What has changed from April 2026?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in December 2025 and introduces the biggest overhaul of employment law in a generation. From April 2026, statutory sick pay is a day-one right for all employees regardless of earnings. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are also day-one rights. The unfair dismissal qualifying period is being reduced, and a new Fair Work Agency has been established to enforce employment rights more proactively.
Every small charity needs to check that its contracts, handbooks, and policies reflect these changes. A contract that was compliant in 2024 may not be compliant today. The unfair dismissal changes deserve particular attention. If your probation process is not properly documented or your performance management approach is informal, you are more exposed than you were a year ago.
What a good HR policy review covers
Employment contracts
Are contracts issued on day one? Do they accurately reflect hours, pay, holiday, notice periods, and probation? Do they align with the relevant policies in the handbook? For charities with multiple employment types, including part-time, term-time only, and bank workers, do the contracts reflect each arrangement properly?
Day-one rights to SSP and parental leave also need to be reflected. A contract that references a four-day SSP waiting period or states that parental leave requires a minimum period of service is now factually incorrect. Issuing incorrect contracts creates ambiguity about entitlement, which is the last thing you want if a dispute arises.
Core policies
Disciplinary and grievance procedures must follow the ACAS Code of Practice. Absence and sickness policies must reflect current SSP rules. Equality and inclusion policies should reflect the charity’s values, not just the law. And performance improvement processes should be separate from disciplinary procedures so that managing capability doesn’t immediately feel punitive.
For charities with volunteers as well as employees, it’s worth clarifying which policies apply to each group. Volunteers are not employees in law and don’t have the same rights, but having clear policies about who is covered avoids confusion and potential claims.
Consistency
One of the most common issues we find is inconsistency. The contract says one thing about annual leave and the handbook says another. Or a policy references a process that no longer exists. These gaps create confusion and, in the worst cases, grounds for a legal challenge.
The fix is usually straightforward once the gaps are identified. Policies should be cross-referenced with contracts and reviewed as a set rather than individually. One person needs to own the review process and have the authority to update documents when the law or the organisation changes.
How we helped the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust
The Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust is a Worcestershire charity that funds research into rare childhood cancers and supports families facing a diagnosis. With seven members of staff and plans to grow, their Charity Operations and Fundraising Manager was managing HR without specialist support.
They came to us for a full audit of their HR policies and employment contracts.
We rewrote and updated seven policies including a new grievance procedure, a performance improvement policy kept deliberately separate from the disciplinary process, and a recruitment and selection policy required by their funders. We standardised their employment contracts, created a single branded employee handbook to replace two existing ones, and produced flowcharts and templates to help managers implement key processes confidently.
The charity told us they were extremely happy with the work, praising the quick response to queries and the quality of the output. Most importantly, they now have an HR foundation that matches their mission and keeps them legally protected.
When should a charity review its HR policies?
The honest answer is: more often than most do. We recommend a full review at least every two years, and a check against any significant legislative change. Right now, with the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes in force from April 2026, any charity that has not reviewed its policies in the last twelve months should do so as a priority.
A charity that is planning to grow its team, apply for new funding, or bring on its first employees is particularly well placed to invest in getting the HR foundation right before complications arise. It’s significantly easier to build good practices from the start than to unpick poor ones when a dispute is already under way.
If you run a charity in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Birmingham, or beyond and want to understand where your HR compliance currently stands, get in touch with the team today.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call
About the author
Helen Scullion Assoc. CIPD, HR Client Manager at Limelite HR & Learning. Helen supports organisations with day-to-day HR management, employee relations and practical people support. Connect with Helen on LinkedIn.
