Sacked with no warning: your rights under two years
Losing your job without warning does not erase your rights. Check the reason for dismissal, the money owed and your deadline before accepting "under two years" as the final word.
Being sent home after a shift can leave you worrying about rent before you have even asked why. Save the dismissal message. “You haven’t been here long enough” does not answer a complaint about pregnancy discrimination, whistleblowing or missing pay. Most short-service employees cannot claim ordinary unfair dismissal yet. But check the reason and the money owed before accepting that nothing can be done.
- 2 years
- usual service requirement in Great Britain now
- Day 1
- discrimination and specified automatically unfair reasons
- 1 Jan 27
- scheduled six-month service rule, based on termination date
- 7 days
- interim relief deadline for eligible dismissals
What to do today
Do this before you reply in anger or sign anything.
- Write down when the job ended. Record who dismissed you, what they said and whether you were sent home immediately or told to work notice. An appeal does not stop the tribunal clock.
- Keep the evidence you can lawfully keep. Save your contract, payslips, rotas, dismissal message and relevant exchanges about pay or safety somewhere you can access after losing your work account. Do not copy patients’ records, customers’ personal data or unrelated confidential files.
- Ask for a final-pay breakdown. Request outstanding wages, notice pay where due and accrued untaken holiday. Use the wording below.
- Record what happened before the dismissal. Had you told them you were pregnant, requested flexible working, contacted a union, raised a safety concern or challenged missing pay? Write down dates and witnesses. “Not needed” in the dismissal letter does not settle the real reason.
- Get someone on your side. Contact your union first. UNISON and GMB organise in care and NHS support, Usdaw in retail, Unite in food, hospitality and warehouses, and IWGB in delivery and gig work. If you are not already a member, ask what help is available for an existing dispute. Acas can explain your rights. Citizens Advice or a law centre may help with your claim.
- Protect the deadline. For an unfair dismissal taking effect on or after 1 October 2026, the usual Great Britain limit is six months minus a day, before the Acas adjustment. Other claims can run from different dates. A qualifying interim-relief application must reach the tribunal within seven days of termination. Get urgent advice rather than waiting for a reply from your manager.
Do not sign a settlement in the car park. Read settlement agreements first. If your visa is tied to this employer, get immigration advice as well. See what happens if a sponsor licence goes.
Can they sack you with no warning?
In Great Britain, being dismissed without a warning or hearing does not, by itself, give an employee under the qualifying period an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. That leaves employers considerable freedom to end a short-service job. It does not make every dismissal lawful. Probation is a contractual arrangement, not an exemption from employment rights. A kitchen porter in week six and a housekeeper in month eighteen both retain the protections below.
If your contract promises a disciplinary procedure, skipping it can be a breach of contract. Not every staff-handbook policy is contractual. The Acas Code sets out the procedure employers should follow. Where a relevant tribunal claim succeeds, an unreasonable failure to follow the Code can increase or reduce an award by up to 25%. It does not create an ordinary unfair dismissal claim for someone who lacks the required service. See fair disciplinary procedures.
If you are invited to a disciplinary hearing or appeal, ask to bring a colleague or an eligible trade union representative. The statutory right to be accompanied covers workers as well as employees, with no service requirement, where you reasonably request a companion at a qualifying hearing. See who can accompany you.
The two-year bar, and what it does not cover
Ordinary unfair dismissal, in England, Wales and Scotland, needs two years’ continuous employment ending with the effective date of termination. That is section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The bar has stood at two years since 6 April 2012 for jobs that started on or after that date.
Count to the effective date of termination. Part-time weeks count. Sickness and family leave count while the contract continues. A gap with no contract can break the count. A TUPE transfer usually preserves it. Check the start date before you decide you are out.
If you were dismissed immediately without the statutory notice you were entitled to, section 97 can add that notice for the qualifying-service calculation. This can bring someone just short of two years over the threshold. It does not extend the tribunal filing deadline. Ask an adviser to check the dates, especially if the employer alleges gross misconduct.
