Rights at work
Holiday, sick pay, family leave, notice, redundancy and the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes.
ACAS early conciliation
Why you must contact ACAS before most employment tribunal claims, how early conciliation works step by step, and what it does to the tribunal time limit.
Access to Work grants
What Access to Work pays for, who can apply, how it works alongside your employer's duty to make reasonable adjustments, and how to make a claim.
Adoption leave and pay
Adopters can take up to 52 weeks' adoption leave from day one. Statutory Adoption Pay follows the maternity pattern. Who takes what, and how to claim.
Agency workers' rights
What agency workers get from day one and after 12 weeks in the same role, how the rules apply to supply teachers and NHS agency staff, and who can help.
Bereavement and compassionate leave
Parents who lose a child under 18, or have a stillbirth after 24 weeks, get 2 weeks' statutory leave. Other bereavement leave depends on your employer's policy.
Bullying at work
What counts as bullying and harassment at work, the routes for dealing with it in the NHS, councils, schools and Civil Service, and when the law helps.
Carer's leave
Since 6 April 2024 employees can take one week of unpaid carer's leave every 12 months to care for a dependant with a long-term care need. How it works.
Continuous service in the public sector
How continuous service works in law, how NHS and council schemes count earlier service when you move, and why it affects sick pay, leave and redundancy.
Deductions from wages
When your employer can lawfully take money out of your pay, which deductions are unlawful, and how to get money back if your wages have been docked.
Disciplinary procedures
What happens in a public sector disciplinary, from investigation and suspension to the hearing and appeal, and your right to bring a colleague or rep.
Discrimination at work
The nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, the main types of discrimination, the new harassment duties and how to challenge it.
Do you get bank holidays off?
There is no legal right to bank holidays off or to extra pay for working them. What NHS, council, school and Civil Service contracts actually say.
Employment Rights Act 2025: what's changing and when
The Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline: what is already in force, what starts on 30 October 2026 and January 2027, and what is pencilled in for later.
Employment tribunal time limits
Most employment tribunal claims now have a six-month time limit, up from three months less a day. When it applies, how to count and what pauses the clock.
Fire and rehire
What fire and rehire is, how your employer can change your contract today, and the new protections due under the Employment Rights Act in January 2027.
Fit notes
You need a fit note after 7 days off sick. Who can issue one since July 2022, what 'may be fit for work' means, and how employers should respond.
Fixed-term employees' rights
Rights on a fixed-term contract: equal treatment with permanent staff, when you become permanent after four years, and what happens when the contract ends.
Flexible working requests
Who can ask for flexible working, how many requests you can make, how long your employer has to decide and the eight reasons it can refuse.
Health and safety rights
Your employer's duties to keep you safe, your right to refuse work you reasonably believe is dangerous, and how to raise safety concerns safely.
Holiday entitlement for part-time workers
Part-time staff get 5.6 weeks' holiday pro rata. How to work it out in days or hours, how bank holidays are shared fairly, and what NHS and council staff get.
Holiday entitlement in the UK
The legal minimum is 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year. How that works out in days, what NHS, council and school staff get on top, and how holiday pay works.
How to resign properly
How to hand in your notice in a public sector job: what to put in a resignation letter, working out your leaving date, and what to sort out before you go.
Jury service and work
Your employer must let you do jury service but does not have to pay you. How loss of earnings claims work and what NHS, council and school policies say.
Lone working
What the law expects when you work alone, what a good lone working policy covers, and the risks for community health, social care and site staff.
Maternity leave and pay
Employees can take up to 52 weeks' maternity leave from day one. Statutory Maternity Pay runs for 39 weeks. The rates for 2026/27 and how to qualify.
Menopause at work
The legal protection for menopause symptoms at work, the support public sector employers commonly offer, and the menopause action plans due in 2027.
Neonatal care leave and pay
Since 6 April 2025 parents of babies in neonatal care for 7 full days or more can take up to 12 weeks' extra leave. Who qualifies and how the pay works.
NHS maternity pay
NHS Agenda for Change staff with enough NHS service get occupational maternity pay on top of SMP. How the scheme is built, who qualifies and the return-to-work condition.
