The Employment Rights Act (special edit)
The Employment Rights Act started rolling out in February. April brings the next wave.
New rules on statutory sick pay, redundancy awards, and the Fair Work Agency, strengthening employee rights and raising expectations around fairness, flexibility, and predictability.
What's changing on April 6th:
· Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave become "day one" rights
· Statutory Sick Pay payable from day one (no waiting period, no earnings limit)
· Redundancy protective awards doubled to 180 days' pay
· Fair Work Agency launches April 7th to enforce these standards
On paper, it's policy.
In practice, it's something else. A shift in expectations.
Same question: what does fairness feel like at work?
Why now?
This isn't happening in isolation. Recent data tells a consistent story:
41% of UK organisations report stress-related absence driven by workload (CIPD, 2025)
Only 10% of UK employees feel engaged at work (Gallup, 2025)
48% of workers in UK screen industries report poor mental health or burnout (Film and TV Charity, 2024)
Only 12% of Creative Directors in UK advertising are women (Creative Equals)
Different sources. Same signal.
Work isn't always feeling sustainable, or equally experienced.
What this means for creative businesses
Creative companies don't operate through rigid systems.
They run on:
Trust
Momentum
Creative organised chaos
Unexpected sparks
Flexible ways of working
Which is why structure can feel uncomfortable.
But here's the tension:
Whilst creative cultures rely on flexibility. People rely on fairness and clarity. And when those two drift apart, friction builds. Quietly.
What this looks like in your business
The Employment Rights Act isn't just about compliance. It's revealing gaps that were already there. Here's what those gaps actually look like:
When fairness feels unclear:
Freelancers get different treatment than permanent staff, but no one's sure what the rules actually are
Some people get flexibility. Others get asked "Can you just be in the office this week?"
Holiday pay calculations vary depending on who processes them
When expectations aren't shared:
People aren't sure if they're "allowed" to be sick without a doctor's note
Managers interpret "flexible working" differently across teams
New starters don't know what's policy and what's just "how we do things here"
When pressure builds unevenly:
Some teams hit capacity but can't say no because "we're agile"
Workload spikes land on the same people because they're the ones who deliver
Stress-related absence is rising but no one's connecting it to how work is organised
When the pace isn't sustainable:
People work late to hit deadlines, then crash for a week
Burnout gets framed as "the cost of creativity" rather than a workflow problem
High performers leave because they can't maintain the pace
These aren't compliance issues.
They're culture signals.
And the Employment Rights Act is making them harder to ignore.
The signal underneath
Most of these changes point to one thing:
People want to understand the rules of the game. Not to limit creativity. To feel safe enough to contribute fully.
Because when that's missing:
Energy gets spent navigating ambiguity
Behaviours vary depending on who's leading
Pressure builds unevenly
Pace becomes harder to sustain
Where this gets interesting
In creative industries, 28% of jobs are self-employed (double the UK average of 14% (Parliament research, 2024). Which means the question of who gets what rights matters more here than in most sectors.
The grey area:
Day-rate freelancers on long contracts
"Permalancers" who've been with one company for years
People on zero-hours contracts
Project-based contractors treated like staff
These people might be reclassified as workers or employees, which means they'd get rights like SSP, holiday pay, and redundancy protections.
So, the risk is treating this as compliance. The opportunity is recognising this as a moment to observe more closely:
Where are things already clear?
Where are expectations assumed, but not shared?
Where does flexibility feel fair — and where does it not?
Most creative businesses don't lack intent. But some lack shared clarity.
If we look at the Employment Rights Act through our Culture Intelligence&Co. lens, these are the signals we'll be watching:
FEELING - clarity or second-guessing?
BEHAVIOUR - consistency or dependency?
OUTPUT - flow or friction?
GROWTH - confidence or constraint?
JOY - sustainable or slowly draining?
This legislation won't answer those questions. But it will make them harder to ignore.
So…
The question isn't:
"How do we implement the new rules?"
It's:
"What might this reveal about how work really feels here?"
And this is just April
August brings expanded union access and harassment prevention duties.
January 2027 changes unfair dismissal rules.
Worth staying ahead of the signals. The shift becomes visible where it matters most: creative flow, decision-making, reputation, and margins.
Where to start
If you're recognising some of these signals in your own business, April might be a good moment to take a closer look.
Most partnerships with KITH&Co. start with a Culture Intelligence&Co. Audit. A clear way to understand what's really happening beneath the surface. Depending on the brief, this can be a focused diagnostic conversation, a half-day leadership session, or a deeper culture review across teams.
If this is landing, it’s worth exploring together!
