ShuttlewrightFrom 1 January 2027, six months in a job is enough to sue you for unfair dismissal.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 cuts the qualifying period from two years to six months, and removes the compensation cap completely (today: the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' pay). Anyone you hired on or before 1 July 2026 has full rights from day one of the new rules. The government has said it will not consult further - the date is settled. The two-year comfort blanket is over.
Check a start date See the pack
Free check: when does this employee gain rights?
One date, from the GOV.UK factsheet. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
Sources: GOV.UK unfair dismissal factsheet, implementation timeline.
What changes on 1 January 2027
| Today | From 1 January 2027 |
|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal claim needs 2 years' service | 6 months is enough - for dismissals from 1 January 2027 |
| Compensation capped (lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' pay) | Cap removed completely |
| Written reasons for dismissal need 2 years' service | 6 months - and no qualifying period at all for spent-conviction dismissals |
| Weak probation paperwork rarely surfaces | The first unfair-dismissal window for a poor hire lands inside their first year |
Automatically unfair dismissals (whistleblowing, pregnancy, asserting statutory rights) and discrimination claims already have no qualifying period - the 1 January change is about ordinary, everyday dismissals.
The Dismissal Risk Pack
- Workforce audit (Excel): enter each start date - the six-month date and the 1-January-2027 rights flag calculate themselves.
- Probation fix list: the paperwork that needs to exist before rights attach - clauses, documented reviews, evidence files.
- Fair-process dismissal checklist: the five potentially fair reasons and the reasonable-process steps adapted from the Acas Code (tribunals can adjust awards up to 25% over Code failures).
- Written-reasons letter template for the new 6-month right to request them.
- Pre-2027 action list: audit dates, borderline calls before New Year, contract checks, budget headroom (median award 2023/24: £6,746).
What it is not: templates and checklists, not legal advice. The pack does not promise any tribunal outcome; always follow the current official guidance linked inside.
One-off. Instant download after payment. Word, Excel and PDF files.
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Questions
Should I just fire borderline staff before January? That is exactly the decision window this pack maps. Until 1 January 2027 the two-year rule still applies to ordinary dismissals (contract, notice and automatically-unfair rules still apply). After it, the same decision needs the fair reason plus fair process. The audit sheet shows who crosses over and when.
Is the date definite? The government says the package commences 1 January 2027 and that it will not consult further on these provisions. Details of the surrounding roadmap can still move - the pack links the live GOV.UK pages and says to check them.
Is this legal advice? No. It is a template and checklist pack built from the GOV.UK factsheet, the implementation timeline and Acas. For an actual dismissal, speak to a qualified adviser.