There have been some fundamental changes to employment law which will impact on employees and businesses alike.

Here we are concentrating on one such change – the reduction in the qualification period for unfair dismissal claims and the impact this will have for those employees being hired now.

Whilst the changes are live from 1^st January 2027, the impact will be felt for businesses and employees from now.  The change reduces the qualification period from 2 years to 6 months with effect from the start of 2027.  This means that anyone employed in a new job, joining a business now, will meet that minimum qualification period at the start of next year.

The impact of this is that anyone from then, with at least 6 months service, will be able to bring unfair dismissal claims at a much earlier point.  Employers will now have a much-reduced period in which to assess an employee’s suitability for the role. Probation periods are therefore likely to become shorter, with many employers reducing them to around three months. It is important to note that this change does not affect claims for automatically unfair dismissal, which can already be brought from day one of employment. These include dismissals connected to issues such as discrimination, whistleblowing, health and safety concerns, or exercising statutory rights.

So, what does this mean?  For employees it is good news, providing better job security in a shorter time frame.  For employers, generally, this means the need for increased awareness of suitability in a much shorter time frame and to ensure that all practices and procedures reflect this.

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