Free · England, Wales and Scotland · six-month rule from 1 Jan 2027
When does your employee get unfair dismissal rights?
Start date and notice in; the protection date, the effective date of termination with the statutory notice week and the last day to give notice out. Worked out in your browser.
Sample data: someone hired on 1 February 2027 with one week's notice. Type your employee's dates.
Kept in this browser only; nothing is uploaded.
Result
- Unfair dismissal protection from
- 31 July 2027
- Last day to give notice (notice worked)
- 23 July 2027
- Rule that gives the date
- Six months (from 1 Jan 2027)
- Today
- —
Protection means the right not to be unfairly dismissed for an ordinary reason. Automatically unfair reasons (whistleblowing, pregnancy, health and safety and others) and discrimination need no qualifying period at all.
Your planned notice, step by step
- Notice received on Sat 24 Jul 2027, 1 week worked.
- Effective date of termination under s.97(1): Sat 31 Jul 2027.
- Statutory minimum notice (s.86) on that day: 1 week, which would expire Sat 31 Jul 2027.
- s.97(2) changes nothing: the EDT stays Sat 31 Jul 2027.
- An EDT on or after 1 January 2027 needs six months of service. This employee would have unfair dismissal protection.
- Tribunal time limit: 6 months beginning with Sat 31 Jul 2027, so up to Sun 30 Jan 2028, plus any Acas early conciliation extension.
What 1 January 2027 changes for this person
- Old rule (EDT before 1 Jan 2027), two years: complete on Wed 31 Jan 2029, which is after the change, so the old rule never protects them.
- Six-month rule (EDT from 1 Jan 2027): six months complete on Sat 31 Jul 2027.
Managing a team? Pro turns the list into a pack.
Excel tracker with live date formulas and colour flags, three probation letter templates and a one-page summary of the 2026-2027 changes.
The tools
One-employee checker
Start date and notice in; the date unfair dismissal protection starts, the EDT with the statutory notice week and the last day to give notice out.
Staff list tracker
Paste your team from a spreadsheet: who is protected now, who is on 1 January 2027 and who crosses in the next 30, 60 or 90 days.
Probation review dates
Start date and probation length in; suggested review points, probation end and how they sit against the protection date.
How the dates are worked out
- Service counts from the first day of work, and the first and last days both count: six months that begin with 1 February end with 31 July (the Court of Session's rule in Pacitti Jones v O'Brien, where a year from 8 April 2002 ended with 7 April 2003).
- The effective date of termination (EDT) is the day the notice expires, or the day employment ends when notice is paid in lieu (s.97(1)). One week's notice received on 31 March runs from 1 April and expires on 7 April.
- If the statutory minimum notice (one week after a month's service, s.86) would end later, that later date is the EDT for unfair dismissal (s.97(2)). This is why paying in lieu does not save the last week.
- An EDT before 1 January 2027 needs two years' service; an EDT on or after it needs six months (Employment Rights Act 2025 s.25, SI 2026/559 reg. 4).
Example: someone hired on 1 February 2027 is protected for an EDT from 31 July 2027. With pay in lieu, the last day to give notice is 23 July 2027: notice a day later adds the statutory week and lands on the protection date. The statutory notice guide walks through it.
What these dates do not cover
The dates are for ordinary unfair dismissal only. These reasons are automatically unfair and need no qualifying period, so the dates here do not apply to them:
- pregnancy, including all reasons relating to maternity
- family, including parental leave, paternity leave (birth and adoption), adoption leave or time off for dependants
- acting as an employee representative
- acting as a trade union representative
- taking part in official (lawful) industrial action
- acting as an occupational pension scheme trustee
- joining or not joining a trade union
- being a part-time or fixed-term employee
- pay and working hours, including the Working Time Regulations, annual leave and the National Minimum Wage
- reporting certain types of wrongdoing (whistleblowing)
- health and safety, asserting a statutory right and the other cases listed in s.108(3)
The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not change the existing day one protections against discrimination and automatically unfair grounds for dismissal.
Not checked here: breaks in continuity and re-hires, TUPE transfers, earlier service with an associated employer, summary dismissal for gross misconduct, the end of fixed-term contracts, and workers who are not employees. Northern Ireland has its own law and is out of scope: In Northern Ireland, the qualifying period is still usually 1 year.
Your staff list never leaves your computer. The dates are worked out in this browser; names and dates are kept in its local storage only, never uploaded and never sent to analytics.
Date calculator and templates based on the Employment Rights Act 1996 as amended by the Employment Rights Act 2025. Not legal advice. Continuity rules have exceptions; check with Acas or a solicitor before dismissing anyone. Not affiliated with Acas or the UK Government.
