Howes Percival
Recruitment in a new legal landscape
Graham Irons Employment Partner Howes Percival
T e new year is always a time when people consider a new start with a new job. Taking on a new employee creates risk and opportunity for an employer. Planned changes to employment law may mean more risk for employers and fewer opportunities. T e Government recently stepped back from its original
proposal under the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) to implement ‘day-one’ unfair dismissal rights for employees and instead introduced a six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal. The original roadmap published alongside the ERB suggested that the new qualifying period would be introduced in early 2027, but it is now likely that the Government will be fast tracking the new law so that it will take eff ect from early 2026. T e House of Lords had pushed back on the day-one
rights pledge and insisted that a nine-month statutory probation period would need to be utilised as an alternative
buff er for the enhanced rights. Having consulted with trade unions on the point, the Government has compromised on one of its major manifesto pledges by sacrifi cing the day- one right to unfair dismissal protection and instead will be reducing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months. As a result, the change has been fast- tracked to a far earlier implementation date believed to be early 2026 and without further consultation on the point. T is will mean that employers will have to dismiss for a
fair reason and only after having followed a fair process for those employees who have six months or more continuous employment. In addition, the Government has also just announced that it is removing the cap on the unfair dismissal compensatory award. Whilst in practice, many claimants do not get compensation anywhere near the cap (currently the lesser of a year’s pay or £118,223) the removal of the limit could have signifi cant implications for employers facing claims from higher earning ex-employees. T is means that getting recruitment right, training new
starters and properly managing probation periods has never been more important.
Graham Irons, left, and Simon deMaid
ALL THINGS BUSINESS | 18
RECRUITMENT & TRAINING
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
