Further to our recent update regarding the Employment Rights Act 2025, which can be found here: The Employment Rights Act 2025 | Schofield Sweeney, the Government has now confirmed that, with effect from 1 January 2027, all employees with 6 months’ continuous service will be eligible to bring a claim for Unfair Dismissal.

The Government has also confirmed that this will include individuals who were employed before the 1 January 2027 deadline, thereby creating blanket protection for anyone who has accrued 6 months’ service as at that date.

In our previous article, we also referred to the proposed removal of the compensation cap for Unfair Dismissal claims. The Government has now confirmed that it will be removing the cap in its entirety. This means that employers could face potentially unlimited liability where an employee is successful in an Unfair Dismissal claim.

In light of the above, many employers may seek to terminate the employment of problematic employees on 31 December 2026, but you should be wary of this. Even if you terminate an employee with immediate effect and pay them in lieu of their notice, they are still entitled to their full statutory notice period of one week. This means any employee who obtains 6 months’ continuous service on 1 January 2027 would have sufficient service from Christmas Eve.

In the meantime, we would suggest you begin the process of reviewing and updating your probationary policies and any probationary clauses within employment contracts in preparation for these forthcoming changes.

If you have any questions or need any support, we’re here to help. Please get in touch with us at Employment@SchofieldSweeney.co.uk.