Reasons that are unlawful from day one
For specified automatically unfair reasons, the two-year service rule does not apply. These protections usually require the protected reason to be the reason, or principal reason, for dismissal. The facts matter. For example, whistleblowing requires a qualifying protected disclosure, not simply a disagreement with your manager.
| Protected reason | What to check |
|---|---|
| Pregnancy or exercising protected family-leave rights | Section 99 and the relevant leave regulations. Pregnancy and maternity discrimination can give a separate claim |
| Making a protected disclosure | Section 103A. An interim-relief application has a 7-day deadline. See whistleblowing |
| Specified health-and-safety activities, including leaving serious and imminent danger | Section 100. Interim relief covers only specified safety duties or representative activities, not every safety dismissal. The £9,157 minimum basic award also applies only to qualifying cases |
| Asserting a protected statutory right, such as protection against unlawful wage deductions, or exercising minimum-wage rights | Sections 104 and 104A. See deductions from wages and minimum wage |
| Making or proposing a statutory flexible working request | Section 104C. Protection against dismissal does not guarantee approval of the request. See flexible working |
| Exercising working-time rights | Section 101A, subject to its statutory conditions |
| Union membership or protected union activities | Section 152 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Eligible cases can qualify for interim relief and a £9,157 minimum basic award |
| Jury service, a protected study or training request, protected Sunday-working rights, pension-trustee duties or employee-representative activities | Sections 98B, 104D, 101, 102 and 103. Each has its own conditions |
| Asserting part-time, fixed-term or agency-worker rights, or prohibited blacklisting | The relevant regulations and section 104F. Agency Workers Regulations 2010 regulation 17 protects qualifying employees against dismissal |
| Redundancy selection for a protected reason | Section 105 and the relevant provisions. Calling it redundancy does not excuse unlawful selection |
Discrimination is a separate route. The Equality Act 2010 protects age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. No minimum service is required, and compensation is uncapped. Dismissing a care worker because she is pregnant, or selecting hotel housekeepers for dismissal because of their nationality, can be unlawful however recently they started. See pregnancy discrimination and how to make a discrimination complaint.
Example: Leon challenged missing overtime
Leon packs in a warehouse. After eight months in the job, he tells his manager that withholding overtime already earned is an unlawful deduction from his wages. The next day he is sent home, “not needed”. If asserting that statutory right was the principal reason for dismissal, section 104 can make it automatically unfair. The messages and timing are evidence, not a guarantee that he will win.
With no complete year of service, his normal basic award would be zero. The £9,157 minimum for certain protected dismissals does not apply to this wages complaint. If his gross weekly pay is £300, one week’s statutory notice is £300 gross, unless a longer contract term applies or notice is lawfully withheld. Missing overtime is a separate deduction claim. Compensation for unfair dismissal depends on proven losses and his efforts to find replacement work.
“Under two years” is not an answer to a complaint about stolen wages.
What should be in your final pay
A lawful dismissal does not cancel unpaid wages or accrued untaken statutory holiday. Regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 requires payment for untaken statutory leave on termination. Statutory entitlement is 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days for someone working five or more days a week. Your contract may give more.
Under section 86, employees get at least one week’s notice after one month’s continuous employment and before two years. From two years, the minimum is one week for each complete year of service, up to 12 weeks. A longer contractual entitlement takes priority. If the employer ends the job immediately, notice pay may be due instead. Wrongful dismissal is a breach-of-contract claim, often about missing notice, and needs no qualifying service. A tribunal contract claim is capped at £25,000. That tribunal cap does not apply to a civil-court claim. See notice periods and final pay.
The £751 statutory week’s-pay limit, effective from 6 April 2026, limits certain awards. It does not cap wages or contractual notice pay. Statutory redundancy pay usually requires two years’ continuous employment. A wider redundancy exercise may also trigger collective consultation rights, which do not depend on each employee having two years’ service.
Example: Nia’s notice and holiday pay
Nia is a domiciliary carer with 15 months’ service. She earns £440 gross a week over five equal working days, with fixed hours and pay. Her contract gives four weeks’ notice. The employer ends her job immediately on 1 October 2026, exactly three months into her leave year. She has taken two days’ holiday. Assume there is no gross misconduct and no protected reason for dismissal.
Four contractual weeks beat the statutory one. Notice pay is 4 × £440 = £1,760 gross. Her annual statutory holiday is 28 days. For this example, 28 × 3/12 = 7 days accrued. Subtract the two days taken and five remain. A day’s pay is £440 ÷ 5 = £88, so holiday pay is 5 × £88 = £440. Together that is £2,200 gross, plus outstanding wages. Tax and National Insurance apply. The employer’s normal pay date still matters; this is a calculation of entitlement, not a promise of payment that evening.
For an England or Wales tribunal contract claim, the unadjusted deadline is 31 March 2027. For a Scottish tribunal contract claim, protect 31 December 2026. Notify Acas in time and calculate the adjusted deadline using the conciliation dates. Different hours, variable pay or working through notice can change the calculation. See the holiday calculator.
Check for unpaid travel between care visits or other work the payslip missed. The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026. See care workers’ travel time and sleep-ins. An underpayment can be reported through the pay and work rights complaints route. A report is not a tribunal claim and does not stop its deadline.
