Many HR managers have built their disciplinary policy around one number: the two years of employment which an employee needs to accrue to be eligible to file an unfair dismissal claim. That number is now changing, and for many businesses, the change has already happened.
These employment law changes stem from the Employment Rights Act 2025, which received royal assent in December 2025, and its provisions are landing in stages rather than all at once.
Some have already been introduced, others will follow in coming months, and the biggest change for businesses will take place in January 2027. Knowing where the real pitfalls lie matters more than simply knowing the reforms exist.
Since 6 April 2026, all employees have got the right to paternity leave and to take unpaid parental leave without a requirement to meet a certain amount of service first. The statutory sick pay has also changed starting from this date. The three-day waiting period has been abolished, together with the lower earnings limit, which means that from 6 April 2026 SSP will be payable from the very first day of the illness to virtually all employees.
A new enforcement body called the Fair Work Agency has started operating from 7 April 2026. It unifies enforcement powers, which used to reside with different bodies such as HMRC’s minimum wage team, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. The period of time for filing most tribunal claims has also been increased from three to six months starting from 1 October 2026. At the same time, an employer will have to take all reasonable measures to prevent harassment, including harassment from clients and customers.
The big change that will come in January 2027
The change that most businesses have to prepare for is the qualifying period for the unfair dismissal claim. The idea of abolishing the two-year qualifying period altogether and introducing the day one right from the beginning has been scaled back during the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords. From 1 January 2027, an employee will be able to file an unfair dismissal claim after six months of employment rather than two years.
From the same date comes stricter regulation of fire and rehire, the practice of dismissing an employee to re-engage them on worse terms. The Act provides that this practice is automatically unfair in most situations, and Acas is to publish the updated code of practice on that matter before the change takes effect. Employers who currently rely on this practice will need a different plan for varying contract terms before the new year.
The timing trap which most businesses have not noticed
And here lies the catch. The six-month threshold is not only the change for new starters who start working from January 2027 onwards, but also the change for all employees depending on the accrued service. An employee hired in mid-2026 could easily already be covered by this change, having built up enough service before it even takes effect.
Also, there is another pitfall about calculating the qualifying date. If an employer dismisses the employee without paying him/her the statutory notice period in full, the qualifying period is calculated as if that notice had been paid in full. In practice, a dismissal with notice at five months and three weeks can still leave the employee qualified to bring an unfair dismissal claim.
Employers who have dismissed during the probation period have to keep this notice period in mind, and also consider shortening the probation review period.
Zero-hours and low-hours contracts are changing as well
Alongside the unfair dismissal reforms, the Act introduces some amendments concerning zero-hours and low-hours arrangements. These changes are expected in 2027, but the exact start date has not yet been fixed. According to the Act, a worker who regularly works more hours than his/her contracted minimum hours during the reference period (it may be twelve weeks) will gain the right to a guaranteed hours offer according to those hours, which will be either a new contract or a variation of the old contract.
At the same time, the rules about shift notice are changing. Employers will have to give reasonable notice of the shift. If the notice is less than a certain number of days (the maximum of this number is expected to be set at seven), it will be considered unreasonable by default. If an employer cancels or cuts the shift at short notice significantly, the worker will become entitled to compensation, which will be equal to the payment for that shift. Businesses which use zero-hours employees not to avoid making promises, but as a tool for flexibility, have more rework to do in this case.
Where outside expertise pays off
Reviewing every contract, policy, and handbook against the set of moving dates is a lot to do in addition to the usual routine for internal HR teams, and the mistakes in doing that will result in a cost for the employer starting from the change in qualifying period.
This is where firms offering UK Employment Rights Bill compliance support, including Avensure and similar providers, usually bring most value by checking the contracts and policies, and briefing the managers.
Whichever route an employer chooses, the actual job is the same: to understand which changes have already come into effect and which are pending in 2027, and to reflect this in contracts, policies, and day-to-day management practices before the change of the qualifying period takes place.
UK employment law changes: quick answers for employers
Does the six-month qualifying period only apply to people hired after January 2027?
No, it applies to employees depending on the accrued service rather than the date of hiring, which means that all employees who have gained the six-month threshold of service will be protected by that change.
Are small and medium-sized employers treated any differently under the Act?
There is no general size-based exemption for businesses in the Employment Rights Act 2025. The qualifying period change, the statutory sick pay reform and other major changes apply to all employers regardless of their size; however, small organisations usually find it harder to cope with administrative burden since they lack a dedicated HR department.
Do the new zero-hours rules cover agency workers and seasonal staff?
Agency workers are to be included in the guaranteed hours framework together with zero-hours staff. Whether the new rules will apply to seasonal zero-hours employees or not is a detail which is still to be determined via the secondary legislation, so employers should watch for these regulations before the changes come into effect.
What should employers prioritise if they have not started preparing yet?
Employers should start with the changes that have been made and are easy to overlook, such as the SSP calculation and paternity leave eligibility, since the failure to comply with those changes creates the risk of immediate consequences rather than problems for 2027. For the unfair dismissal and zero-hours rules, which are still to come, the document check and review of the probation period is the priority to do now.
