Article
13 min read
Getting Ahead of UK Employment Rights Bill Changes: Day One Dismissal
Worker experience
Author
Matt Monette
Last Update
October 01, 2025
The UK is set to see the most notable shift in dismissal law in over fifty years. In 2027, employees will no longer need two years of tenure to bring an unfair dismissal claim. As part of a litany of changes coming to the Employment Rights Bill, employees will automatically have this right from their first day.
As a business or HR leader, your challenge is to design a compliant probation policy, implement a lighter-touch dismissal process, and equip managers to actively track and support new hires’ performance. That final step is critical—historically overlooked because dismissing new employees carried relatively low legal risk, but now essential under the new rules.
In this guide, we’ll go through the details of the change and give you some actionable steps for building a fair and flexible probation policy.
Complementary reading:
Catch up on all of the upcoming changes in our guide - UK Employment Law 2025: Key Changes for Employers
Understanding the change
Once the bill comes into effect, it will impact how businesses handle probation periods, feedback cycles for new hires, and performance documentation:
| Area | Before (Current Law) | After (Post-Bill Implementation) |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Period | Employees must have 2 years’ continuous service to bring an unfair dismissal claim. | Day-one right to bring a claim for unfair dismissal (subject to Initial Period of Employment rules). |
| Probation / Initial Period | Probation is contractual, not statutory. Employers can dismiss more easily during this time, but employees with 2+ years can still claim unfair dismissal. | Statutory Initial Period of Employment (IPE), the government recommends from 3-9 months. During this time, a lighter-touch dismissal process applies (but still requires fairness and documentation). |
| Dismissal Process During Probation | No specific statutory framework—process is based on contract terms, with basic fairness advised. | Light-touch statutory process: meeting to explain concerns, right to be accompanied, written outcome—designed for early employment terminations. |
| Redundancy in Probation | Redundancy claims can usually be brought only after 2 years’ service (unless discriminatory). | Redundancy dismissals always require a full, fair process—no light-touch route applies, even in probation. |
| Written Reasons for Dismissal | Must provide written reasons only after 2 years’ service (unless dismissal is for pregnancy/maternity reasons). | Employees can request written reasons from day one, including within the IPE. |
| Risk of Claims in First 2 Years | Relatively low risk—most claims limited to discrimination, whistleblowing, or other “automatic” unfair dismissal reasons. | Higher risk from day one—employees can bring unfair dismissal claims for capability, conduct, or redundancy without a two-year service threshold. |
| Manager Awareness | Often less focus on process in the early months due to low legal risk. | Requires manager training and early performance management capability to avoid tribunal claims from new starters. |
Continuous Compliance™
Your new IPE policy: A step-by-step guide
While the 2027 deadline may seem far away, follow this step-by-step guide ahead of time to be fully compliant with the new laws.
1. Redesign probation into a compliant IPE
Set a clear probation period - the current government recommendation is between three and nine months, but this may be subject to change once the bill comes into full effect. Define performance and conduct review points, and incorporate the new light-touch dismissal process. When dismissal within the IPE is being considered, employers must follow the new light-touch statutory process. This includes:
- A meeting to explain the concerns and allow the employee to respond.
- The right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative during that meeting.
- A written outcome explaining the decision, reasons, and any next steps.
With Deel: Use Deel’s compliant contract templates to update probation terms instantly across your workforce, ensuring every offer letter and employment agreement reflects the new statutory requirements, without manual policy rewrites.
2. Train managers for early risk management
Manager training will be essential in avoiding wrongful dismissal claims, so prepare managers to handle performance, conduct, and capability concerns from day one. This means training them to spot early warning signs, hold constructive but timely conversations, and set clear improvement plans. They should understand how to document each stage, from initial concerns to follow-up actions, in a way that’s consistent, fair, and defensible.
Managers must also recognise that while the new light-touch dismissal process may apply during the IPE, redundancy situations are exempt. Any redundancy, even within probation, still requires the full, fair process: consultation, selection criteria, and exploration of alternatives.
With Deel: Embed custom guidance and checklists into Deel’s manager workflows, so every early-stage performance conversation follows a consistent, compliant process—with automatic prompts to record outcomes securely.
3. Align onboarding and policies with day-one rights
Integrate immediate entitlements to paternity, parental, bereavement leave, and sick pay into your onboarding. Review recruitment and induction processes to ensure you’re setting realistic expectations and to minimise disputes. Ensure you’re collecting feedback throughout the onboarding process, as helping employees settle in quickly and hit the ground running will be more important than ever.
With Deel: Deel automatically applies statutory leave and sick pay entitlements from day one, updating policies in real-time as laws evolve, helping HR and managers stay aligned without manual updates.
4. Strengthen compliance and documentation systems
Put systems in place to issue written reasons for dismissal quickly on request, securely store probation reviews, and keep dismissal steps auditable. Keep track of evolving legal changes as the Bill phases in through 2027.
With Deel: Every document, note, and review is time-stamped and stored within Deel for quick retrieval in case of disputes or audits. Plus, Deel’s compliance alerts notify you of relevant legislative updates before they become urgent.
Helpful resources
Under the new laws, you may want to review your onboarding, offboarding, performance review, and termination processes. Here are some extra resources to help:
Terminations:
- How to Legally Terminate an Employee with Grace
- Terminating an Independent Contractor: How to Do It Compliantly
Onboarding and Offboarding:
- Elevate Employee Onboarding & Offboarding Efficiency with Deel
- 6 Employee Onboarding Best Practices: Your Essentials Guide
Performance Reviews:
Live Demo
Get a live walkthrough of the Deel platform
Matt Monette is the Director, Solutions Consulting, Global Payroll at Deel. He has worked at hyper growth SaaS companies most of his career. Most recently, leading Shopify's UK expansion in London to being the VP of Sales at a late stage startup.