Do they have to tell you why?
In Great Britain, the usual statutory right to written reasons requires two years’ service and a request. The employer then has 14 days to provide them. An unreasonable refusal, or an inadequate statement, can lead to a tribunal award of two weeks’ pay. The service threshold falls to six months for terminations on or after 1 January 2027.
If you are dismissed while pregnant, or the dismissal ends your maternity or adoption leave, section 92, subsections 4 and 4A, gives you written reasons without a service requirement or a request. Ask for reasons anyway, even if the ordinary right does not apply. Do not wait for the reply before contacting Acas.
Zero-hours, agency work and probation
Unfair dismissal requires employee status. The contract’s label does not decide it. A tribunal looks at the working relationship. Read employee, worker or self-employed if your employer says you are outside the rules. Someone who is not an employee can still have a contractual claim for money owed, though the tribunal’s employee contract jurisdiction may not be available.
Employee
- Unfair dismissal if you meet the service rule or a relevant exception applies
- Statutory notice after one month and any longer contractual notice
- Written reasons when the ordinary threshold or a protected-leave exception applies
- Wages, holiday and discrimination protections
Worker who is not an employee
- No unfair dismissal claim
- Minimum wage, holiday and unlawful-deduction protections
- Discrimination protection where the Equality Act applies
- Whistleblowing and minimum-wage detriment claims, which can cover ending the contract for a protected reason
- A companion at a qualifying hearing on reasonable request
A zero-hours contract does not erase rights you hold as an employee or worker. Probation is not a third employment status. A genuinely self-employed contractor normally relies on the contract for pay and notice, but the Equality Act can cover some contracts to do work personally. Do not accept “self-employed” as conclusive without checking.
For agency work, identify the employer before naming a respondent. An employee dismissed for a protected reason connected with agency-worker rights can claim automatically unfair dismissal without qualifying service. Other agency workers may have a detriment claim. After 12 qualifying weeks in the same role with the same hirer, agency workers generally gain equal-treatment rights for basic working conditions. See agency workers’ rights. Non-renewal of an employee’s fixed-term contract is a dismissal. See fixed-term contracts.
What 1 January 2027 actually changes
The six-month qualifying period is scheduled, not in force on 1 October 2026. SI 2026/559, regulations 3 and 4, brings in the relevant changes to section 25 and Schedule 3 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 on 1 January 2027.
The new rule applies where the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027. That includes notice given earlier which expires after the change. A job that ends before January is still subject to the two-year rule. The reform does not revive an ordinary claim for a dismissal already outside it.
For terminations covered by the January reform, the ordinary compensatory-award cap is repealed and the usual written-reasons threshold falls to six months. Compensation still depends on what is just and equitable, including proven losses. The basic-award formula does not change. Schedule 3 also removes the qualifying-service requirement for dismissals because of spent convictions where the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act protection applies. Disclosure exceptions still matter. See spent convictions at work.
For dismissals from 6 April 2026 to which the existing cap applies, compensation is limited to the lower of £123,543 and 52 weeks’ gross pay. Someone earning £300 gross a week has a 52-week ceiling of £15,600, not £123,543. Neither figure promises an award. Section 124 already exempts whistleblowing and specified health-and-safety dismissals from that cap. Discrimination compensation is uncapped under separate rules.
Example: notice crossing the January change
Sam has 23 months’ service on 15 December 2026. The employer ends the job immediately and pays one week’s statutory notice in lieu. Even adding that week for the qualifying-service calculation leaves Sam short of two years. The actual termination is still in December, so the six-month service reform does not rescue an ordinary claim.
A kitchen porter instead receives notice on 10 December 2026 and remains employed through four contractual weeks, ending on 7 January 2027. That termination falls under the new six-month rule, provided the porter has the necessary continuous service by then. A dismissal letter and the date employment ends are not always the same date.
How long you have
For unfair dismissal in Great Britain, an effective date of termination on or after 1 October 2026 normally gives you six months minus a day, before the Acas adjustment. An earlier termination retains the three-month-minus-a-day limit. This follows SI 2026/954. For discrimination, the relevant date is generally the discriminatory act, or the end of continuing conduct. For unpaid wages, it is generally the deduction or last deduction in the relevant series. Do not assume every complaint runs from your last shift.
You normally must notify Acas for early conciliation before submitting a tribunal claim. Notify within the original limit. Conciliation adjusts the deadline; it does not automatically give you a fresh six months from the certificate. An appeal or grievance does not stop the clock. Read tribunal time limits and use the deadline calculator.
