The Deadline Scenario For SMEs

Kate 0:00

Picture this. It's a Tuesday. The thirtieth of June. You've got a new starter beginning next Monday. Lovely on paper, you're pleased. You've also got someone in their first few months who, if you're honest, isn't quite working out. You've been telling yourself, you'll see how the next few weeks go. And somewhere in the back of your mind is a half-remembered headline. Something changing. Something about dismissal. Something on the 1st of July, which is tomorrow's tomorrow. Here's the thing nobody put on the headline. From Wednesday, this Wednesday, the old comfort blanket is gone, the one every small business owner has leaned on for 20 years. They've been here under two years, so if it doesn't work out, we can part ways without too much drama. From 1st July 2026, that is no longer safe. And the person it catches out won't be the cowboy employer. It'll be the decent owner who didn't realise the rule had moved, kept doing what they'd always done, and dismissed someone in month nine the way they would have last year. You've got about 48 hours. Good news, that's plenty if you spend them on the right things. That's today's episode, the Welcome to the Hive Intro. Hey there and welcome back to Buzzing About HR, the podcast for small business owners and HR folk who want straight talking, plain English advice, minus the jargon, and minus the fear. I'm Kate, your host, HR Queen Bee, and a woman who has read the Employment Rights Act, so you very much do not have to. With me, as ever, is Hazel, our well-being officer, Chief Morale Beetle, and the only member of this team entirely unbothered by employment law. She is currently asleep in a sunbeam with her legs in the air.

Welcome And Why This Matters

Kate 1:54

Day one rights, no notice period, fully protected. We could all learn something. Now, I want to start by lowering your blood pressure because the word deadline makes everyone tense up. This change is not the end of the world. It is not the end of being able to let someone go who genuinely isn't right for your business. What it is, is the end of being able to do that carelessly, with nothing written down on the assumption that length of service will save you. And honestly, most of what it asks of you is just good management with a tidier paper trail. So, kettle on. Let's get you one July ready in one episode. Let's go. The buzz, what's actually changing? Let me give you the change in one breath. Then we'll slow down. For two decades, an employee generally needed two years continuous service before they could bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. Under that line, you had real latitude in those first couple of years. From 1st July 2026, that long qualifying period is being brought right down. Protection from unfair dismissal now applies from much earlier in someone's employment. To balance it, the law brings in a statutory probationary period, a defined early window where if

What Changes On 1 July 2026

Kate 3:18

a genuine new hire isn't working out, you can follow a lighter touch process. Lighter than a full capability or conduct procedure. Now here are the two words that matter most in that sentence. Lighter touch, not no touch. Even in those early months, you will need a reason and you will need a fair, evidenced process. The probation route makes that simpler. It does not make it disappear. So the single sentence to take from this episode is this. Dismiss freely in year one is over. From Wednesday, even with a brand new employee, you need a reason and a record. Two honest caveats, because I am an HR consultant and not a woman who deals in scary absolutes. 1. The fine print. The exact length of that statutory probation window and the precise steps inside it sit in the regulations and the ACAS guidance that come with the Act. Before you act on any actual dismissal, get the current detail for your specific situation. This episode is the lie of the land. It is not legal advice on your Dave in accounts. 2. This is phased. Some bits of the Employment Rights Act already landed back in April. More arrives in 2027. The dismissal change is the one with your name on it this week. The hive check. The numbers. A couple of numbers to make this real. The old qualifying period was two years. For most ordinary unfair dismissal claims, that was your shield. From 1st July, that shield shrinks dramatically, protection moves close to day one, softened by the probation process. Why does that matter financially? Because an unfair dismissal award is not loose change. Compensation is typically a basic award plus a compensatory award linked to lost earnings. And for an SME, a single poorly handled dismissal commonly runs into five figures

Cost And Trust In Small Teams

Kate 5:23

once you add legal time, management hours, and the sheer disruption. That's before you count the morale hit on everyone watching how you handled it. And here's the one that should land. In a small team, everyone is watching how you handled it is not a metaphor. If you handle an early exit badly, the other five people see exactly how you treat someone when it gets difficult. That tells them what would happen to them. You don't just risk a claim, you risk the trust of the people you're keeping. Tidy process protects you from the tribunal and keeps the faith of the team. Same action, two payoffs. The sting, where SMS will trip up. After 20 years doing this, I can already see exactly where the tripwires are. Five of them. One, treating probation as a formality. If your probation is a tick box at month three, no objectives, no real feedback, it is worthless to you now. The statutory probation route only helps you if you genuinely use it. Set expectations, review against them, write it down. 2. Feedback that lives only in your head. You raised it in passing, you had a quiet word.

