice staff against the April 2026 rates once any deductions are accounted for — see the priority action above. -
01 Sep 26
FCA extends non-financial misconduct rules beyond banks
New FCA Conduct Rules (COCON 1.1.7FR) came into force on 1 September, bringing workplace bullying, harassment and violence with a sufficient work-related link within the individual conduct rules and fitness-and-propriety checks for roughly 37,000 non-bank financial services firms — insurers, asset managers, mortgage and consumer-credit firms and more — extending a regime that previously applied only to banks.
Do: if you're an FCA-regulated firm outside banking, confirm your conduct-rules training, whistleblowing route and reference-request process now cover non-financial misconduct; if you're not FCA-regulated, no action needed. -
25 Aug 26
Electronic and workplace balloting go live for union ballots
The final Code of Practice and accompanying regulations came into force today, letting a union and employer agree — voluntarily, case by case — to run industrial action, political fund and union election/merger ballots electronically or via an in-person workplace ballot box, alongside the existing postal method. Recognition and derecognition ballots aren't covered yet; those follow from 2027, date to be confirmed.
Do: no action needed unless a recognised union asks to agree e-balloting or workplace balloting with you — there's no obligation to offer it, so postal-only is fine if you'd rather not change anything.
Legislation radar
Employment Rights Act 2025 — the rollout
Royal Assent 18 Dec 2025; provisions commence in waves. Green is in force, amber is next, grey is further out.
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18 FEB 2026 In force
Industrial action reforms
Strike notice cut 14 → 10 days, ballot mandates extended 6 → 12 months, new protection from dismissal for industrial action.
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6 APR 2026 In force
The April package
SSP from day one with the lower earnings limit removed · day-one paternity & unpaid parental leave · collective-redundancy protective award doubled to 180 days' pay · six-year holiday pay record-keeping duty · Fair Work Agency established · whistleblowing protections widened.
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25 AUG 2026 In force
Electronic balloting
E-voting and hybrid/workplace voting are now live for industrial action, political fund and union election/merger ballots, on a voluntary basis agreed between union and employer — six days earlier than the 31 August originally trailed. Repeal of the 50% turnout threshold expected (timing tbc); recognition/derecognition ballots follow in 2027.
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1 OCT 2026 —
The October package
Tribunal time limits 3 → 6 months · workers must be told of their right to join a union · expanded right-to-work checks. In Scotland, breach-of-contract claims keep the old 3-month limit a little longer, moving to 6 months only from 9 Nov (a separate Scottish Ministers order). Combined with the 12-week Acas Early Conciliation window (live since Dec 2025; government reviews whether it stays at 12 weeks in October 2026), some claims could reach nine months start-to-finish.
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30 OCT 2026 —
Union access rights & harassment duty
Access regime live for employers with 21+ employees; agreed-terms breaches attract penalties up to £500k. Also from this date (delayed from 1 Oct): the "all reasonable steps" duty to prevent sexual harassment, liability for third-party harassment, and a new right not to suffer detriment for taking industrial action — deducting strike-day pay stays lawful, but a detriment failure now joins the list for a 25% Acas uplift.
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LATE 2026 Ahead
Autumn stragglers
Fair pay agreement process launches in adult social care; tipping reforms rescheduled from October to end of 2026; Mandatory Seafarers' Charter targeted for December (NMW-equivalent pay and rest for cross-Channel crew).
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1 JAN 2027 Ahead
The January cliff
Unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to six months and the compensatory cap goes · fire-and-rehire becomes automatically unfair (incl. varying pay, pensions, hours, shifts, holidays) · replacing an employee with a non-employee becomes automatically unfair · new "organisation-wide" collective-redundancy consultation threshold (pushed back from Oct 2026).
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2027 Ahead
Through 2027
Bereavement leave incl. pregnancy loss before 24 weeks · zero-hours guaranteed-hours contracts and shift notice · NDAs banned in harassment/discrimination cases · tighter flexible-working refusal test · mandatory gender equality action plans · FWA starts enforcing holiday pay.
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2028+ Ahead
On the horizon
Ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting — first snapshot unlikely before April 2028, reporting from 2029. Employment status review and TUPE reform still pending.