Down-to-earth change, big HR implications. Ministers have laid the statutory instrument that switches paternity and unpaid parental leave to ‘day one’ rights this spring, confirming the timetable first set by the Employment Rights Act 2025. The instrument was made on 6 January and laid before Parliament on 12 January, signed by Business and Trade minister Kate Dearden. ([gov.uk](Link

What actually changes is simple: the old qualifying periods go. Parents will no longer need a year’s service for ordinary parental leave or 26 weeks’ service for paternity leave. The Act also removes the technical bar on taking paternity leave after a period of shared parental leave, tidying up a long‑standing snag in the rules. ([legislation.gov.uk](Link

Timing matters. The ‘go live’ for the new entitlements is Monday 6 April 2026, with a short operational lead‑in from mid‑February so HR teams can start handling notices and evidence in advance. For most families, the new rules bite where the expected week of birth starts on or after Sunday 5 April 2026; births or placements before 6 April generally stay under the old regime, with specific exceptions in bereavement cases.

Although leave becomes a day‑one right, statutory pay is a separate question. The 2025 Act focuses on entitlement to take the leave and on removing the post‑shared‑parental‑leave restriction; it does not rewrite the core statutory paternity pay eligibility tests. Employers should brief staff clearly that leave and pay have different gateways. ([legislation.gov.uk](Link

For employers the immediate job is housekeeping. Update handbooks, intranet pages and onboarding packs to reflect day‑one eligibility; refresh template forms for notices and declarations; and brief line managers on approving leave quickly when eligibility no longer hinges on service. Build in a March communications push so staff who are expecting children around April know how to give notice under the new rules.

Rotas and cover need fresh assumptions. Expect more paternity leave claims from newer starters and plan for short, defined absences in Q2. SMEs without deep benches should pre‑arrange bank or agency support for two‑week gaps, and agree simple handovers for roles that touch customers or safety‑critical processes.

Payroll teams should separate the entitlement decision from any pay check. Keep an eye on average weekly earnings tests and payroll cut‑offs, and coordinate with HR so approvals, evidence and pay assessments don’t work at cross‑purposes during the April transition. Where pay is not due, consider enhanced company schemes to keep experiences equitable across teams.

The changes apply across Great Britain. Multi‑site employers should ensure HRIS settings, self‑service portals and manager dashboards all align to the same effective dates, and that overseas or Northern Ireland operations are given tailored guidance to avoid accidental cross‑border assumptions.

There’s a people story here too. Campaigns following widely reported tragedies where new partners could not access paternity leave because they were too new in post helped spur the day‑one reform. The policy intent is to reduce that gap and make support immediate when families need it most. ([theguardian.com](Link

Expect some operational friction in April and May as old and new cohorts overlap. A practical approach is to log every request with the expected week of birth and apply the transitional rules consistently, documenting the basis for decisions so audit trails are clean if disputes arise later.

Finance directors don’t need to rip up 2026 budgets, but they should rebalance contingency lines from long absences to short, frequent absences. Day‑one eligibility tends to increase uptake; the cost signal is mainly about temporary cover and minor productivity dips rather than extended wage liabilities.

Big picture, this is a compliance upgrade with cultural benefits attached. The legal framework now matches how families actually work, and it removes an administrative hurdle that rarely served a business purpose. Getting the basics right by April-clear comms, trained managers, tidy payroll workflows-will spare you far more time than it takes to prepare. ([acas.org.uk](Link