Is your organisation ready for day-one dismissal rights?
The Challenge
The Employment Rights Act 2025 removes the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal. From 2026, every employee has the right not to be unfairly dismissed from their very first day of work. The probationary period as a management safety net is gone, and the new Fair Work Agency has the power to investigate employers proactively, without waiting for a complaint.
The Solution
BFI’s in-house programme gives your managers a clear, practical framework for every dismissal decision, however early in employment it occurs. We translate the ERA 2025 changes into the specific conversations, processes and documentation your managers need to get right, and give them the confidence to make defensible decisions from day one.
Course Overview
Why bring this training in-house?
- Compliance: Ensure every dismissal decision, from week one onwards, follows a process that holds up at tribunal.
- Confidence: Give your managers the knowledge to act decisively without fear of getting it wrong.
- Risk reduction: Identify and close the process gaps most likely to generate unfair dismissal claims under the new framework.
- Consistency: Embed a single, organisation-wide approach to dismissal, performance and probation management.
Learning objectives:
This programme is designed specifically for in-house delivery. Unlike open courses, every element the scenarios, the case studies, the policy references is tailored to your sector, your workforce and your existing HR frameworks. Whether you need a half-day session for a team of line managers or a full-day programme for HR business partners and operational leaders, the content is shaped around the decisions your people actually face.
In-house delivery gives your organisation:
- Scenarios drawn from your sector, your size and your most common management challenges
- Content calibrated to your existing policies, your union agreements and your HR team’s current capability
- The ability to surface and work through real internal concerns in a confidential setting
A consistent baseline of knowledge across your entire management population
Key training topics:
The programme is structured across five modules. Depth and emphasis are adapted to your organisation’s specific context and risk profile.
Module 1 The Employment Rights Act 2025, What Has Changed, What It Means, and When
Module 2 The New Dismissal Framework, Day-One Rights, the Statutory Probationary Period, and How to Use It Compliantly
Module 3 Disciplinary Process and Documentation, Getting It Right from the Start
Module 4 The Fair Work Agency, Enforcement Powers, Priorities, and Employer Obligations
Module 5 Practical Scenarios and Manager Decision-Making Workshop
By the end of this training your managers will be able to:
Explain exactly what the ERA 2025 changes to dismissal rights, and when each change takes effect
- Apply the new statutory probationary framework and run a compliant probation process from day one of employment
- Conduct and document dismissal decisions that withstand tribunal scrutiny, however early in employment they occur
- Describe the Fair Work Agency’s enforcement powers and what they mean for day-to-day management practice
- Identify the behaviours and process failures most likely to generate claims under the new framework
Use a practical decision-making framework for dismissal and performance situations with confidence
Who will benefit from attendance:
This programme is essential for anyone in your organisation who makes or influences dismissal decisions, or who manages people through performance, conduct or probationary processes.
This course is designed for:
- Line managers and team leaders, particularly those who feel uncertain about what the ERA 2025 changes mean for how they manage performance and conduct day to day.
- People managers and operational leaders, who make dismissal decisions and need confidence that their processes are legally sound under the new framework.
- HR business partners who support managers through disciplinary and dismissal processes and need to update their own knowledge and their coaching approach.
- HR managers and heads of HR, who are reviewing or rewriting probation and dismissal policies in light of the ERA 2025 and need a thorough grounding in the new rules.
- Employment relations specialists, who manage complex or contested dismissal cases and want to ensure their approach is robust under the new enforcement regime.
This course is particularly valuable for organisations who have grown quickly, who have managers with little formal HR training, or who are concerned that existing probation and dismissal processes may not be fit for purpose under the new legislation.
Contact Details
Catherine Ouston,
Head of In-House Training
📥 teamtraining@bfi.co.uk
📞 +44(0)1983 861133
