The Employment Rights Act 2025 seeks to restrict the controversial practice of “fire and rehire”. A recently launched government consultation now gives us a glimpse into the potential scope of the government’s plans.
The original proposal for the ban on fire and rehire included in the Employment Rights Bill covered changes to any contractual term without employee agreement. The only exception was when the business was in extreme financial difficulty. This meant that no matter how outdated the term, how sensible the change, or how unreasonable the employee’s unwillingness to agree to it, any subsequent dismissal would be automatically unfair.
As the Employment Rights Bill progressed through parliament, this ban was relaxed a little and will now only preclude dismissals arising from changes to core contractual terms.
We look at the current position, explain the government’s plans and consider the potential impact for employers.
Fire and rehire is shorthand for an employer dismissing an employee and then re-employing them under a new contract. The term generally also refers to a “fire and replace” scenario: where the employee is dismissed and replaced by somebody else.
The fire and rehire practice is currently lawful if employers can establish a fair reason for dismissal (usually falling into the category of some other substantial reason). For employers, the financial risk is usually less when utilising this tactic for employees with less than...
CLAIM: Videos purported to show damage and missile impacts in Israel amid its war with Iran. Unverified rumours accompanied them about the purported deaths of high-profile Israelis.BACKGROUND: Litt...