From 1 January 2027, one of the biggest employment law changes in decades will come into force.

The qualifying service required for an employee to bring an unfair dismissal claim is expected to reduce from two years to just six months. This will apply to employees who reach six months’ service on or after 1 January 2027.

For many employers, this is a fundamental shift in how new employees need to be managed. For years, the two-year qualifying period has given businesses a degree of flexibility to end employment where a role simply was not the right fit by giving contractual notice. It also gave employers valuable time to understand whether someone genuinely aligned with the business. That safety net is disappearing. The question now is simple. How do you adapt?

Here are our top tips.
1. Review your probation periods
One of the biggest questions we’re being asked is whether probation should be three months, six months or three months with an extension.
Our recommendation is straightforward.
A six-month probation period is likely to be the most practical approach for most employers. Many organisations struggle to actively manage probation periods. By the time a three-month review arrives, it has often been missed or delayed, leaving little time to address concerns before unfair dismissal rights arise.
A six-month probation provides a clearer window to assess performance while reducing the risk of notice periods pushing an employee beyond the six-month protection point.
Remember, extending probation beyond six months is still possible. However, once unfair dismissal rights apply, simply extending probation will not remove the need to follow a fair process if employment is to end.

2. Make probation an active process
Probation should never be a diary reminder six months after someone starts.
The first few months are when new employees are usually at their most engaged and most receptive to feedback.
Use that time.
Regular check-ins, constructive conversations and meaningful feedback help identify concerns early while giving employees every opportunity to succeed.
The goal should be to support people into becoming successful members of the team, not simply to review them at the end of their probation.

3. Give people a clear success plan
One of the easiest ways to reduce future risk is to make expectations crystal clear from day one. Whether you call it a probation plan, development plan or success plan doesn’t matter.
What matters is that every employee understands:
• What success looks like.
• What milestones they should achieve.
• What behaviours are expected.
• How performance will be measured.
Defining clear critical success factors gives both managers and employees a shared understanding of what good looks like and makes future conversations much easier.

4. Invest early to avoid problems later
Many senior roles can take 12 months or longer before an employer truly understands whether someone is the right fit.
That makes early investment even more important.
If you’ve already documented expectations, held regular review meetings and supported development, you’ll have built a clear evidence trail if things do not work out.
That puts you in a much stronger position, whether concerns arise during probation or after the six-month mark.

5. Don’t wait until there’s a problem
Once an employee has unfair dismissal rights, ending employment becomes significantly more complex.
Capability and conduct processes require evidence, consistency and procedural fairness.
Starting performance management only when things have gone seriously wrong often means you’re beginning from scratch.
Employers who build good management habits from day one will find these situations far easier to manage.

6. Expect settlement agreements to become more common
We anticipate that many employers will increasingly rely on settlement agreements with poor performing starters who make it past the six month stage.
Having a well-documented onboarding process, regular review meetings and evidence of support provided places employers in a much stronger position if settlement discussions become necessary.
Good documentation won’t just strengthen your position, it can also help reduce both the cost and complexity of resolving disputes.

Remember…
This change represents one of the biggest shifts to employment law in a generation.
It changes the way employers need to think about recruitment, onboarding and probation management.
Getting to know your employees, setting clear expectations and managing performance properly from day one will no longer be best practice. It will become essential.
If you’d like to review your probation process, update your contracts or discuss how these changes could affect your business, we’d be happy to help.

Get in touch with the EZHR team at [email protected] or call 0161 843 5678.