Five Ways Probation Trips You Up

Kate 6:44

On paper, that dismissal looks like it arrived from nowhere. From Wednesday, the paper trail is the difference between a fair, early exit and an unfair dismissal finding. No record, no defense. 3. Contracts built for the old world. If your contract and offer letter still lean on the two-year logic or describe probation as a meaningless formality, they're out of date, as of Wednesday. If you fix one document this week, fix the probation clause. Managers who dodge the hard conversation. The most expensive habit in any small business is the manager who can't bring themselves to tell someone honestly that it isn't working until it's a crisis at month 10. That habit was costly before. Now it's a legal exposure. 5. The assumption itself. They're new, so I'm fine. That is precisely the thought going out of date this week. Catch yourself every time you think it and replace it with they're new, so I need expectations clear and feedback written down. The waggle dance. Your 48-hour plan. Right, you've got two days. Here's exactly where to spend them. Step one, today, fix the probation clause. Open your standard contract and your offer letter. Find the probation wording. If it reflects the old two-year world or treats probation as a formality, rewrite it to reflect the statutory probationary process. This is the highest value hour you'll spend all week. Step two, today or tomorrow. Pull your first few months list. Write down everyone currently in their early

A 48 Hour Plan To Prepare

Kate 8:28

months with you. These are the people the change touches most immediately. For each one, ask three questions. Are expectations clear? Have we given honest feedback? Is any of it written down? Where the answer is no, that's your priority. Step three, from now on, make probation reviews real. For every new starter going forward, diarise short, structured reviews, say weeks four, eight, and twelve. 15 minutes each, what's expected, how's it going, what needs to change, signed and dated. That little habit is your single best protection. Step four this week. Get feedback in writing, not formal warnings. Just a two-line note to yourself after any feedback conversation. Spoke to X about Y, agreed Z. Review in two weeks. That's it. Boring. Bulletproof. Step 5. Before you ever dismiss, take advice on the specific case. The fair process inside the probation window has defined steps. Before you act on any individual dismissal, check the current detail for that situation. One rushed exit is exactly where the cost lands. Notice what's not on that list. Dismissing anyone in a panic. Rushing someone out the door before Wednesday to be safe. Please don't, that's its own risk. You're tidying, not firefighting. The swarm. Myth one. I'll just give notice of the change and carry on as before. No. The change is to the law, not to your contracts. You cannot notice your way out of a statutory right. Myth two. My probation clause slash flexibility clause gets me off the hook. A clause in a contract can't override a statutory right. It can support a clear process. It can't replace one. Myth three. This basically bans hiring for small businesses. It does not. It changes how you hire and how you

Five Myths That Will Hurt You

Kate 10:38

probate, not whether you can. Hire thoughtfully, probate properly, and you've very little to fear. It's hire and hope that's being retired. Myth four. It's not really in until 2027. Parts are. This part is Wednesday. Don't let the phase timetable lull you into missing the bit that's imminent. Myth five. If I dismiss them before the first, I dodge it. Tempting, panicky, and a great way to create the exact unfair dismissal you're trying to avoid. Rushed, unreasoned, undocumented. Don't make a hasty decision to beat a deadline. Make a good decision properly. The honeycomb. Your quick action list, seven things. Most doable before Wednesday. 1. Open your contract, find the probation clause, and rewrite it for the new world. 2. List everyone in their first few months with you. That's your priority group. 3. For each, check expectations are clear and feedback is written down. Fix the gaps. 4. Diorise structured probation reviews for new starters. Weeks 4, 8, 12. 5. Send your managers a two-line heads up. New no longer means easy to let go.

Seven Quick Actions Before Wednesday

Kate 12:01

Feedback must be honest and recorded. 6. Bookmark the Employment Rights Act advice page and take the free HR health check to spot where you're exposed. 7. Do not dismiss anyone in a rush to beat the deadline. Breathe. Tidy. Take advice on any live case. Flying the hive. Right before I go. This change sounds scary because it's got a date on it and the word dismissal in it. But strip that away and look at what it's actually asking you to do. Hire with a bit more care? Be clear about what the job needs. Give honest feedback early instead of swallowing it for 10 months. Keep a tidy record. Have the awkward conversation while it's small. That's not red tape. That's just being a good employer. The Act has simply made it the difference between a decision you can defend and a decision that costs you. So don't panic. Prepare.

Calm Closing And Next Steps

Kate 13:02

Spend your 48 hours on the contract, the list, and the conversations. Do that, and July 1st is a complete non-event for you, which is exactly what you want a big legal change to be. If this helped, send it to one other business owner who's still half ignoring those headlines. You might save them a very bad autumn. Find me at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk or email buzz at kateunderwoodhr.co.uk. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you've not left a review yet, 30 seconds genuinely helps. Cheapest good deed you'll do all week. More satisfying than a biscuit with your tea. Not quite as good as cake, but close. Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people. Kettle on, standards up.