Businesses across Leeds are being encouraged to attend a free “strategic survival summit” to navigate what experts are calling the most significant payroll and HR shake-up in a generation. Azets, a UK top 10 accountancy and business advisory firm based on King Street, has partnered with the Leeds Business Growth Service and The Knowledge Exchange (TKE) at Leeds Beckett University to host the event.
Titled What Every Employer Needs to Know: 2026 Payroll & HR Compliance, the summit takes place on 21st April from 9am to 11am at the Rose Bowl in Leeds. The briefing follows the April 6 launch of sweeping new regulations covering payroll and employment law, alongside the introduction of the government’s new Fair Work Agency – a “super-regulator” equipped with tough enforcement powers.
Julie Gunnell, Associate Director of Payroll Growth at Azets, said: “This is the most significant shake-up of payroll and HR in a generation. Our event is designed to equip business owners, HR directors, and payroll professionals with the knowledge, skills, and tactics to navigate this rapidly shifting regulatory landscape.”
The summit aims to provide a clear roadmap for compliance, covering HMRC’s 2026 ‘hot zones’, the financial impact of increased National Insurance, and the new “day one” rights for paternity and parental leave. Under the rules that came into force earlier this month, HR and payroll teams must now work in closer alignment, with accurate records of holiday entitlement and annual leave retained centrally for six years.
With 191,000 businesses based in Yorkshire and the Humber, and recent data showing that nearly 20% of minimum wage workers are underpaid, the Leeds summit represents a critical opportunity for the region’s employers to get ahead of the crackdown.
