Compromise reached, as unfair dismissal rights after six months to become active in January 2027

The Guardian is reporting that a compromise has been reached between Ministers and Angela Rayner which will see the implementation of unfair dismissal protection at 6 months be brought forward to the beginning of 2027.

The Government’s roadmap for implementing the Employment Rights Bill, published in July 2025, originally had unfair dismissal protection as one of the final measures in the Bill to be phased in, signposted for implementation at any point in 2027. With the on-going delays from an extended parliamentary ping-pong, the implementation roadmap is vulnerable to further obstruction.

This follows last week’s announcement regarding the Government’s U-turn on introducing unfair dismissal as a day one right, instead opting to reduce the qualifying period to 6 months. The move came after a ‘three-way’ discussion with business groups and trade unions, and has been criticised by the former Employment Rights Minister, Justin Madders, as a direct breach of Labour’s election manifesto.

The Bill is due to return to the Commons for further debate on Monday 8 December. Following the Government’s U-turn, Angela Rayner, the former deputy Prime Minister who oversaw and championed the Bill through much of its parliamentary passage, was set to put forward an amendment intended to speed up the implementation for unfair dismissal protection to 2026.

This amendment has now been dropped as it has been reported today that Ministers have agreed to implement protections against unfair dismissal from 1 January 2027. This will mean that anyone employed from July 2026 will benefit from the decision as the protection will immediately apply to workers who already have six months service or more.