The qualifying service required to claim unfair dismissal reduces from two years to six months for dismissals on or after 1 January 2027. This makes it more important for employers to identify a fair reason for dismissal on expiry of a fixed-term contract.
From 1 January 2027, employees will have the right to claim unfair dismissal if their contract is terminated after six months, even where they are on a fixed-term contract that comes to an end.
Updated to reflect that the Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024, which extend redundancy protection for pregnant employees and new parents, come into force on 6 April 2024.
In Royal Surrey County NHS Foundation Trust v Drzymala, the Employment Appeal Tribunal considered the fairness of an employee's dismissal by her employer's decision not to renew her fixed-term contract, including the effect of the employer's compliance with the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002.
The employment tribunal in this case concluded that it was open to an NHS trust to decide not to renew a consultant anaesthetist's fixed-term contract because it had recruited a number of permanent anaesthetists to take on the work.
The employment tribunal in this case concluded that it was not unfair for a university to decide against renewing an associate tutor's fixed-term contract because the work that he had been doing was taken over by permanent staff.