No More Safety Net: Recruitment After the Employment Rights Act
Recruitment has always been about getting the right person through the door. What’s changing now is how quickly you need to be sure you’ve made the right call.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is shifting the ground in a way lots of employers may be underestimating. From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal drops from two years to just six months. This is a huge change. it fundamentally changes the risk profile of every new hire.
And it puts probation periods right at the core of your recruitment strategy.
Protection After Six Months
For years, employers have had a relatively long runway. If a hire didn’t work out, there was time to address it.
That buffer is disappearing and soon.
Under the new rules, employees gain protection against ordinary unfair dismissal after six months of continuous service. In practical terms, that means your window to assess, manage, and if needed exit a new hire is dramatically shorter.
It’s time to think about probation differently.
Probation periods are moving from being a “nice to have” to being the most important phase of employment. In many cases, it will be your only clean opportunity to make a call on suitability before legal risk increases.
The Act also strengthens the status of probation itself. Failing probation isn’t just a tap on the shoulder and youre gone. It’s increasingly expected to follow a fair process, with clear reasoning and, in some cases, a right of appeal.
That means for every decision there needs to be evidence to back it up.
Recruitment needs to get sharper
Saying ‘we’ll see how they get on’ is no longer an option, the margin for error when it comes to hiring has shrank, meaning the right decisions in the process matter a whole lot more. Hiring mangers need to get clear on
When the margin for error shrinks, the front end matters more.
What good actually looks like
Assess capability more rigorously during recruitment
Avoiding rushing hiring just to fill a gap
Because if the wrong person gets in, you’ve got less than six months, not two years to deal with the outcome. Why less than six months? If you make the decision on the dot of six months, you’re out of time, the protection has already kicked in.
Can you do nothing?
You can always do nothing but it’s highly unadvisable and almost certainly where you’ll get caught out. If you let probation drift without structure, fail to address issues or document performance concerns, you may find yourself at month six with an employee that doesn’t work for your business and no solid foundation to justify a dismissal.
Don’t do this. At this point the conversation becomes more complex, the process more formal and potentially more costly.
What Should You Be Doing Now
Align probation periods with the new reality
Probation periods of 3–6 months will become the norm. Anything longer needs a clear, defensible reason.
Build structure into the first six months
This means scheduled check-ins, not ad hoc chats. Month one, month three, and month five shouldn’t pass without a documented review.
Clarity from Day One
Employees should know exactly what’s expected of them, how they’ll be assessed, and what happens if standards aren’t met.
Document everything that matters
Feedback, concerns, warnings, if it’s not written down, you can’t rely on it as evidence later.
Train your managers
This is where many businesses fall down. Line managers need to be confident to have early, honest conversations, not avoiding them until it’s too late.
Change the thinking, not just the process
The rules are changing, that’s clear but what also needs to happen is a behavioural shift. Employers who thrive under the new rules will be the ones who take performance seriously, act decisively within probation periods and treat recruitment and onboarding as one very important process.