For most of the past two decades, a UK employer could rely on a familiar piece of arithmetic: two years of continuous service before an ordinary unfair dismissal claim was on the table. That arithmetic is being redrawn. The Employment Rights Bill, the most substantial overhaul of individual employment rights in a generation, reshapes how the relationship begins — from the first day, not the second year. For HR leads, the work is not theoretical. It is in the handbook, the probation letter, the rota, and the line manager's instinct about what "still in their probation" really means.
What the Bill is actually trying to do
The Bill's animating idea is straightforward: shift protections that currently sit behind a qualifying period to the start of employment, and curb working patterns the government considers exploitative. In practice, that means three threads HR teams need to track together.
- Day-one rights. Several protections currently dependent on length of service — including, most prominently, protection from ordinary unfair dismissal — are being moved towards day-one status, subject to a statutory probationary mechanism still being finalised in secondary legislation.
- Zero-hours and low-hours contracts. Workers on zero-hours or very low guaranteed-hours arrangements are expected to gain a right to be offered a contract reflecting the hours they actually work over a reference period, alongside reasonable notice of shifts and compensation where shifts are cancelled or curtailed at short notice.
- Fire and rehire. Dismissing and re-engaging staff to force through contractual changes will be significantly restricted, with dismissals for refusing such changes treated as automatically unfair save in narrowly defined circumstances.
The headline phrase being used across UK employment law 2026 commentary — "day-one rights" — is accurate but slightly misleading. The Bill does not abolish probation. It changes what probation legally is, and what a fair exit during it must look like.
The unfair dismissal qualifying period: what really changes
Today, an employee generally needs two years' continuous service to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. The Bill removes that qualifying period for the underlying right, while introducing a statutory "initial period of employment" — a probation-like window during which a lighter-touch, but still defined, fair process will apply to dismissals for reasons such as capability, conduct, or unsuitability for the role.
The detail that matters for HR is not whether probation survives — it does — but what a defensible dismissal inside that window will look like. Expect the secondary legislation to specify:
- A maximum length for the initial period (widely anticipated to sit at around nine months, though the figure will be set by regulation).
- A minimum process — likely at least a meeting, the right to be accompanied, and written reasons.
- The categories of dismissal that can use the lighter process, with redundancy and discriminatory or automatically unfair reasons excluded.
Once the initial period ends, the familiar full unfair dismissal framework applies. The risk profile of a sloppy month-eight conversation will, in other words, look very different from a sloppy month-fourteen conversation today.
Zero-hours contracts: from flexibility to guaranteed hours
The Bill's treatment of zero-hours contracts is the area most likely to require operational, not just legal, change. The direction of travel includes:
- A right for qualifying workers to be offered guaranteed hours reflecting the hours they regularly work, measured over a reference period (expected to be twelve weeks, subject to regulation).
- A right to reasonable notice of shifts and of changes to shifts.
- A right to compensation for shifts cancelled, moved or shortened at short notice, at a level to be set by regulation.
Workers can decline the offer and stay on a zero-hours arrangement if they prefer. But the administrative burden sits with the employer: tracking reference periods, generating offers, evidencing notice, and accounting for cancellation payments through payroll. Sectors built on demand-led rotas — hospitality, retail, care, logistics, events — should assume their scheduling systems, not just their contracts, need work.
What to update first
If you are sequencing the next two HR quarters, the order of operations matters more than the volume of change. A sensible priority list:
- Probation policy and letters. Rewrite probation clauses around a defined initial period, with a documented light-touch process: meeting, representation, written outcome. Train managers to use it.
- Dismissal decision-making in months 0–24. Today's "we can let them go, they're under two years" reflex is the single biggest litigation risk once the Bill is in force. Replace it with a written checklist tied to the initial period.
- Contract templates. Refresh zero-hours, casual, bank and annualised-hours contracts. Build in the mechanics of the guaranteed-hours offer, reference periods, and shift-notice provisions.
- Scheduling and payroll systems. Confirm your workforce management tool can track regular hours over a rolling reference period, flag triggering events, and process short-notice cancellation payments.
- Change-management playbook. Where you anticipate needing contractual variations — pay structures, hours, locations — map out consultation routes that do not rely on dismissal and re-engagement as a fallback.
- Manager training. Most claims will turn on what a line manager said in a one-to-one, not what the handbook says. Refresh training before commencement, not after the first claim.
A practical note on timing: the Bill's substantive provisions are being commenced in stages, with much of the operational detail left to regulations, statutory codes and ACAS guidance. "When does it start?" is the wrong question. "Which provisions are live in which quarter, and is my policy stack ready for each?" is the right one.
The quieter shifts worth watching
Two further changes deserve a line in your tracker. First, statutory sick pay is being broadened, with the lower earnings limit and waiting-day rules revisited — relevant to payroll configuration and absence policy. Second, collective consultation thresholds and trade union access rights are being adjusted in ways that matter for any employer contemplating restructuring or operating at scale across multiple sites. Neither will dominate a board meeting on its own. Together with the day-one rights reforms, they shift the centre of gravity of UK employment law 2026 towards earlier, more documented, more consultative employer behaviour.
None of this rewards panic. It rewards sequencing — and a handbook that reads as if it were written for the regime that is arriving, not the one that is leaving.
FAQ
Q: Does the Bill mean we can no longer have a probation period? A: No. Probation continues, but in a statutory form. Dismissals during the initial period will need to follow a defined, lighter process rather than relying on the absence of unfair dismissal rights.
Q: If a zero-hours worker is offered guaranteed hours and refuses, can we keep them on zero hours? A: Yes. The right is to be offered guaranteed hours reflecting actual working patterns; the worker can decline and remain on the existing arrangement, provided the offer process itself has been properly followed and documented.
Q: We were planning a fire-and-rehire exercise to harmonise terms after an acquisition. Should we pause? A: Almost certainly review it. Dismissal for refusing contractual changes is set to be treated as automatically unfair save in narrow circumstances, so the route needs to be reworked around genuine consultation and, where possible, agreed variation.
For UK employers who need contracts, handbooks and dismissal processes brought into line with the new regime — or a qualified UK solicitor to pressure-test a specific decision — Serene Jade's JustiScript platform supports document drafting and consultations under UK law.