NHS sick pay
NHS Agenda for Change sick pay rises with service, from 1 month's full pay in year one to 6 months' full and 6 months' half pay after 5 years. How the scale works.
Night work rules
Who counts as a night worker, the eight-hour average limit, free health assessments, and how the rules apply to nurses, care staff and other night shifts.
Notice periods
The statutory minimum notice for employers and employees, how contractual notice works in the NHS, schools, councils and Civil Service, and pay in lieu.
Part-time workers' rights
Part-time staff must not be treated less favourably than full-timers doing the same job. How that works for pay, holiday, pensions, training and promotion.
Paternity leave and pay
Paternity leave is a day-one right from 6 April 2026: 1 or 2 weeks within a year of the birth. Statutory Paternity Pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings.
Raising a grievance
How to raise a formal grievance under the ACAS Code: writing it, the meeting, your right to be accompanied, appeals and the six-month tribunal time limit.
Reasonable adjustments at work
When your employer must make reasonable adjustments for a disability or health condition, what they can include, how to ask, and where Access to Work fits.
Redundancy rights
Consultation, fair selection, alternative jobs and statutory redundancy pay in 2026/27, including the £751 weekly cap, and how public sector schemes vary.
Rest breaks and working time
Legal limits on working hours: the 48-hour average week, opting out, 20-minute breaks, daily and weekly rest, and how they apply to NHS and school staff.
Right to switch off
There is no legal right to disconnect in the UK. What the working time rules give you and how public sector policies handle out-of-hours contact.
Rights while pregnant at work
Paid time off for antenatal care, risk assessments, protection from unfair treatment and when to tell your employer you are pregnant.
Salary overpayments
If you have been overpaid, your employer can usually take it back from your pay. How recovery works, what is reasonable, and when you may not repay.
Shared parental leave
Shared parental leave lets parents split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay. How the mother's leave converts, who qualifies and how to book it.
Sick pay for council staff
Council and school support staff on the Green Book get sick pay by length of service, up to 6 months' full pay and 6 months' half pay. The scale and the catches.
Statutory Sick Pay
SSP is £123.25 a week or 80% of your average earnings, whichever is lower, paid from the first day off sick since 6 April 2026. Who gets it and how it works.
Strikes and industrial action
How strike ballots work after the 2026 law changes, what you lose in pay for strike days and action short of a strike, and how you are protected.
Teacher resignation deadlines
The dates teachers in England and Wales must resign by (31 October, 28 or 29 February, 31 May), the longer deadlines for heads, and what academies do.
Teachers' maternity pay
Teachers in maintained schools in England and Wales get Burgundy Book maternity pay on top of SMP if they have enough service. How it works and what to check.
Teachers' sick pay
Teachers in maintained schools in England and Wales get sick pay under the Burgundy Book, from 25 days' full pay in year one to 100 days' full and 100 half pay.
Time off for dependants
Employees can take reasonable unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant, from their first day. What counts, how much time and who pays.
Trade unions in the public sector
Which unions represent NHS, school, council and Civil Service staff, what a union does for members, your legal rights as a member and the 2026 law changes.
TUPE: when your employer changes
How TUPE protects your job, pay and terms when a school becomes an academy or a service is outsourced or brought in-house, and what happens to pensions.
Unpaid parental leave
Parents can take up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave per child before the child turns 18, usually no more than 4 weeks a year. A day-one right since 6 April 2026.
Violence and aggression against NHS staff
How to report violence and abuse at work in the NHS, what your employer should do afterwards, the law on assaulting NHS staff, and where to get support.
Whistleblowing in the public sector
When reporting wrongdoing is a protected disclosure, who you can report to, Freedom to Speak Up in the NHS, and protection from dismissal and detriment.
Your employment contract
You must get a written statement of your main terms by your first day. What it must include and how public sector contracts use national agreements.
Your right to a payslip
Employees and workers have a legal right to an itemised payslip. What it must show, what to do if you do not get one, and how to spot errors.
Your rights about references
Whether an employer has to give you a reference, what it can say about you, how to see a reference written about you, and what to do if one is unfair.
Zero-hours contracts
The rights you have on a zero-hours or casual contract now, including pay, holiday and sick pay, and the guaranteed hours changes planned for 2027.