HR Policies Every UK Hospitality Business Legally Needs in 2026 (Restaurants, Pubs, Cafés, B&Bs and Hotels)
April 2026 brought the biggest single-day shift in UK employment law in a decade. This is the complete, up-to-date list of every HR policy your hospitality business is legally required to have – plus the ones you really should have, and the templates that cover them.
From 6 April 2026, every UK hospitality business must hold the following written HR policies, at a minimum: a written statement of employment particulars (day-one, for every employee and worker), a disciplinary and grievance procedure aligned with the ACAS Code, a Statutory Sick Pay policy that reflects the new day-one SSP and the abolished Lower Earnings Limit, a sexual harassment prevention policy that covers customer and third-party conduct, a written tipping policy under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, a right-to-work checking procedure that now extends to all workers (not only employees) under the 2026 immigration changes, and – if you employ five or more people – a written health and safety policy under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The new Fair Work Agency (launched 7 April 2026) can enter your premises, demand records, issue Notices of Underpayment and publicly name non-compliant employers. Hospitality is one of its named priority sectors. WINC HR's HR Confidence Kits bundle every required policy, written specifically for restaurants, cafés, pubs, B&Bs and hotels.
Why hospitality HR compliance changed in April 2026
UK employment law has been in motion for the past three years, but 6 April 2026 was the day a decade's worth of changes landed at the same time. The Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force, the Fair Work Agency opened for business 24 hours later, the Statutory Sick Pay regime was rebuilt, and the right-to-work checking obligations were quietly expanded under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act.
Hospitality sits at the centre of all of it. Our sector employs more zero-hours workers than any other, the highest share of part-time staff just below the old Lower Earnings Limit, and a near-permanent rate of churn that makes onboarding paperwork an operational pressure rather than a one-off task. Every one of those characteristics is now squarely in the Fair Work Agency's enforcement priority list.
If you run a restaurant, a café, a pub, a guesthouse, a B&B or a hotel in England or Wales, this guide is the complete map of what you must hold in writing, what changed in April 2026, what the FWA will be looking for if it walks through your door, and how to close the gaps fast.
The 7 HR policies UK law actually requires in 2026
These are the non-negotiables. Failing on any one of them creates a direct route to a tribunal claim, a Notice of Underpayment, an FWA naming, or all three.
| # | Required policy | What the law actually says |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Written statement of employment particulars | Required by the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended). Must be given to every employee and worker no later than the first day of employment. Must cover name, start date, pay, hours, holiday, sickness, pension, notice, place of work, probation and disciplinary/grievance procedures. |
| 2 | Disciplinary and grievance procedure (ACAS aligned) | Required in practice because tribunals can uplift any award by up to 25% where the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures has not been followed. Must include investigation, hearing, decision and appeal stages. |
| 3 | Health and safety policy (5+ employees) | Required by section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for any employer with five or more employees. Must be written, signed and brought to the attention of staff. |
| 4 | Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) policy | Must reflect the post-6-April-2026 rules: SSP from day one of absence, no Lower Earnings Limit, weekly rate £123.25. The new Fair Work Agency can issue Notices of Underpayment for SSP shortfalls. |
| 5 | Sexual harassment prevention policy | The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 imposes a positive duty on employers (in force from 26 October 2024) to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by third parties such as customers and suppliers. Tribunals can uplift compensation by up to 25% for breach of the duty. |
| 6 | Tipping policy (Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023) | In force since 1 October 2024. Mandatory written policy where any tips, gratuities or service charges are received. Must explain how tips are allocated, distributed and reviewed. 100% must reach workers. Records must be kept for three years. Tribunals can award up to £5,000 per worker for failures. |
| 7 | Right-to-work checks | Required under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, the obligation now extends to all workers – including contractors, sub-contractors, agency staff and zero-hours workers. Maximum civil penalty raised to £60,000 per illegal worker. |
The fastest test of your compliance
Print this list. Walk to your filing cabinet (or your shared drive). Tick each row that you can produce as a written, dated, version-controlled document in under 60 seconds. Any blank row is a tribunal exposure, a Fair Work Agency risk and, in two cases, a direct route to civil penalty. WINC HR's Essentials Kit closes the first six rows. The Plus Kit closes all seven plus the recommended policies below.
