The most substantive shift in UK employment law in decades – driven by the Employment Rights Act 2025 – is already exposing how unprepared many employers are for heightened legal risk.

From July, the reduction of the unfair dismissal qualifying period to six months means employers can no longer rely on extended probation as a risk buffer. At the same time, tougher requirements for demonstrating ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent harassment mean tribunals are scrutinising not just intent, but evidence, process and preventative action – with compensation uplifts of up to 25% at stake.

According to Sarah Gray, Director of HR at Cintra, the reforms are already driving a sharp change in employer exposure. “This isn’t necessarily about employers getting it wrong, rather, it’s about behaviours that were tolerated for years no longer being defensible. Informal management, overlong probation periods, dusty policies. Those are the things now landing employers in trouble and what catches them out isn’t what the employee did, it’s how the employer handled it.”

Early warning signs from the frontline

There’s a clear uptick in advisory demand linked directly to the legislation, with several repeat risk patterns emerging:

· A high proportion of employers operating probation periods exceeding six months, often without structured review or documented performance management.

· Regular identification of HR policies that have not been reviewed for five to ten years, despite major legislative...

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