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Unfair Dismissal Qualifying Period Checker (UK: six months from 2027)

When does the six-month unfair dismissal qualifying period start?

On 1 January 2027. From then an employee needs six months' continuous employment, not two years, to claim ordinary unfair dismissal. It applies when the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027, even if the dismissal was decided or notice given before. Someone who started on 1 January 2027 is protected for a termination on or after 30 June 2027. The compensatory award cap is also removed from that date.

Probation periods built around the two-year rule stop doing what employers think from 1 January 2027: six months in, a new hire can claim unfair dismissal.

Enter the start date, when notice is given and when employment ends. The checker applies the right period, adds statutory notice where too little was given, and works out the basic award.

Use the checker All free tools

Built by Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. The arithmetic follows the Employment Rights Act 1996 sections and the 2025 amendments linked below.

The checker

Check the dates

Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.

Continuous employment starts the day the employee starts work.
The day notice runs out; the same day if there is no notice.

Optional: the basic award

Capped at GBP 751 a week for dismissals from 6 April 2026.

The change, exactly

Section 25 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 replaces "two years" with "six months" in section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. SI 2026/559 brings it into force on 1 January 2027 and applies it where the effective date of termination is on or after that date. The same change cuts the service needed to ask for written reasons for dismissal to six months, and section 124's cap on the compensatory award (the lower of GBP 123,543 or a year's pay since 6 April 2026) is removed for effective dates from 1 January 2027.

Why the notice period can move the date

If an employer gives less than the statutory minimum notice (one week after a month's service, then one week per complete year from two years, up to twelve), section 97 treats the effective date as the day statutory notice would have run out, for the purpose of counting qualifying service. Dismissing someone a few days before they qualify, without notice, often does not work: the statutory week can carry them over the line.

Claims that need no qualifying service at all

These dismissals are automatically unfair from the first day, whatever the length of service:

  • pregnancy, maternity, and family leave (paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental, dependants)
  • whistleblowing (a protected disclosure)
  • health and safety activities or refusals
  • asserting a statutory right, including the national minimum wage and flexible working
  • working time rights
  • trade union membership or activities, and acting as an employee or pension trustee representative
  • jury service, Sunday working, study and training requests
  • part-time or fixed-term status, and agency worker rights
  • pension auto-enrolment
  • political opinions or affiliation, and reserve forces service
  • a spent conviction (added from 1 January 2027)
  • being selected for redundancy for any of these reasons

Discrimination claims under the Equality Act 2010 also need no qualifying service.

Before you rely on this

What this will not tell you

This checks continuous-service arithmetic and the statutory notice extension. It does not decide whether employment was continuous across breaks, transfers or agency work, whether the person is an employee, or whether a dismissal was fair. It covers Great Britain; Northern Ireland is separate. The basic award assumes the age and weekly pay you enter and no reductions. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Questions

Questions people actually ask

Is the unfair dismissal qualifying period changing to six months?

Yes. From 1 January 2027 it is six months' continuous employment instead of two years, for dismissals whose effective date of termination is on or after that date (Employment Rights Act 2025 s.25, SI 2026/559).

Does the six-month rule apply if notice was given in December 2026?

It depends on the effective date of termination, not the date notice was given. If employment ends on or after 1 January 2027, the six-month period applies.

When exactly does an employee qualify?

On the day before the same date six months (or two years) after they started: someone who started on 1 January 2027 qualifies for an effective date of termination on or after 30 June 2027.

Is the cap on unfair dismissal compensation being removed?

Yes, the cap on the compensatory award is removed for effective dates of termination from 1 January 2027. Before that it is the lower of GBP 123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay.

Can I claim unfair dismissal before six months?

Only for the automatically unfair reasons, such as pregnancy, whistleblowing or asserting a statutory right, which need no qualifying service. Discrimination claims also need none.

Where every rule comes from

Sources

Checked against the text of the law on 16 October 2026. Laws and notified rates change; if a source below has moved on, the source wins over this page.

  1. Employment Rights Act 2025, s.25 (qualifying period) and Schedule 3: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/section/25
  2. SI 2026/559 (commencement on 1 January 2027 and transitional rule): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/559/made
  3. Employment Rights Act 1996, s.108 (qualifying period and day-one exceptions): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/108
  4. Employment Rights Act 1996, s.97 (effective date of termination): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/97
  5. Employment Rights Act 1996, s.86 (statutory minimum notice): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/86
  6. SI 2026/310 (limits from 6 April 2026: week's pay GBP 751, compensatory cap GBP 123,543): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/310/schedule
Citation

Cite this tool

Free to use and free to quote. If a figure here is useful in something you are writing, a link back is all that is asked.

Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Unfair Dismissal Qualifying Period Checker. Shahzeb Speaks. https://www.shahzebspeaks.com/unfair-dismissal-qualifying-period-checker/

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