30% of employers told an Acas-commissioned YouGov survey that paying statutory sick pay from the first day of illness will be the hardest Employment Rights Act 2025 change to adopt.
27% ranked day-one paternity leave as their biggest challenge, while 23% pointed to new unfair dismissal protections that will cut the qualifying period to six months from two years.
From 1 January 2027, workers will gain unfair-dismissal protection after six months in a job, and the cap on unfair-dismissal compensation will be removed.
Acas called the reforms the biggest shake-up in employment law in a generation and said businesses that update probation and leave policies early can avoid costly disputes.