If the employer does not pay an award, use the tribunal award enforcement route. A penalty for non-payment is not the same as recovering your money. For help while you have no wages, see Universal Credit and work.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland shares the Great Britain unfair dismissal rules, the October 2026 unfair dismissal deadline change and the scheduled January 2027 service reform. You still use Acas. Tribunal contract claims are different. As at 1 October, protect the three-month-minus-a-day limit. A draft Scottish order proposes six months for contract claims where termination falls on or after 9 November 2026. It is a draft, not a reason to let the current deadline pass.
Northern Ireland’s ordinary unfair dismissal qualifying period is one year, under article 140 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. An employee with fifteen months’ service in Belfast may have an ordinary claim which the same service would not support in Manchester. Do not apply the Great Britain six-month deadline or January service reform to a Northern Ireland dismissal.
Northern Ireland also retains a statutory dismissal procedure. Failure to follow it can make an eligible dismissal automatically unfair and affect compensation. Claims go to an industrial tribunal, normally after notifying the Labour Relations Agency rather than Acas. The usual unfair dismissal limit is three months, subject to the conciliation rules. Get advice through the Labour Relations Agency and read the Northern Ireland guide.
Questions people ask
Can you be sacked without a warning under two years?
In Great Britain, no warning does not by itself give you an ordinary unfair dismissal claim below the qualifying-service threshold. A protected reason, discrimination or breach of a contractual procedure can still be challenged. Notice and final pay are separate questions.
Can you claim unfair dismissal with under two years’ service?
Usually not an ordinary claim if your job ends before 1 January 2027. Specified automatically unfair reasons need no qualifying service, though you must be an employee. Discrimination is a separate claim with no service requirement. Northern Ireland’s ordinary threshold is one year. Get advice if you were dismissed just short of the threshold without statutory notice.
Do they have to give you a reason in writing?
The usual Great Britain statutory right requires two years’ service and a request. Pregnancy, maternity and adoption-leave protections can give the right without qualifying service. Where the ordinary right applies, the employer has 14 days to reply. The ordinary threshold is scheduled to fall to six months for terminations on or after 1 January 2027.
What are you owed if you are fired on the spot?
Outstanding wages and accrued untaken holiday. You may also be owed notice pay at the longer contractual or statutory entitlement. Employees under two years get at least one week’s statutory notice after one month. Genuine gross misconduct can remove notice, but not earned wages or accrued holiday.
Does January 2027 help if you are sacked now?
Not if your employment ends before 1 January 2027. If you receive notice earlier but remain employed until that date or later, the new six-month service rule can apply. Immediate termination with pay in lieu is different. Ask an adviser to check your termination and continuous-service dates.
Does probation or a zero-hours contract remove your rights?
No. Probation does not remove rights you otherwise hold, and zero-hours is not an employment status. An employee can have dismissal and notice rights; a worker who is not an employee cannot claim unfair dismissal but still has other protections. Ending a worker’s contract for a protected whistleblowing or minimum-wage reason can be an unlawful detriment.
Sources
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 108, qualifying service and exceptions, legislation.gov.uk
- Qualifying Period Order 2012, the two-year rule, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 86, statutory notice, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 92, written reasons, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 97, effective date of termination, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 103A, whistleblowing dismissal, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 124, existing compensatory cap and exceptions, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 128, interim relief eligibility and deadline, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, discrimination, legislation.gov.uk
- Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 14, holiday on termination, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994, contract jurisdiction and £25,000 limit, legislation.gov.uk
- England and Wales contract-claim amendment order 2026, six-month limit and transition, legislation.gov.uk
- Draft Scottish contract-claim amendment order 2026, proposed 9 November commencement, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Relations Act 1999, section 10, accompaniment, legislation.gov.uk
- Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, section 152, protected union reasons, legislation.gov.uk
- Agency Workers Regulations 2010, equal treatment and protection from dismissal or detriment, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, section 25 and Schedule 3, dismissal reforms, legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2026/559, regulations 3 and 4, January 2027 commencement and transition, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026, award figures effective 6 April 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2026/954, regulation 4 and Schedule, October tribunal-limit transition, legislation.gov.uk
- Early conciliation and Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, Acas
- National Living Wage increases to £12.71, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, article 140, one-year qualifying period, legislation.gov.uk
- Labour Relations Agency, Northern Ireland advice and conciliation
- Over 370,000 workers were underpaid in April 2024, Low Pay Commission, December 2024
- Tribunal statistics quarterly, April to June 2026, Ministry of Justice, 10 September 2026
- Payment of employment tribunal awards, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2013
- Pay and work rights complaints and Enforcement after a tribunal win, GOV.UK