The 11 other HR policies hospitality businesses really should have
These are not strictly required by a single Act of Parliament. They are required by tribunal precedent, by your insurer, by your licensing officer, by the Health and Safety Executive, or by simple operational risk. Skipping them is a gamble that hospitality SMEs are losing every week.
| # | Recommended policy | Why hospitality cannot afford to skip it |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Equal opportunities & dignity at work | Underpins every Equality Act 2010 protected-characteristic claim |
| 9 | Working time, breaks & rest periods | Working Time Regulations 1998 – statutory but rarely documented |
| 10 | Holiday and leave booking procedure | New 6-year record-keeping obligation from April 2026 |
| 11 | Family-friendly leave (maternity, paternity, parental) | Paternity & parental now day-one rights from April 2026 |
| 12 | Flexible working request procedure | Day-one right since April 2024 – statutory timeline |
| 13 | Data protection & GDPR | UK GDPR + Data Protection Act 2018 – reservations, CCTV, employee data |
| 14 | Bullying and third-party harassment | Extends harassment duty to customers and contractors |
| 15 | Drugs, alcohol and fitness to work | Licensing-critical for pubs, bars and restaurants serving alcohol |
| 16 | Lone working and late-night working | HSE expectation, particularly for B&B night cover and pub closing teams |
| 17 | Whistleblowing | Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 – uncapped tribunal awards if breached |
| 18 | Social media and reputation | Modern dismissal cases hinge on whether a written policy existed |
All 18 policies, one editable Word document each.
The WINC HR Hospitality HR Plus Kit (£59/month or £649/year) bundles every required and recommended policy in this guide – written specifically for hospitality – along with leadership and recruitment toolkits and investigation checklists. Built for growing venues and boutique hotels with a layer of managers.
Compare the HR Confidence KitsWhat changed on 6 April 2026 – the Employment Rights Act 2025 in plain English
If you read one section of this guide, read this one. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the largest reshaping of UK employment law since 1996, and 6 April 2026 is the day the most operationally significant changes for hospitality took effect.
1. Day-one Statutory Sick Pay
The three SSP "waiting days" have been permanently removed. SSP is now payable from the first day of absence. The Lower Earnings Limit – which used to exclude any worker earning under £125 per week – has been abolished. Roughly 1.3 million UK workers gained SSP for the first time. The new weekly rate is £123.25. Hospitality is disproportionately affected because the sector has the highest share of part-time staff who used to sit below the old LEL threshold.
2. Day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave
Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are now day-one entitlements – the qualifying service periods are gone. Any family-friendly section of your policy bank that references service thresholds must be rewritten. Note: day-one unfair dismissal rights were proposed in the original Bill but were dropped in the final Act in November 2025 – the two-year qualifying service period for ordinary unfair dismissal still applies in 2026.
3. Six-year holiday record-keeping
Employers must keep records for six years showing compliance with the Working Time Regulations on holiday, holiday pay and pay-in-lieu on termination. The Fair Work Agency can require production of these records. For hospitality – where rolled-up holiday pay and 12.07% calculations on irregular hours are common – this is the single most under-prepared change in the Act.
4. Tipping rules continue to bite
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 already required fair distribution from October 2024. From April 2026 the Fair Work Agency takes over enforcement, and the early case-law signals tribunals are willing to issue the full £5,000-per-worker uplift where consultation and policy transparency are missing.
5. Expanded right-to-work checks
Under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, the right-to-work check obligation now extends beyond employees to all workers – contractors, sub-contractors, agency staff, zero-hours workers, gig workers. The maximum civil penalty for employing an illegal worker is now £60,000 per worker. For high-churn hospitality businesses using temp staff, this requires a complete rebuild of your onboarding procedure.
6. The sexual harassment positive duty
Already in force since 26 October 2024 under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, but enforcement is intensifying. The duty requires you to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by third parties such as customers and suppliers. Reasonable steps include risk assessment, training, clear reporting routes, and protocols for removing offending customers. Tribunals can uplift compensation by 25% for breach.
The Fair Work Agency – what it can do to your business
The Fair Work Agency (FWA) launched on 7 April 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025. It is the new single national enforcement body for UK employment rights, consolidating the powers of HMRC's National Minimum Wage team, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority – with new powers added on top.
FWA enforcement powers, in plain English
• Enter your premises (with a warrant where required) and inspect records.
• Compel you to produce documents – contracts, payslips, holiday records, SSP records, tipping records, right-to-work checks.
• Issue a Notice of Underpayment for sums owed under National Minimum Wage, Statutory Sick Pay, holiday pay and (in due course) other statutory payments – requiring payment within 28 days.
• Pursue civil proceedings on behalf of workers.
• Publicly name and shame non-compliant employers – this is now a stated FWA enforcement tool, not a side effect.