Sources of the rules
- Six-month rule starts: The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/559), reg. 3(a): section 25 of the 2025 Act comes into force on 1st January 2027 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/559/made, read on 2026-09-30
- Qualifying period: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.108(1): "not less than two years ending with the effective date of termination" — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/108; Employment Rights Act 2025, s.25(2)(a): in s.108(1) "for 'two years' substitute 'six months'" — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/section/25, read on 2026-09-30
- Which rule applies: SI 2026/559, reg. 4(1)(a) and (b); "effective date of termination" has the meaning in s.97 of the 1996 Act (reg. 4(2)) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/559/made, read on 2026-09-30
- Counting service: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.210(2) (a month is a calendar month) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/210 and s.211(1) (the period begins with the day the employee starts work) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/211; Court of Session, Pacitti Jones v O'Brien [2005] CSIH 56, para. 16: "the period of twelve calendar months, which began with 8 April 2002, ended with 7 April 2003" — https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/j0ym05jv/2005csih56-pacitti-jones-vclaire-obrien.pdf, read on 2026-09-30
- Effective date of termination: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.97(1)(a) and (b) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/97, read on 2026-09-30
- Statutory notice extension: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.97(2) and (3) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/97, read on 2026-09-30
- Statutory minimum notice: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.86(1): after one month's continuous employment, not less than one week's notice if under two years, one week per complete year from two to twelve years, twelve weeks from twelve years — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/86, read on 2026-09-30
- Counting a notice period: Court of Session, Pacitti Jones v O'Brien [2005] CSIH 56, paras. 2-4: a letter giving "one week's notice", received on 31 March 2003; the notice ran from 1 April and expired on 7 April 2003 (agreed by both parties) — https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/media/j0ym05jv/2005csih56-pacitti-jones-vclaire-obrien.pdf, read on 2026-09-30
- Tribunal time limit: Employment Rights Act 2025, Sch. 12 para. 4(25): in s.111(2) of the 1996 Act "for 'three' substitute 'six'" — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/schedule/12/enacted; in force 1 October 2026 by SI 2026/954 reg. 3, not where the relevant date (for s.111, the effective date of termination) is before 1 October 2026 (reg. 4 and Schedule, table 1) — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/954/made, read on 2026-09-30
- Compensation cap: Employment Rights Act 2025, s.25(3) "Omit section 124", in force 1 January 2027 by SI 2026/559 reg. 3 and 4 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/section/25; GOV.UK Factsheet: Unfair Dismissal — https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a049a3d22977ebc82cb3f1a/unfair-dismissal-factsheet.pdf, read on 2026-09-30
- Automatically unfair reasons: GOV.UK, Dismissing staff: Unfair dismissals, "Automatically unfair reasons for dismissal" — https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff/unfair-dismissals; the full list of cases where s.108(1) does not apply, including health and safety (s.100) and asserting a statutory right (s.104), is in s.108(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/108, read on 2026-09-30
- Northern Ireland: GOV.UK, Dismissing staff: Eligibility to claim unfair dismissal — https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff/eligibility-to-claim-unfair-dismissal, read on 2026-09-30
Frequently asked questions
- When do employees get unfair dismissal rights from 2027?
- After six months' continuous employment, for any dismissal whose effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027. Before that date the qualifying period is two years. Someone who already has six months' service on 1 January 2027 is protected that day.
- Is it the date I give notice or the date employment ends that counts?
- The effective date of termination: when the notice expires, or the day employment ends with pay in lieu. For the qualifying period, s.97(2) then adds the statutory minimum notice (one week after a month's service) if that would end later. So a dismissal at five months and three weeks can land after six months.
- Can I dismiss someone under 6 months without a reason?
- Ordinary unfair dismissal protection needs the qualifying period, but discrimination, whistleblowing, pregnancy and the other automatically unfair reasons apply from day one, and the contractual and statutory notice still have to be given. Acas says to follow a fair procedure and give the reasons in writing, even during probation.
- Does the six-month rule apply in Northern Ireland?
- No. These Employment Rights Act 2025 changes apply in England, Wales and Scotland. GOV.UK says the qualifying period in Northern Ireland is still usually one year; this site does not cover it.
- When is the unfair dismissal compensation cap removed?
- Section 25(3) of the Employment Rights Act 2025 omits the cap (s.124 of the 1996 Act) from 1 January 2027, for dismissals with an effective date of termination on or after that date. As of 6 April 2026 the cap was the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay.
- Is my staff data stored anywhere?
- Only in this browser, so the tracker remembers your list. No account, no upload, and the names and dates you type are not sent to analytics.
Guides
- Why acting at five months may be too late: the statutory notice rule
Section 97(2) adds the one-week statutory notice to the effective date of termination, so notice at five months and three weeks can land after protection starts.
- Unfair dismissal time limit: 6 months from 1 October 2026
Tribunal claims for unfair dismissal: six months beginning with the effective date of termination when it falls on or after 1 October 2026, three before. Worked dates.