Six Months to Go: What UK Employers Must Do Before 1 January 2027

Today the countdown becomes real. From 1 July 2026, there are exactly six months until the Employment Rights Act 2025 reduces the unfair dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months.

That symmetry matters more than it looks: six months out, the preparation window and the compliance window now overlap. An employee who starts in early July 2026 will still be inside their first six months when the new rule arrives. The hires you make this month are the first cohort whose probation you should be running to the new standard — not because the law requires it yet, but because running two standards in parallel is how records fall through the cracks.

What actually changes on 1 January 2027

The Act cuts the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims to six months. In practical terms: once a new hire passes Day 182 of continuous employment, dismissing them requires a fair reason and a fair process, evidenced by records that predate the decision.

Parliament dropped the originally proposed "day-one" unfair dismissal right and the statutory probation framework during the Act's passage — so there is no new statutory probation procedure to follow. What exists is simpler and harsher: a much earlier deadline, and the same tribunal expectations about contemporaneous evidence.

The month-by-month plan

July 2026 — fix the foundations

• Audit your start dates. Day 182 is counted from the start of continuous employment on the contract. If contracts, offer letters, and payroll disagree, resolve it now.
• Put objectives in writing for every current probationer. A review against undefined expectations defends nothing.
• Start the new rhythm with this month's hires: reviews diarised at Day 90, 150, 165, and 175.

August–September 2026 — update the paperwork

• Refresh your probation policy and offer-letter wording so probation length, review points, and extension terms are explicit.
• Standardise one review template across all managers (free template here) so the records look consistent if anyone ever reads them side by side.
• Train the managers who actually run probation conversations: what to write, what dates to hit, what "support offered" means as a written record.

October–November 2026 — clear the backlog

• Review every employee hired since July: are their Day 150/165/175 checkpoints diarised? Any concerns raised verbally but never documented? Fix in writing now, while it's still contemporaneous-ish rather than reconstructed later.
• Decide the borderline cases. If someone hired in autumn 2026 isn't going to work out, the kindest and safest time to act is before the review calendar compresses.

December 2026 — the final pass

• Confirm no probationer crosses into January without a current written review on file.
• Check extensions: an extension that pushes past Day 182 doesn't pause the clock — rights attach at six months of employment regardless of what the probation paperwork says.

The mistake to avoid: treating 1 January as the start line

The qualifying period is counted from the employee's start date, not from the law's commencement. Employers who start preparing in December will already be six months behind their own newest hires. The ones who are comfortable in January 2027 are the ones whose July 2026 hires already have a Day 90 review on file.

Make the rhythm automatic

Everything above is doable in a spreadsheet — until the fourth hire, the second extension, and the manager who leaves mid-probation. ProbationWatch tracks each employee's Day 182 countdown, prompts the Day 150/165/175 reviews automatically, and seals each record with a tamper-evident ledger. Free for your first two employees; the Day 182 Toolkit is free for everyone.

*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.*