- 4 min reading
A sickness absence recorded late. A flexible contract that no longer reflects someone’s working hours. A rota changed the evening before a shift.
These everyday workforce decisions are central to preparing for the Employment Rights Act 2025. With some changes already in force and further scheduling rights expected in 2027, frontline employers need reliable records and consistent processes across every site.
Our practical guide to the Employment Rights Act explores the changes and the questions employers should be asking. This article takes the next step: how Quinyx can help you put that preparation into practice.
What’s changing?
The changes most relevant to the areas covered here include:
- Already in force: statutory sick pay without the previous waiting period or lower earnings limit, alongside day-one eligibility for paternity leave and unpaid parental leave. Day-one leave eligibility does not automatically mean day-one entitlement to statutory paternity pay.
- Also in force: a requirement to retain adequate annual leave and holiday pay records for at least six years.
- Expected in 2027: rights concerning guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts, and payments for certain shifts cancelled, moved or shortened at short notice. Eligibility and detailed requirements remain subject to further regulations.
For frontline organisations, preparation means reviewing how contracts, schedules, working hours, absence and payroll data connect – and whether managers follow the same processes across locations.
5 ways Quinyx helps you prepare
Quinyx connects employee agreements, schedules, hours worked and absence, giving HR and operations a clearer view of how work is planned and managed.
With these records together and relevant data connected to payroll, you can apply configured rules more consistently across sites and trace changes when questions arise.
1. Record absence and leave consistently
What to review: Can employees report absence promptly, and do managers apply the appropriate leave rules consistently?
When absence is reported through messages, spreadsheets or informal conversations, records can be delayed or missed. Across multiple sites, different ways of handling leave can make that harder to spot.
How Quinyx helps:
Employees and managers can record sickness through the Quinyx mobile app on the day it starts, helping keep absence records accurate from the outset.
Leave types and eligibility rules, including those for day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, can be configured in employee agreements and applied when leave is requested.
Configured leave rules can be rolled out across relevant units, helping locations follow a consistent process and reducing the number of entitlements managers need to check manually.
The practical benefit: More reliable absence records and a consistent starting point for leave administration and payroll.
2. Give payroll reliable hours and absence data
What to review: Can you trace the hours, absence and leave records used to calculate pay and entitlements?
Recording absence is only the first step. That information also needs to reach payroll accurately, particularly when employees’ hours vary from week to week.
How Quinyx helps:
Quinyx connects schedules, hours worked and approved absence. Through your configured payroll integration, relevant data can be transferred to payroll, reducing the need to reconcile separate records manually.
Leave requests, approvals and balances also give teams supporting information when reviewing an employee’s entitlement or investigating a query. Alongside payroll records, this helps build a clearer picture of how pay and leave have been handled.
The practical benefit: Better information for payroll calculations and fewer gaps to investigate when questions arise.
3. Manage flexible contracts where you plan schedules
What to review: Can managers see contracted hours when allocating shifts, and identify employees who regularly work beyond them?
Preparing for guaranteed-hours rights starts with understanding your workforce today. That is difficult when contract information and working hours sit in separate systems.
How Quinyx helps:
Quinyx keeps employee agreements in the same system managers use to plan schedules, whether those agreements are zero-hours, low-hours or temporary. Contract types and contracted hours are connected to schedules and clocked hours, helping managers see how planned and actual working hours relate to each employee’s agreement.
When extra shifts come up, managers can see which employees are still below their contracted hours. This helps them make use of existing contracted hours and make informed decisions about allocating additional shifts.
Where an employee consistently works beyond their contracted hours, those connected records make the pattern easier to spot and review as part of your preparation for guaranteed-hours requirements.
The practical benefit: Contract information that informs day-to-day scheduling, with clearer records to support reviews of working arrangements.
4. Reduce avoidable short-notice changes
What to review: How often do published rotas change, and could better planning prevent some of those changes?
Quinyx research among 2,003 UK shift workers found that 67% had experienced a shift cancellation with less than 72 hours’ notice in the previous six months. Of those, 49% said they had never received payment or compensation for the lost shift. The 72-hour period used in the research is not a confirmed statutory notice threshold*.
The government’s 2024 impact assessment estimated annual payments of £90–£120 million for shifts cancelled, moved or shortened at short notice. The eventual cost will depend on the final rules and employers’ scheduling practices.
Unexpected absence and changes in demand will still happen. The priority is to reduce avoidable disruption and give managers visibility of the rules when a change is necessary.
How Quinyx helps:
Demand Forecasting helps managers plan staffing around expected demand, reducing reliance on last-minute adjustments.
Quinyx can also warn managers when a schedule change falls within the notice period configured in an employee’s agreement or agreement template.
Schedule Compliance checks shifts against configured rules, including working time, rest and break requirements, helping managers identify potential issues as they plan. Centrally configured rules support a consistent approach across relevant agreements and sites.
These settings support your scheduling policies; they will need to be reviewed against the final legal requirements.
The practical benefit: Better-informed scheduling decisions, fewer avoidable changes, and a more consistent approach across sites.
*Research source: Quinyx research conducted by Censuswide, 9–21 September 2026, among 2,003 UK shift workers.
5. Keep a traceable record of rota changes
What to review: Can you establish what changed, when it changed, and who made the change?
As shift-notice and short-notice payment rights take shape, employers will need to look beyond the latest version of a rota. They will also need to understand its history.
How Quinyx helps:
Changes to published shifts are logged with who made them and when. Shift swaps follow a request and approval process, helping distinguish employee requests from manager-led changes.
These records support reviews of scheduling decisions and help teams investigate queries. Reviewing them alongside your communication and payroll processes can also highlight information you still need to capture.
The practical benefit: A clearer history of scheduling activity to support internal reviews and preparation for the forthcoming rules.
Turn your ERA checklist into practical action
Start with one question: can you connect an employee’s agreement to their scheduled hours, actual hours, absence and payroll records?
Then review where information is missing, where managers follow different processes, and where manual work makes errors harder to catch.
Quinyx helps bring those workforce records and processes together, giving HR and operations a stronger foundation for managing today’s requirements and preparing for what comes next.
Talk to our team about how Quinyx can support your Employment Rights Act preparation.
