1 January 2027: The Date Every UK Employer Needs to Know Right Now

If you are hiring this summer, the person you take on is already inside a risk window that most employers have not clocked yet. The unfair dismissal rules are changing on 1 January 2027, and the people you recruit between now and July are the first group it touches. 

Here is what is changing, in plain terms, and what it means for the hire you are about to make. 

What changes on 1 January 2027 

At the moment, an employee usually needs two years of continuous service before they can bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. That two-year cushion is what has given employers room to part ways with someone who turns out to be the wrong fit. 

From 1 January 2027, that qualifying period drops from two years to six months. At the same time, the cap on compensation for ordinary unfair dismissal is being removed, so the financial exposure on a claim is no longer limited to a year's pay. 

The headline most people remember from the original Employment Rights Bill was "day-one" rights. That version was amended in the House of Lords, and the final position is a six-month qualifying period rather than protection from day one. Six months is still a long way short of two years, and it changes the maths on every new hire. 

Why the people you hire now are already affected 

Here is the part that catches employers out. The change is not only forward-looking. Anyone who already has six months' service on 1 January 2027 is covered straight away. 

Work backwards and the date that matters is 1 July 2026. Anyone you hire on or before then will have clocked up six months by 1 January 2027, so they walk into the new rules with full protection. Someone you bring on this June reaches that point even sooner. 

So the hire you make this week is not a 2027 problem you can park. It is a decision you are making now, under rules that will apply to that person from the first working day of 2027. 

What this does not change 

A probation period is still a useful tool, but it was never a legal shield, and it does not override statutory rights. Calling something a six-month probation does not stop the clock on unfair dismissal protection. 

What protects you is the process underneath it: clear expectations, documented reviews, and a decision made and confirmed in writing well before that six-month mark. The notice you owe matters too. An employee with between one month and two years' service is entitled to at least one week's statutory notice, and if you dismiss someone close to the six-month line, that week can be added to their service and tip them into qualifying. 

What to do between now and the summer 

You do not need a legal overhaul. You need three things in good order: 

• A probation period short enough to leave you a safe window to act, with three months working well for most roles 
• A written record of how each new starter is performing, kept up month by month rather than reconstructed later 
• A clear decision at the end of probation, confirmed in writing, rather than a quiet roll-over into permanent employment 

Get those in place now and the 1 January 2027 change becomes a date in the diary rather than a problem on your desk. 

Where to start 

We are running a webinar that walks through what the change means for SME employers and how to get your probation process ready before the summer. Register for the webinar. 

If you would rather have something to work from today, you can download our free probation framework, the same structure we use to keep new hires on track and decisions documented. Download the framework.