Day one rights are the employment protections that apply from the very first day of a job, rather than after a period of service.
Many employees mistakenly believe they must pass a probationary period before they are entitled to basic legal cover. While some protections, including around discrimination and whistleblowing, have always applied from day one, others, such as ordinary unfair dismissal, were traditionally only granted after a set period of employment.
These regulations are evolving following the introduction of the Employment Rights Act 2025, announced in 2024, with expansions to day one rights for employees coming into force over 2026 and 2027. For employers, this will mean higher statutory payments and potentially more day-to-day administration to stay compliant.
Understanding how day one rights are changing will help employers manage the transition smoothly.
Day one rights are the legal obligations an employer must meet from the moment an employee signs their contract.
This includes measures to safeguard the wellbeing of staff – like Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and limits to maximum working hours – as well as paternity and parental leave. The law also immediately protects employees from unfair dismissal in cases of discrimination, whistleblowing, harassment or industrial action.
The Employment Rights Act 1996 is the foundational legislation that codifies day one rights in the UK. While this law has been amended many times, the Employment Rights Act 2025 represents the most significant expansion of workers’ rights since the act was first introduced. New protections will come into force in 2026 and 2027, with a number of important provisions taking effect in April 2026.
Day one rights ensure that all workers, particularly those in lower paid or insecure roles, are financially and legally protected as soon as they start a new job. The Employment Rights Act 2025 strengthens these protections by removing barriers to accessing Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as well as parental and bereavement leave. Government research indicates that these measures could benefit up to 15 million people.
Day one rights mean employers have to treat staff as full members of the team from their first day. They cannot use a probationary period to bypass basic entitlements, and must ensure that all employees are entitled to fair procedures regardless of their length of service. This builds a culture of mutual respect in the workplace and means managers have to be more confident in their hiring decisions.
Day one rights reduce the likelihood of costly tribunals. When both parties have clear legal protections from the start, there is less scope for misunderstanding and legal action in the future. While the qualifying period for unfair dismissal will still be set at six months after the latest reforms, day one rights covering instances of discrimination, whistleblowing, harassment and industrial action incentivise employers to follow fair processes from the beginning to protect themselves from litigation.
Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act mandates that employers must provide a written statement of employment particulars to employees on or before their first day. This document must include essentials such as pay, hours of work, notice period, benefits, holiday entitlement and working location.
Under the current system, most employees must work for an employer for two continuous years before they can claim ordinary unfair dismissal. However, the Employment Rights Act 2025 has introduced a significant change: from January 1st 2027, this qualifying period will be reduced from two years to six months. This means that an employee will have the right to challenge a dismissal much earlier in their employment.
Even before an employee reaches this stage, they are protected by day one rights regarding automatically unfair dismissal. A dismissal is automatically unfair if the reason for it is legally prohibited regardless of length of service. This includes being dismissed for reasons such as pregnancy or maternity, trade union membership, taking part in industrial action, requesting flexible working or reporting health and safety concerns.
In these cases, a tribunal does not consider whether the employer acted reasonably. The dismissal is deemed unlawful as soon as it is shown that the employer dismissed the employee for a prohibited reason.
Cases of whistleblowing and discrimination are also protected from day one. If an employee is dismissed because they reported wrongdoing (such as a criminal offence or a breach of legal obligation) they can claim unfair dismissal immediately. From April 2026, employees who report sexual harassment will also qualify for whistleblowing protection.
Similarly, under the Equality Act 2010, it is immediately unlawful to dismiss someone because of a protected characteristic, such as age, disability, race or religion. These claims are not subject to any minimum service requirement and, from January 2027, the financial compensation for such claims will no longer be subject to a statutory cap.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum legal amount an employer must pay an employee who is too ill to work. Before April 2026, SSP acted as a safety net with a built-in delay – it was paid at a flat rate for up to 28 weeks, and employees were not paid for the first three days of their illness.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 transforms SSP into a day one right by removing the eligibility rules that would often leave new or low-paid staff without support. From April 2026, workers are entitled to pay from their very first day of absence. This change aims to prevent “presenteeism,” where staff feel forced to work while unwell because they cannot afford to lose three days of wages.
While the payment timing has changed, the maximum duration for SSP remains 28 weeks for any single or linked period of sickness, and employees generally still need to provide a fit note if they are absent for more than seven calendar days.
