Length of Service to bring an unfair dismissal claim
Please Note:
The Labour government has proposed making the right to claim unfair dismissal a "day one" right. This would mean unfair dismissal protection would apply from your first day of employment. This change will be made by legislation. At the time of writing, there is no timetable for this change. However, employers must keep this in mind and watch this page for changes.
Since April 2012, an employee must have two years' continuous employment with the same employer to qualify for unfair dismissal protection.
Before April 2012, the period required to claim unfair dismissal was one year's continuous employment with the same employer.
The relevant legislation for this change is "The Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 2012", please see the external link below for the actual legislation.
It is important to note that the legislation also changed the requirement from one year to two years for employers to provide (on request by the employee) written reasons for the dismissal.
External links: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2012/9780111519974/contents
Exceptions for Unfair Dismissal - Length of service not required