From EV road tax to statutory pay rises and a new bereavement paternity right, here’s what lands in 2026 and what to tell customers and employees.
Taxes on EVs
- From 1 April 2025, electric vehicles will no longer be completely tax-free.
- For EVs first registered on or after 1 April 2025, the first year will be £10, then £195 per year from year two.
- EVs registered between 2017 and 31 March 2025 will be £195 per year.
- Older EVs (2001 to March 2017) fall into the £20 band.
- Worth remembering when a potential customer enquires.
Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024
The Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Act 2024 came into force on 29 December 2025. This applies in the awful circumstances where the child’s mother, or a person with whom the child is placed or expected to be placed for adoption, dies in childbirth or within 12 months of the child’s birth or placement for adoption. In those cases, the bereaved father, or the partner of the deceased, has statutory paternity leave rights that would not otherwise be available.
This includes those in same-sex relationships or civil partnerships, and cases arising from surrogacy.
Payment increases
- From 6 April 2026, statutory maternity pay and statutory adoption pay will increase to £194.32 per week after the first six weeks.
- Statutory sick pay will increase to £123.25 per week.
- From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage will rise across all age brackets; the accommodation offset will also increase.
Other updates
In April 2026, the statutory cap on a week’s pay for redundancy and certain tribunal awards, as well as the Vento bands for injury to feelings, will be updated.
As always, we will keep you updated.
If you have had the same issue or a similar question, why not call our legal team at Lawgistics. For employment law changes, our HR software at hrmanager.co.uk can help keep contract and policy wording current.
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