Free UK Probation Review Template: What to Include (and What Gets Employers in Trouble)

Search for "probation review template" and you'll find hundreds of forms. Most of them were designed for a world where a new hire couldn't claim unfair dismissal for two years. That world ends on 1 January 2027, when the Employment Rights Act 2025 cuts the qualifying period to six months.

From that date, the probation review record isn't an HR nicety — it's potentially the central document in a tribunal claim. This guide explains what a 2027-ready template must capture, and gives you one to use.

Want to skip straight to the download? The free Day 182 Toolkit includes the full review template plus the Day 0–182 timeline and a pre-2027 compliance checklist.

Why most probation review templates fail

The templates that circulate in UK SMEs usually have three problems:

1. They record opinions, not evidence. "Performance below expectations" survives nowhere. "Missed the agreed response-time target in 9 of 14 tickets between 3 and 17 June, raised in the 1:1 on 18 June" survives everywhere. 2. They don't record support. Tribunals ask what the employer did to help. If the answer isn't written down, it effectively didn't happen. 3. They have no dates. An undated review can't prove it happened before the decision — which is the entire point.

The seven sections a 2027-ready review template needs

1. The employment facts

Employee name, role, start date of continuous employment (from the contract, not memory), review number, and the calendar date of the review itself. The start date matters more than any other field: Day 182 is counted from it.

2. The objectives set

What was this person actually asked to achieve, and when were they told? If objectives were never set in writing, that's the first gap to fix — a review against undefined expectations is hard to defend.

3. Evidence of performance against those objectives

Specific, dated, factual. Numbers where possible; dated examples otherwise. Both what's going well and what isn't — a review that only records negatives looks constructed after the fact.

4. Concerns raised — and when they were first raised

A concern that appears for the first time at the dismissal meeting is a tribunal's favourite exhibit. The record should show the concern, the date it was first raised, and how the employee responded.

5. Support offered

Training, mentoring, adjusted targets, extra check-ins — whatever was actually offered, with dates. This is the section employers most often leave blank, and the one that most often decides a case.

6. The employee's comments

Give the employee space to respond in the record itself. It demonstrates a two-way process, which is central to how ACAS expects a fair procedure to run.

7. The outcome and the next date

Pass, extend (with a new review date and clear expectations), or proceed towards exit. Whatever the outcome, name the reviewer, date the decision, and diarise the next checkpoint — Day 90, 150, 165, or 175 depending on where you are in the timeline.

When to run reviews: the Day 182 rhythm

A template only works with a rhythm behind it. The pattern that maps onto the new six-month rule:

• Day 0 — log the start date, contract, right-to-work check, and written objectives.
• Day 90 — mid-probation review. First formal checkpoint on the record.
• Day 150 — the warning window. If there are problems, this is the last comfortable moment to raise them formally with a genuine chance to improve.
• Day 165 — escalation review. Evidence gathered, concerns documented.
• Day 175 — decision week. Pass, extend, or exit, with reasons written down.
• Day 182 — unfair dismissal rights attach.

Miss the Day 150 review and the timeline compresses brutally: you're deciding someone's employment with no formal warning on file and less than a month of runway.

Get the template

The Day 182 Toolkit is a free PDF that packages all of this: the review template with the seven sections above, the Day 0–182 timeline, the six-point evidence record, and a pre-2027 checklist for your existing paperwork. No card, no trial — just an email address.

And if you'd rather have the rhythm run itself — countdowns per employee, automatic prompts at Day 150/165/175, and review records sealed so nobody can quietly rewrite them — ProbationWatch is free for your first two employees.

*ProbationWatch is a record-keeping and organisation tool for UK employers. It is not legal advice; for case-specific questions, speak to a solicitor or HR adviser.*