Who it is for
Employers hiring now. Anyone you take on from the middle of 2026 can reach six months' service under the new rule, so your probation timetable matters.
What it covers
- The length of probation, and why five months or less leaves room to finish the process in time.
- What you expect, the support you give, regular one-to-ones and formal reviews.
- Confirming successful completion in writing.
- Extensions, with written reasons and a defined period, and care around disability and pregnancy.
- Ending employment during probation: a meeting with a companion, notice, written reasons and an appeal.
- The rights employees have during probation.
The law it reflects
Checked against the law in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) as at 19 October 2026.
- From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal is six months, not two years (Employment Rights Act 2025, s.25). It applies wherever employment ends on or after that date, even if notice was given earlier. Anyone with six months' service on 1 January 2027 is protected from that date.
- Service counts to the end of the notice period. If you pay in lieu of notice, the one week's statutory notice is still added (Employment Rights Act 1996, s.97(2)).
- The statutory 'initial period' proposed in the Bill did not make it into the final Act. Contractual probation still works, but it does not delay unfair dismissal rights.
- The cap on the compensatory award is removed for dismissals where employment ends on or after 1 January 2027.
- Northern Ireland: the qualifying period is one year and the change does not apply.
Before you use it
It is a starting point, not legal advice. Fill in the placeholders, set your own timescales, and check it fits how your organisation actually works. Take advice if a case is complex, could involve discrimination, or may end up at a tribunal. Northern Ireland has different rules in several areas.
Need more? See the Onboarding & Probation Pack. 14 documents: policy, checklists, objectives, review templates and outcome letters, built for the six-month qualifying period from 1 January 2027. £99 + VAT, one-off.