The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the biggest change to UK employment law in a generation. From 1 January 2027, the ordinary unfair dismissal qualifying period in Great Britain falls from two years to six months, and the cap on compensatory awards is removed. The Fair Work Agency has been operating since 7 April 2026, with enforcement powers over statutory sick pay, holiday pay and minimum wage that carry real financial consequences. Separately, a set of statutory rights already applies from the first day of employment.
Most UK employers are not ready. Many do not yet understand what ERA 2025 actually requires. Employers who prepare now will have their records in place before the change takes effect.
This is a practical 20-point checklist covering everything an employer needs to do between now and January 2027. It is not a legal opinion, and nothing in this guide should be treated as legal advice. What it is, is a working document you can use as a starting point.
You can download the full PDF version at the end of this article.
What is the Employment Rights Act 2025?
ERA 2025 is a set of reforms aimed at strengthening worker protections in the UK. The headline changes include:
- A shorter unfair dismissal qualifying period. From 1 January 2027 an employee can bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim after six months rather than two years, and the cap on compensatory awards is removed. The qualifying period is reduced, not abolished, and existing day one rights for automatically unfair dismissal and discrimination are unchanged.
- Day-one rights. Paternity leave, unpaid parental leave and flexible working requests apply from the first day of employment. Ordinary unfair dismissal is not one of these.
- New SSP rules (effective 6 April 2026). Statutory Sick Pay applies from day one with no waiting period, no lower earnings threshold, and a new calculation (the lower of the standard weekly rate or 80% of average weekly earnings).
- Fair Work Agency enforcement. A new government body with powers to investigate employers, issue fines, and enforce compliance with workplace standards.
- Probation protections. A six-month probation now runs up against the six-month qualifying period, and statutory notice counts towards length of service. Employers who dismiss during probation without a documented, fair process face the same legal exposure as any other dismissal.
- Linked periods and absence rules. Absences within 56 days now link under the 2026 rules, affecting SSP entitlement calculations.
The biggest commercial risk for employers is not the law itself. It is the gap between the law and most employers' current hiring and probation processes. Existing processes were designed around the old rules.
Why this checklist matters
From January 2027 a probation that runs past six months of service, counting statutory notice, is no longer a low-risk window: a dismissal after that point can be an unfair dismissal claim with no compensation cap. Every absence becomes a potential SSP dispute.
Employers preparing for ERA 2025 are:
- Document their hiring process with objective evidence
- Handle probation reviews systematically, not ad hoc
- Have clear, auditable decision trails for every hire and every dismissal
- Understand SSP, family leave, and day-one rights well enough to apply them correctly
This checklist covers all four.
The 20-Point ERA 2025 Employer Checklist
Section 1: Your Hiring Process (points 1 to 6)
1. Document every hiring decision with objective evidence.
From January 2027 a hire that does not work out has to be handled as a fair dismissal after six months of service rather than two years. The Act does not require you to document hiring decisions, but a documented basis for the appointment is where a fair capability process starts, and it is far easier to build at the time than to reconstruct later. Your documentation should show what you assessed, how you scored it, and why you chose this candidate over others. Keep records for at least six years.
2. Remove bias from assessment.
Day-one rights include full protection under the Equality Act 2010. That means your assessment cannot disadvantage candidates based on protected characteristics. Any scoring that penalises spelling, grammar, or cultural expression is a legal risk. Use structured, evidence-based assessment that scores behaviour and judgement, not presentation style.
3. Use structured interviews, not free-form conversations.
Free-form interviews are less structured and harder to compare across candidates. Every interview should use the same questions, scored against the same criteria, with written notes retained for six years minimum.
4. Test candidates against the actual job, not a proxy.
A structured hiring process tests candidates against situations they will face in the role, and records what they did.
5. Document why each unsuccessful candidate was rejected.
ERA 2025 gives rejected candidates no new claim; the Equality Act 2010 already does, and always has. If a rejected candidate challenges your decision on the grounds that a protected characteristic played a part, you need to show what they scored, what the hired candidate scored, and why the decision was made on the requirements of the role. "They did not feel like a fit" gives no reason anyone can check.
6. Give every rejected candidate the option of development feedback.
Not a legal requirement. It also builds your employer brand.
Section 2: Your Probation Process (points 7 to 11)
7. Replace informal probation with a documented 90-day plan.
The old approach (give them three months, see how it goes, decide at the end) stops working once six months of service is in reach. A dismissal before six months, counting statutory notice, is outside ordinary unfair dismissal; after it, the dismissal needs a fair reason and a fair process. A documented, structured review records what happened. Every new hire needs a written 90-day plan with clear objectives, regular check-ins, and documented feedback.
