From 1 January 2027, employees can claim unfair dismissal after just six months of service. Down from two years. The risk profile of every hire your organisation makes changes fundamentally and much sooner than before. What actually changes Anyone you hire from July 2026 onwards will reach six months' service by 1 January 2027 and gain protection on that date. The clock is already running. Alongside this, the statutory cap on compensatory awards is being removed. Currently se

An engineering worker was awarded £66,295 plus £1,800 costs after his employer dismissed him for raising concerns about his manager's competence. The employer thought they had a reasonable case. The tribunal thought otherwise. And, from January 2027, cases like this are about to get a lot more expensive. Here's what happened and what it means for you. "Obstructive and unsupportive" Andrew Estcourt was a chief engineer who repeatedly raised concerns that his new manager didn't

You probably won't find out someone is leaving until they hand in their notice. By then, in most cases, the decision was made weeks ago. Summer tends to be when this plays out. People go on holiday, get some headspace, start browsing jobs on their phones, and come back with a plan. If you haven't spotted the signs early enough, you're already behind. This quick guide covers three things: What to look for before someone gets to that point How to mitigate unwanted leavers throu

From October, if one of your employees makes a harassment claim, a policy alone won't cut it. I know you might think a policy stored away somewhere is enough. But, with the rule changes, you must be able to evidence how you took all reasonable steps to prevent harassment in your workplace. A quick look at the timeline Pre-2023: Equality Act 2010 meant that employers generally had a defence so long as they could point to a policy they had in place. 2024: The Worker Protection

An easier way to review and manage holiday requests It's summer and there's going to be a surge of holiday requests coming your way... HR software won't stop your team from wanting the same two weeks in August. But it will stop the admin chaos that follows... When leave is managed through a proper system, employees can see their own balances, submit requests online and get a decision without chasing anyone. Managers can see at a glance who's in, who's off and whether approvin

Loneliness at work Loneliness at work rarely looks the way you'd expect. You might think an employee who feels lonely might not speak up in meetings as much. Or they start taking more days off. But actually, loneliness can show up in all sorts of subtle ways. And, ultimately, it usually ends up affecting performance, which impacts your bottom line as a small business owner. How loneliness costs you When people feel like they belong, they engage more and stay longer. The peopl

With new 6-month dismissal rights, what's the point of a probation period? You might be looking at the new unfair dismissal rules and thinking that probation periods have become pointless. After all, if employees gain unfair dismissal protection after just 6 months from 1 January 2027, and most probation periods last 3 to 6 months, doesn't the whole concept lose its teeth? Actually, the opposite is true. Probation periods are more important now than they have ever been. Here'

Anyone you employ from 1 July onwards can bring an unfair dismissal claim after just 6 months. The first claims could land as early as January 2027.

You've probably used ChatGPT or something similar to draft a contract, write a policy or put together a letter for an employee It's quick. It sounds professional. And it feels like you've just saved yourself a chunk of money. But the problem with AI-generated HR documents isn't that they look bad. They usually look fine. That's what makes them risky. They read well enough that you trust them, but they're missing things you won't spot until it's too late. You want to ensure th

The Employment Rights Act expands employee protection in several areas that directly affect how you manage people day to day. Some of the changes include: stronger statutory rights from earlier in employment lower thresholds for certain types of claim broader enforcement powers, including through the new Fair Work Agency increased scrutiny on fairness and process in how decisions are made

What are the new UK statutory sick pay (SSP) rules and what do they mean for you?

How much money are you spending on "HR"? Most business owners we speak to say they don't have an HR budget. What they usually mean is that they don't have a planned one. Because in reality, most businesses are already spending money on HR. They just don't think of it in that way.

A formal grievance is not something that you can afford to ignore or handle casually. You are busy running the business and may not be sure how serious a grievance really is. But once an employee puts something in writing, how you handle it matters as much as the issue they are raising.

Fair Work Agency You probably haven't heard of the Fair Work Agency yet. That's because it's been slipped in as part of the Employment Rights Act that came into force in April 2026 There is not much information available, but from what we do know, it is going to have a significant impact on your compliance requirements in the future. What we are looking at is not another advisory body. It is an enforcement agency that will expect you to evidence how you comply with employment

How to manage a new employee with long-term sickness This probably isn’t how you expected your new hire to start. You’ve just recruited someone you really wanted. They’ve got the skills, the attitude and felt like a strong addition to the business. Then, during onboarding, they let you know that they’ve been managing a long-term condition that may affect their attendance at times. Suddenly, what should feel like a positive moment starts to feel complicated. You want to do the

How to resolve conflict between two employees Handling conflict isn’t how you want to spend your time or energy. Two employees aren’t getting on. It’s awkward, distracting and pulling you into something you didn’t create and don’t particularly want to referee. It can be really tempting to turn a blind eye and hope that these situations will settle down on their own. Here’s why that isn’t a good idea and how you can nip things in the bud before they escalate. What conflict usu

How to transform reactive and expensive HR spend into proactive strategies that deliver ROI. Most business owners don't create an HR budget... Instead, they only spend money on HR when they have to in order to fix problems when they arise, like disciplinaries and grievances. The issue is that this kind of reactive HR is expensive, disruptive and delivers no return. It’s money spent firefighting rather than improving the business. When used properly, good people management doe

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