From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for protection against ordinary unfair dismissal will reduce from two years to six months in Great Britain. Existing day-one protections, including protection against discrimination and automatically unfair dismissal, will remain.
For employers, the practical impact starts before the new rules come into force. An employee who starts in July 2026 may complete six months’ service on or shortly after 1 January 2027, depending on their exact start date.
The reform is therefore already affecting decisions made during recruitment, onboarding, probation and the first months of employment.
For dismissals with an effective termination date on or after 1 January 2027, most employees will be able to claim ordinary unfair dismissal once they have completed six months’ service.
The qualifying period for requesting written reasons for dismissal will also reduce to six months and the current cap on compensatory awards for unfair dismissal will be removed.
This does not prevent an employer from dismissing an employee after six months. It means the employer must be able to show a potentially fair reason and a reasonable process.
Dismissals taking effect before 1 January 2027 remain subject to the current two-year qualifying period.
The reforms described here apply in Great Britain. Northern Ireland operates under a separate employment law framework.
A person starting on 1 July 2026 reaches six months’ service on 1 January 2027. Someone starting later in July reaches that milestone later in January.
In both cases, the evidence created during the second half of 2026 may become central to a later decision about performance, conduct, capability or continued employment.
That makes this more than an HR policy update. It is an operational change that affects how employee information is captured, shared and acted on from day one.
Employers should review the full employee journey rather than treating the reform as a single change to a dismissal policy.
Key areas include:
Probation tracking, review dates and extension processes
Contract, handbook and probation wording
Onboarding records and evidence that expectations were communicated
Absence, conduct, capability and performance documentation
Manager training on feedback, support and escalation
Start dates and service dates held in payroll, HR and recruitment systems
Dismissal, notice, written reasons, final pay and exit processes
For HR and payroll teams, employee data must be clean, visible and acted on quickly.
A probation review cannot sit unanswered in an inbox. Performance concerns cannot remain as informal conversations with no record. HR and payroll cannot hold different start dates for the same employee.
In frontline organisations, this is especially challenging. Managers are distributed across locations, employee turnover can be high and decisions often need to be made quickly. When recruitment, scheduling, HR and payroll records are disconnected, important dates and actions are easier to miss.
Payroll does not decide whether a dismissal is fair, but payroll data can be critical. Start dates, continuity of service, notice, holiday pay and final pay all depend on accurate records.
The same employee record must support both the employment decision and the payment outcome.
Identify employees starting from July 2026 and record the exact date each will complete six months’ service
Reconcile start dates across recruitment, HR, scheduling and payroll systems
Review probation lengths, review points, extension clauses and ownership of follow-up actions
Train managers to document expectations, support, feedback, concerns and outcomes as they happen
Update dismissal and exit workflows so HR review, evidence, notice, written reasons and final pay are coordinated
Introduce alerts and reporting so approaching service milestones are visible before decisions become urgent
The six-month qualifying period shortens the time available to identify issues, provide support and make well-evidenced decisions.
A policy update alone will not be enough. Employers need workflows that prompt action, managers who understand their responsibilities and one reliable source of employee data.