The NEW Six-Month Qualifying Period: Impacts from July 2026 From the 1 st January 2027, one of the most significant employment law changes in recent years will take effect which is that the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims will fall from two years’ continuous service to just six months. Regular readers may well be bored of us reiterating this change, but it is crucial to get prepared as the penalties could be significant. The change will apply immediately to any employee who has already accrued six months’ service by the 1 st January 2027 . In other words, any new hires recruited up to the end of June 2026 will be protected from day one of the new regime on the 1 st January 2027. For years many organisations have relied, whether deliberately or not, on the flexibility afforded during an employee’s first two years of service. That flexibility is about to shrink dramatically, and rather sooner than many businesses appear to realise. What is Changing? The qualifying period for unfair dismissal has stood at two years since April 2012, so the reduction to six months is a substantial shift. Alongside this, the right to request written reasons for dismissal will become available after six months rather than two years, and the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal connected to spent convictions is removed altogether. Existing day-one protections are unaffected. Employees already enjoy protection from the outset against discrimination and against dismissal for automatically unfair reasons, such as whistleblowing. The reform broadens “ordinary” unfair dismissal protection rather than altering the established categories of automatic unfair dismissal or discriminatory dismissals. Why This Matters In Practice Six months passes quickly. In many organisations a new starter will only recently have completed their induction before acquiring unfair dismissal protection. Around 6.3 million employees (some 22% of the workforce) currently sit in the six-month to two-year band, with only limited protection today. From January, most of them will be protected. Yet around 40% of businesses operate discretionary probationary periods, the majority lasting six months or less, which leaves very little margin for error in line with the new qualifying period. A probationary period will no longer offer protection if the underlying process is weak. Employers running six-month probations may find that a delayed review meeting or a postponed decision tips an employee over the new threshold before any concerns have been resolved. Current practice often allows for three-to-six-month probation periods which employers frequently extend. The better approach going forward is likely to be a shorter core probation period of three or four months, with regular 1-month intervals for review. This ¾ month period should be extended only modestly if you as the employer are still unsure on the employee, so that a properly informed decision can be reached in well in advance of the 6-month mark. Next Steps The organisations best placed for 2027 will be those acting now rather than waiting until late 2026, by which point the opportunity to build the necessary capability may already have passed. The following practical steps will help reduce future risk: Review probationary arrangements so that core periods are short enough to allow a fair, evidence-based decision well before the six-month threshold, with clear performance standards and limited, discretionary extensions. Tackle performance and conduct issues early, using structured improvement plans with measurable targets (e.g improve sales targets by 10% in the next 4 weeks) where appropriate, so that problems are addressed before they escalate. Strengthen record-keeping, ensuring managers consistently document concerns, feedback from the reviews, meetings and decisions, since contemporaneous evidence will be central to defending any claim. Ideally in a typed-up word document saved to the employee’s personnel file. Follow fair procedures and the ACAS Code on discipline and grievance: establish a fair reason, investigate properly, hold a hearing, allow the right to be accompanied, and offer an appeal. Audit current employee relations practices and update policies, contracts and templates ahead of commencement, rather than after it. For employers who have not yet considered the practical implications of the six-month qualifying period, now is the time to start asking questions. If managers are not consistently documenting concerns, conducting proper probation reviews or following fair procedures, the move from two years to six months will expose weaknesses that may previously have gone unnoticed. As always, this advice is general in nature and should be tailored to the circumstances of any individual case. As an RMI member, you have access to the RMI legal advice line, as well as a range of industry experts who can assist you. If you find yourself facing any of the issues outlined above, please contact us at any stage for advice and support as appropriate. Motor Industry Legal Services Motor Industry Legal Services provides fully comprehensive legal advice and representation to UK motor retailers for one annual fee. It is the only regulated law firm in the UK which specialises in motor law and motor trade law. MILS currently advises over 1,000 individual businesses within the sector as well as the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) and its members.