Employment Rights Bill: Is the Change to Unfair Dismissal Rights to be Accelerated?

Hot on the heels of the recent government U-turn which saw the announcement that the proposed ‘day one right’ to ordinary unfair dismissal would be replaced with a six-month qualifying period, it’s reported that the change may come in earlier than expected. 

So, what does your business need to have on its radar?

1. Recap 
2. Timeline change in the offing? 
3. What next?

Recap

In a nutshell, as many businesses will be aware, the government had planned to introduce a day one right to ordinary unfair dismissal (subject to a ‘statutory probationary period’ for new starters), which was a manifesto promise. However, following talks between major industry bodies and trade unions (not to mention difficulties in reaching an agreement with the House of Lords), the government announced that it would instead introduce a six-month qualifying period.

You can read more about this in our earlier Legal Update.

Timeline change in the offing?

As you may remember, the government is planning to introduce changes to be brought in by the Employment Rights Bill in stages, the current implementation roadmap has unfair dismissal changes among the later group of reforms, not due until 2027.

However, this could change as it’s being reported that Angela Rayner MP is set to table an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill for the Commons debate on 8^th December to speed up the implementation of the new unfair dismissal qualifying period – bringing it forward to 2026. This would understandably be an unwelcome development for businesses.

Most of the changes to be brought in by the Employment Rights Bill in 2026 are scheduled to come into effect on 6^th April or 1^st October according to the current timeline, so it will be interesting to see what may be happening with the unfair dismissal qualifying period.

What next? 

Unfortunately for businesses, it is another case of wait and see – as mentioned above, the Employment Rights Bill is due to come back before the House of Commons on 8^th  December, and we will keep you updated on developments.

In the meantime, if you have an HR matter your business would like assistance with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.