8. Use SMART objectives from day one.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Generic objectives like "settle in and learn the role" do not survive scrutiny. Every objective must be specific enough that both employer and employee know exactly what success looks like.
9. Run structured check-ins at weeks 1, 4, 8, and 12.
Document each check-in with a written record. What was discussed, what was agreed, what support was offered. If a probation fails at week 10, the record shows whether earlier concerns were raised and addressed.
10. Use the SBI feedback framework for any performance concerns.
Situation, Behaviour, Impact. Vague feedback like "you need to improve your communication" gives the employee nothing specific to act on. Specific feedback like "In the client meeting on Tuesday, when the client raised the budget question, you deferred to the manager rather than answering directly, which left the client uncertain about your seniority" does.
11. If a probation fails, keep the full record.
Keep the original assessment, check-in records, feedback given, support offered and the final decision reasoning together.
Section 3: Day-One Rights (points 12 to 15)
12. Update your contracts and offer letters to reflect day-one rights.
Every offer letter and contract of employment should explicitly acknowledge the day-one rights that apply: paternity leave and unpaid parental leave (from 6 April 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025) and flexible working requests (since 6 April 2024, under earlier legislation). Ordinary unfair dismissal is a separate change, so probation clauses need reviewing against the six-month qualifying period too. Your legal team should review and update every template.
13. Train your line managers on day-one rights.
The biggest risk is not you, it is your managers making informal decisions that breach the new rules. A manager telling a new hire "we don't do flexible working in their first six months" is a legal risk. Every line manager needs a written briefing on what day-one rights actually mean in practice.
14. Review your paternity and parental leave policies.
Both apply from day one under ERA 2025. If your policies currently require a qualifying period, they need updating. This is one of the most commonly missed items.
15. Document your flexible working request process.
Flexible working requests can now be made from day one. You need a documented process for handling them, including who decides, how the decision is reasoned, and how it is communicated. Refusing a request without documented business justification is a legal risk.
Section 4: SSP and Absence Management (points 16 to 18)
16. Understand the new SSP rules for 6 April 2026.
From April 2026 SSP applies from day one with no waiting period and no lower earnings threshold. The calculation changes to the lower of the standard weekly rate or 80% of average weekly earnings. Payroll systems built around the old rules will miscalculate SSP from day one if not updated.
17. Track linked absence periods correctly.
Absences within 56 days now link under the 2026 rules and count towards the 28-week maximum. If you are not tracking this correctly you will either overpay or underpay SSP, and both are compliance risks.
18. Keep SSP records for three years minimum.
HMRC requires SSP records to be kept for three years. This includes the absence record, the SSP calculation record, and any SSP1 forms issued. Paper records in a filing cabinet are not enough. You need a documented, searchable system.
Section 5: Fair Work Agency and Enforcement (points 19 to 20)
19. Keep one file per hire that would answer any later question.
The Fair Work Agency does not inspect hiring decisions: its remit is minimum wage, statutory sick pay, holiday pay, employment agencies and labour exploitation. The questions about a hire come later and from elsewhere: a tribunal in a capability dismissal, a discrimination claim from an unsuccessful candidate, or your own probation review. Keep one file per hire with the assessment, the scoring, the interview notes, the offer letter and the onboarding documentation.
20. Treat every hire as if it might be challenged.
This is the mindset shift. From January 2027 a hire that goes wrong becomes a potential unfair dismissal claim, with no compensation cap, after six months of service rather than two years.
Why most UK employers will fail this checklist
Most businesses will not do this work. They will assume the old rules still apply, or that their HR team has it covered, or that the Fair Work Agency will not come for them. Some of them will be right. Most will not.
The cost of getting ERA 2025 wrong is not theoretical. An unfair dismissal claim with no compensation cap can run to six figures. Fair Work Agency fines can be significant. The reputational damage of a public tribunal case can cost far more than the legal fees.
The cost of getting it right is mostly time. Most of the 20 items on this checklist are process changes, not capital investments. The employers who treat ERA 2025 as an opportunity to professionalise their hiring and probation processes will come out stronger on the other side.
How PRODICTA helps
PRODICTA records how each candidate handled work scenarios for the role, with scoring linked to quoted evidence.
Every assessment can generate a Hiring Process Statement, a statement by PRODICTA of the scoring methodology, date and fairness standards applied; it is not a statutory certification, because none exists. Every probation comes with a built-in 90-day coaching plan with SMART objectives, structured check-ins, and the SBI feedback framework.
If you want to see how PRODICTA works, book a demo at prodicta.co.uk or try the free hiring risk audit to see what risks are already built into one of your current job descriptions.
Download the full PDF checklist
The PDF version includes all 20 checklist items in a single-page format you can print and share with your leadership team, plus additional notes on documentation retention periods, sample probation review templates, and a glossary of key ERA 2025 terms.
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