The realistic FWA exposure for a single mid-sized restaurant
Two policy gaps, four affected workers, twelve months of missed SSP and one disputed tipping calculation can compound to a five-figure Notice of Underpayment within a single inspection. Public naming – of even a small operator – can erode bookings for months in a Google-led restaurant booking economy.
The 2026 UK hospitality HR compliance checklist
Use this as your single-page audit. If you cannot tick a row in under 60 seconds, fix it this week.
| ✓ | Compliance checkpoint |
|---|---|
| Every employee and worker has a written statement of particulars from day one | |
| Disciplinary and grievance procedure published in writing and follows the ACAS Code | |
| Health and safety policy written, signed and displayed (if 5+ employees) | |
| SSP policy rewritten for the April 2026 day-one rules and £123.25 rate | |
| Sexual harassment prevention policy covers customer and third-party conduct | |
| Tipping policy published, consulted on, reviewed annually, records kept 3 years | |
| Right-to-work checking procedure extended to all workers (not only employees) | |
| Equal opportunities policy current and signposted in every contract | |
| Working time, breaks and rest period policy reflects split-shift / double-sitting reality | |
| Holiday booking procedure published; 6-year holiday records start from April 2026 | |
| Paternity and unpaid parental leave updated to day-one entitlement | |
| Flexible working request procedure follows the statutory two-month timeline | |
| UK GDPR / Data Protection policy covers reservations, CCTV and employee data | |
| Drugs, alcohol and fitness-to-work policy in place for any licensed premises | |
| Lone working and late-night working risk assessments documented | |
| Whistleblowing policy published and known to staff | |
| Social media policy referenced in every contract | |
| Every policy carries a version number, publication date and next review date |
The 5 highest-risk policy gaps in UK hospitality right now
These are the gaps WINC HR sees most often – and the gaps the FWA is most likely to find on an inspection. Each is a compound risk: tribunal exposure, FWA penalty and reputational damage in a single hit.
SSP not updated for day-one payment. Any absence starting on or after 6 April 2026 must be paid from day one – including for zero-hours and casual staff who used to fall below the Lower Earnings Limit. Payroll systems and policies must be updated together.
Tipping policy never consulted on. "Published" is not enough. The statute requires you to have genuinely consulted workers before introducing or changing the policy. "We put it on the staff WhatsApp" is not consultation.
Harassment policy silent on customers. The October 2024 duty extends to third parties. A policy that names colleagues but is silent on customer or supplier conduct does not discharge the duty.
Right-to-work checks only on employees. Since 2026 the obligation extends to all workers including contractors and zero-hours staff. The £60,000-per-worker civil penalty applies to gaps in either category.
No version control on any policy. Without a version number, date and review schedule, you cannot prove what was in force on the date of any alleged breach. Tribunals routinely take the worker's version at face value where the employer cannot evidence otherwise.
How to fix all of this in 30 days
Days 1–3: Audit. Use the checklist above. Mark every row as Yes / Out of date / Missing. The audit alone often surfaces three or four gaps the operator did not know existed.
Days 4–7: Subscribe and source. If you are starting from a blank slate, the fastest path is a WINC HR Confidence Kit – Essentials for small operators, Plus for growing venues, Complete for hotels and multi-site groups. Each kit lands all required and recommended policies as editable Word documents.
Days 8–14: Personalise and publish. Drop in your venue name and branding. Each policy needs a version number (e.g. v1.0 – June 2026), a publication date and a next-review date.
Days 15–21: Consult and adopt. Specifically required for the tipping policy. Recommended for any major policy change. A documented consultation – even a 30-minute team meeting with minutes – is the difference between a defensible decision and a finding for the worker.
Days 22–25: Train your managers. Policies that managers cannot articulate are functionally useless. A 90-minute walkthrough with your duty managers covers everything in this guide.
Days 26–28: Diary the review. Every policy needs a next-review date. The minimum schedule is annual. The realistic schedule, given the pace of UK employment law, is six-monthly.
Days 29–30: Evidence file. Acknowledgement forms from every staff member confirming receipt and understanding. Keep them for the duration of employment plus six years.
Three Confidence Kits. One choice.
Essentials (£29/mo or £319/yr) for cafés, coffee shops and small restaurants. Plus (£59/mo or £649/yr) for growing venues and boutique hotels. Complete (£89/mo or £979/yr) for hotels and multi-site groups – adds succession, wellbeing, retention and crisis-response. Every kit includes every required and recommended policy in this guide, written for UK hospitality and updated quarterly.