The Act also broadens eligibility by removing the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL). Until recently, anyone earning less than £125 per week was excluded from the sick pay system entirely. Now, up to 1.3 million low-paid and part-time workers will be able to take time off for illness without worrying about losing pay. To make these changes fairer to employers, the amount paid is either the standard weekly rate (£123.25 from April 2026) or 80% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
Additionally, the new Fair Work Agency will have the power to issue underpayment notices and fines to employers who fail to pay the correct amount of SSP.
While paternity leave typically covers the period immediately following birth or adoption, unpaid parental leave is a longer-term entitlement designed to help parents look after their child until they turn 18.
Historically, these rights were only granted after a qualifying period of service. To qualify for paternity leave, an employee needed at least 26 weeks of continuous employment, while unpaid parental leave required a full year of service. This meant that many workers who changed jobs shortly before or after becoming parents were left with no legal right to take time off to be with their families.
The 2025 reforms have now made family leave a day one right. As of April 2026, the 26-week and one-year service requirements have been removed, allowing new staff to give notice and take leave from their very first day of employment. This change is estimated to benefit 32,000 more fathers and 1.5 million more parents annually.
Furthermore, a new Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave (BPPL) now allows up to 52 weeks of leave if a mother or primary adopter dies, providing crucial safeguards for employees in difficult circumstances.
It is important to distinguish between the right to take leave and the right to receive statutory pay. While the leave itself is now a day one right, Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) still requires an employee to have been employed for 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the baby is due. A new starter is legally entitled to the time off, but the employer is not mandated to pay the statutory rate unless the worker meets both the service requirement and the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), which is £129 per week as of April 2026.
The new rules also offer greater flexibility for parents. Employees are no longer restricted from taking paternity leave if they have already started shared parental leave, and have been able to give notice of their intent to take leave since February 18th 2026. This ensures that those with babies due this Spring can access their entitlements immediately.
Bereavement leave is designed to provide a legal safety net for employees during times of grief. While employers usually offer compassionate leave at their own discretion, the law now provides a more consistent set of safeguards in specific circumstances.
Parental Bereavement Leave (Jack’s Law) is already established as a day one right providing two weeks of leave for parents who lose a child under the age of 18 or experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. While the right to take this leave is immediate, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) currently requires 26 weeks of continuous service.
Additionally, a new day-one statutory right to unpaid bereavement leave is expected to be introduced from 2027. This will provide a minimum of one week of leave following the loss of a “relevant person,” such as a partner or close family member, and recognises miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and molar pregnancies as bereavements rather than medical issues.
Because bereavements can often occur suddenly and unexpectedly, the law allows employees to provide flexible notice. For both BPPL and parental bereavement leave, employees can provide oral notice in the immediate aftermath and stop working right away. Furthermore, protection from dismissal for taking this leave applies from the very first day of employment.
Day one rights are the legal protections that employers must provide to staff from their very first day. They ensure that employees are guaranteed certain rights – such as the right to a written contract, protection against discrimination and access to particular types of leave – regardless of how long they have been working in a role.
Yes. From April 6th 2026, the three day waiting period to access SSP has been abolished. This means that if you are unwell, you are entitled to SSP from your first full day of absence. Furthermore, the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) has been removed, meaning lower paid or part-time employees are now entitled to SSP. The amount you receive will be either the standard flat rate (£123.25 per week) or 80% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
Yes, but the law provides important protections from day one in certain circumstances. While you generally cannot claim ordinary unfair dismissal until you have completed two years of continuous service (or six months, starting from January 2027), you are protected from automatically unfair dismissal from day one. This means an employer cannot dismiss you for unlawful reasons, such as in cases of pregnancy, whistleblowing, sexual harassment or trade union membership. Dismissals based on protected characteristics like race, religion or disability are also prohibited from day one.
Yes, in certain circumstances – although in most cases, compassionate leave remains at the employer’s discretion until new reforms are introduced. A new statutory right to a minimum of one week of unpaid bereavement leave is expected to be introduced from 2027, giving employees time off following the loss of a “relevant person” such as a partner or close family member, including pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Existing day one rights such as Parental Bereavement Leave already apply, although statutory pay still typically requires 26 weeks of service.
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