Back to blogs I was working with a park recently when a Manager commented “You don’t know, what you don’t know”. Travelling back home and pondering on the conversation, I thought how right they were.
Managers, even the very best, can’t be experts in everything and all things at once. On top of operational needs and challenges, keeping a team motivated and striving for the best customer experience, to aiming for record breaking performance and unforgettable experiences, there’s often very little time for Managers to keep up to date with legislative changes, especially if they’re not from a people or HR focused background or if they don’t have a dedicated HR team to keep them updated.
It got me to thinking about the risk “not knowing” could have on Holiday Parks in terms of the Employment Rights Act.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 will bring some of the biggest changes to employment law in decades. Part of the Government’s plan to Make Work Pay, the changes are aimed at growing the economy, boosting wages and reducing insecure work.
The changes will be rolled out over the next two years, with the next round of changes taking place in April 2026. So, for Holiday Parks, this April doesn’t just mean a new season, it means new standards.
And with the Fair Work Agency beginning operations in April, it’s important that parks don’t just understand what’s changing, but are ready to adopt those changes and evidence compliance. For park owners and leaders, early preparation is the key to staying compliant and protecting your park from legal, financial, and reputational risk. How can parks reduce that risk? By making sure your framework, your leaders and your team are informed and ready.
Given the number of changes due to roll out over the next couple of years, here’s my guide to 5 changes Holiday Parks need to be aware of (in order of rollout):
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Reform
From April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay will no longer have a Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) and will have no three day waiting period, meaning employees are entitled to SSP from day one of sickness regardless of earnings. This applies to all staff including low-hours and part-year workers. It’s important that all absence management policies and employee handbooks are updated to reflect these changes and that any payroll systems have the ability to remove the LEL and waiting day configurations. In addition, it’s key that managers have a handle on short term absence throughout their team right now and understand how to apply the policy in this area, as it’s predicted to increase following this change.
- Day-One Rights to Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave
From April 2026, employees will gain access to both Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave from day one of employment, removing the previous service requirements. This change means new starters will instantly qualify for time off related to the birth or adoption of a child and will also remove the restriction of taking paternity after shared parental leave giving employees more flexibility. All onboarding documents for new starts should be updated to reflect these rights, alongside communicating to existing staff. It’s also a good idea to train managers so they can handle requests sensitively and compliantly.
- New Protections from Sexual Harassment
Also coming into force in April 2026 are stronger protections for workers who report sexual harassment, reflecting the government’s intention to create safer workplace cultures. Sexual Harassment will be covered by Whistleblowing Law in April 2026 and as of October 2026 employers will have a responsibility to review the steps previously taken In October 2024, as the requirement to now take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees, including from 3rd parties such as guests and owners kicks in. Park policies covering whistleblowing and sexual harassment should be revised to reflect the expanded protections and investigation procedures must be reviewed to ensure independence and accessibility. It’s really important that park leaders and managers have enhanced and effective training to reduce the level of liability.
- Unfair Dismissal
Perhaps one of the most significant changes, the qualifying period for an employee to be protected from unfair dismissal will reduce from two years to six months. Employees will gain the right to bring an unfair dismissal claim after six months of service and, from 1 January 2027, any employee with six months service will automatically gain the same rights with retrospective application. This means that anyone recruited from July, receives this new protection. Further to the change in qualifying period, the Act will also remove the cap on the basic award for unfair dismissal claims, increasing the financial risk to parks. Employers will now have just six months to assess a new employee’s suitability, and at the pace at which seasons go by in holiday parks, this is a relatively short period. It is crucial to review your Recruitment, Disciplinary and Dismissal policies to ensure they are fair, consistent and compliant whilst updating your probation review process and period. The Probationary processes will have to be robust, decisive and transparent. Record keeping will be key and the Manager’s role in reducing the risk of unfair dismissal claims through their understanding, confidence and compliance in performance management within an employee’s first 6 months will be critical.
- Zero Hours, Agency and Shift Workers.
There is further planned consultation in 2026 covering zero hours, agency and shift workers. Following those consultations, it is planned to roll out extra protections in 2027 including the right to more predictable hours, the right to reasonable notice of shifts and the right to payment for cancelled shifts (with insufficient notice). Both the agency and the hirer could be held jointly responsible and agency workers will receive the same protections. It’s a good idea to review commercial rotas, shift scheduling, notice protocols and contracts early to assess whether you are in a strong position ahead of the changes and to implement process or system changes in good time if you’re not. If you have plans in place for zero or low hours contracts and agency staffing over the next season and beyond, it’s a good time to review those too.
These are just 5 changes that are coming over the next two years. There are far more coming that enhance protections across family leave, bereavement leave, flexible working law, collective consultation, industrial action and trade union law. The voluntary action plans ‘suggested’ in 2026 around menopause and gender pay gaps will become mandatory, tipping law is changing and employment tribunal time limits are extending. Oh and don’t forget the increase in minimum and living wage around this time of year!
The Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms represent one of the most substantial shifts in UK HR law in years. For HR teams and park owners, early preparation is the key to staying compliant and protecting the organisation from legal, financial, and reputational risk. But much deeper than that, it represents a genuine opportunity to review current arrangements and build healthier and more productive workplaces.
We’re already helping a number of parks prepare for the upcoming changes through policy, process and documentation reviews and updates, management training and leadership updates. If you’d like to talk to me more about the Employment Rights Act 2025 and impact for your park, you can reach me at julie.hughes@ruthbadger.com
And as a final note, thinking back to the ‘’You don’t know, what you don’t know” comment, I’m reminded of that valuable parenting lesson delivered by my Dad (apparently dating back to the 17th century!) as I grumbled about the fine I’d received for driving in a bus lane… ‘ ignorance of the law is no excuse’.
I expect the Fair Work Agency will be using the same line with a number of employers too!