By Kate Palka
Described as “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation”, Labour’s new Employment Rights Bill includes 28 employment measures and runs to 150 pages.
Although the Government has indicated that most of the changes proposed won’t come into effect until 2026, consultations on many of the proposals will begin this year, so we’re focussing on some of the most significant changes and sharing some advice to help you get prepared.
In this update, we’re discussing one of the new “Day One” rights – Unfair Dismissal.
If you’d like our help implementing the changes or reviewing your employee policies and contracts, please contact us on info@thelegaldirector.co.uk or 020 3056 8538.
Current
- Currently, employees need two years’ service to be eligible to make a claim for unfair dismissal.
- An employer wanting to dismiss an employee within this timescale is still advised to follow a process, however, as claims for discrimination have no service eligibility.
- There is no legislation on probation periods.
Changes
- From day one, employees will have the right to make a claim for unfair dismissal.
- A statutory probationary period will be introduced, enabling these periods to be used in a meaningful way. The period will be known as the Initial Period of Employment “IPE”, during which time, parties will be encouraged to take part in scheduled performance reviews. The Government have indicated that the IPE is likely to be nine months, but this is yet to be confirmed.
- There will be prescribed dismissal reasons during that period which do not include redundancy (which will not be affected by the changes).
- The government has described the dismissal process during this period as “lighter touch” so employers will not be expected to go through the same process as they do for employees of longer standing.
- There will be lower compensation for dismissal during IPE.
Top tips: preparation and recruitment
- Ensure managers are managing new hires to spot underperformers now.
- Train managers to deliver consistent rules on reviews and dismissals now, so that good practice is embedded.
- Adopt more thorough pre-employment screening. Look into any gaps in CVs, for example, and follow up on references.
- Develop recruitment and selection processes in terms of application, interview structure and questions, and appointment documentation.
- Establish a clear induction process and disseminate expected values, behaviours and triggers.
- Explain the probationary review process.
Top tips: probation periods
- Create a clear probationary review process, e.g., 4 /8 /12 weeks/ 6 and 9 months.
- Capture evidence of performance and reviews in a detailed form.
- Train managers to spot the triggers where an employee could “fail” their probationary review.
- Train managers to understand the steps to be taken to exit an employee post a failed probationary review.
- Consider reduced salaries during probationary period with a bonus and pay rise on successful completion.
Top tips: performance management
- Review your performance management system or develop one if it doesn’t exist, as this will be seen as a fair process when Day One Rights kick in.
- Update policies on performance, conduct and sickness absences to nip poor behaviour in the bud.
- Train the managers – upskill them on how to manage underperformance.
Get in touch
There is a lot of change afoot and it’s important to get prepared. If you’d like our help auditing your employee policies and contracts, please contact us on info@thelegaldirector.co.uk or 020 3056 8538.
