ERA 2025: Your Guide to the New Day One Employment Rights

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a wide set of genuine day-one rights — but unfair dismissal is not one of them. The proposed day-one unfair dismissal right was dropped before the Act received Royal Assent. The unfair dismissal qualifying period is still two years now, and is planned to reduce from two years to six months for dismissals on or after 1 January 2027 (two years still applies until then). There is no statutory probation or "initial period of employment" — probation remains contractual.

What does apply from day one under ERA 2025 is a real and significant package: Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of absence with no waiting days and no lower earnings limit (from 6 April 2026), the right to request flexible working from day one, day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave, and neonatal care leave. Automatically unfair dismissal — for reasons such as pregnancy, whistleblowing or asserting a statutory right — has always applied from day one and continues to.

Probationary periods still exist and remain contractual. Following a fair process during probation is good practice and protects you, but the legal trigger that changes in this area is the qualifying-period reduction in 2027, not a day-one unfair dismissal right today. Mellow's onboarding module prompts probationary reviews and logs outcomes automatically. Every conversation is stored, so if a claim is ever brought, you have the paper trail to show a fair process was followed. Review your probationary policy now: it should include scheduled touchpoints, documented concerns, and a genuine right of response before any dismissal decision. The ACAS Code of Practice applies to disciplinary and dismissal processes generally — make it your standard ahead of the 2027 change.