Choose your HR Confidence KitFrequently asked questions
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A written statement of particulars (day-one), a disciplinary and grievance procedure aligned with the ACAS Code, a Statutory Sick Pay policy updated for the post-April 2026 day-one rules, a sexual harassment prevention policy (covering third parties), a written tipping policy under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, right-to-work checking procedures (now covering all workers), and a written health and safety policy if you employ five or more people.
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Yes for everything except the written health and safety policy (which applies at 5+ employees). All other required policies above apply from your very first hire. A small café needs roughly the same paperwork as a 30-cover restaurant – it is one of the reasons the WINC HR Essentials Kit was built at a price point a small operator can absorb.
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The Fair Work Agency (FWA) is the new single national employment rights enforcement body for the UK, established under the Employment Rights Act 2025. It launched on 7 April 2026. It can enter premises, demand records, issue Notices of Underpayment (28-day pay window), pursue civil proceedings on behalf of workers, and publicly name non-compliant employers. Hospitality is one of its named priority sectors.
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No. The proposed day-one unfair dismissal right was dropped from the Employment Rights Act 2025 in November 2025. The two-year qualifying service period for ordinary unfair dismissal still applies in 2026. Day-one rights from April 2026 cover Statutory Sick Pay, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave. Some claims – such as discrimination and automatic unfair dismissal for protected reasons – have always been day-one rights.
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Yes. The abolition of the Lower Earnings Limit on 6 April 2026 means every worker is entitled to Statutory Sick Pay regardless of weekly earnings. The three waiting days have also been removed, so SSP is payable from day one of absence. This is one of the largest single changes the hospitality sector has had to absorb.
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Annually as a minimum. Six-monthly is the practical benchmark in 2026 given the pace of UK employment law. Any policy with a publication date earlier than 6 April 2026 should be considered out of date until reviewed against the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes. Subscribers to a maintained kit like the WINC HR Confidence Kits receive updates automatically.
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Tribunals can award up to £5,000 per affected worker for breach of the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023. Where the tipping policy has not been consulted on, or where allocation is found to be unfair, multiple workers can claim simultaneously. The FWA now has enforcement responsibility for tipping rules alongside tribunal claims.
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Up to £60,000 per illegal worker. Since 2026 the obligation extends beyond employees to all workers – including contractors, sub-contractors, agency staff and zero-hours workers. A defensible system relies on documented checks performed before the worker starts and retained in line with Home Office requirements.
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Yes. The Code of Practice on Fair and Transparent Distribution of Tips requires meaningful consultation with workers before introducing or changing a tipping policy. "Meaningful" means workers have been genuinely involved in shaping the policy – not just informed of a final decision. A documented consultation (minutes, sign-off) is the realistic minimum.
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WINC HR's HR Confidence Kits (winchr.uk/hr-kits) bundle every required and recommended policy in this guide, written specifically for UK hospitality and updated quarterly. The WINC HR Doc Shop (winchr.uk/hospitality-hr-shop) sells one-off toolkits for crisis moments – Maternity & Paternity, Long-Term Sickness, Restaurant Restructure & Redundancy, TUPE Transfer Checklist
Stop guessing. Start protecting.
If you have read this far, you know your policy bank probably has at least one of the five high-risk gaps above. The cheap fix is a 30-day audit-and-rewrite using this guide. The fast fix is a WINC HR Confidence Kit.
Get every required policy in one editable kit
Essentials Kit (£29/mo, £319/yr) for cafés and small restaurants. Plus Kit (£59/mo, £649/yr) for growing venues and boutique hotels. Complete Kit (£89/mo, £979/yr) for hotels and multi-site groups. Each kit is written by Karl Wood (30 years hospitality HR), updated for every UK employment law change, and includes contracts, handbook, every policy in this guide, plus practical checklists and guides.
Compare and choose at winchr.uk/hr-kitsNeed a single document for an urgent situation? The WINC HR Doc Shop sells one-off hospitality HR toolkits – including the Long-Term Sickness Management Policy, the Maternity & Paternity Leave Toolkit, the Restaurant Restructure & Redundancy Kit and the TUPE Transfer Checklist for Venues.
About the author
Karl Wood is the founder of WINC HR and a 30-year veteran of luxury hospitality HR – including senior people roles inside The Ritz-Carlton, Radisson, Orient Express Hotels, Park Plaza and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. He writes the WINC Wire and is the author of If Bears Did Leadership.
Disclaimer: This guide is for general information for UK hospitality employers (England and Wales). It is not legal advice. Employment law is context-specific. WINC HR recommends taking independent legal advice before applying any policy to a live employee relations matter.
