First pay · 5 min read
What is a probation period and can I be sacked during it?
What a probation period means in the UK: typical length, notice, your rights from day one, the 2025 Act's six-month unfair dismissal rule and how to pass.
The short answer
A probation period is the first three to six months of a job, during which the employer reviews whether you're right for the role and can usually end the contract on a shorter notice period. It has no special legal status: you're an employee from day one with full rights to pay, holiday, sick pay, and protection from discrimination and automatically unfair dismissal. What probation does change is the notice period and, until the Employment Rights Act 2025 takes effect, the practical ease of dismissal, because ordinary unfair dismissal protection has needed two years' service. The Act cuts that to six months, expected from 2027, which is why probation periods are becoming more structured.
Key takeaways
- Three to six months is typical; it can be extended once if the contract allows. Check what yours says about notice during and after.
- You have all your statutory rights from the first day. Probation doesn't suspend holiday, sick pay or discrimination protection.
- Dismissal during probation for discriminatory reasons, whistleblowing, asserting a statutory right or pregnancy is unlawful at any length of service.
- Passing probation is mostly about visibility: ask what good looks like in week one, and show it in writing before the review.
On this pageWhat probation is and isn't
What probation is and isn't
Probation is a contractual arrangement, not a legal category. Acas describes it as a trial period for both sides, and that's the useful way to think about it: the employer is checking you can do the job, and you're checking whether you want it. Your contract should say how long it lasts, what notice applies during it, whether it can be extended, and what happens when you pass. If it doesn't, ask HR to confirm in writing.
Your rights during probation
| Right | From day one? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| National Minimum Wage and itemised payslip | Yes | Same as any employee |
| Paid holiday | Yes | Builds up from the first day |
| Statutory sick pay | Yes | Subject to the usual conditions, easing from April 2026 |
| Protection from discrimination | Yes | Age, disability, sex, race, religion, pregnancy and the rest |
| Automatically unfair dismissal protection | Yes | Whistleblowing, asserting rights, health and safety, family leave |
| Ordinary unfair dismissal protection | After 2 years now; 6 months under the 2025 Act | Expected to apply from 2027 |
| Written statement of terms | Yes, on or before day one | Must include probation terms if there are any |
How to pass one
- In the first week, ask your manager: "What would make you confident at the three-month review?" Write the answer down and send it back as an email.
- Ask for a short check-in at four weeks and eight weeks, so nothing at the review is a surprise.
- Keep a running note of what you've done, with dates. At the review, bring it.
- If something is going wrong, raise it before they do. Managers extend probation for people who hide problems and pass people who fix them.
- Use the period to check them too: is the job as described, is the manager someone you can learn from, is the pay honest?
If you don't pass
Ask for the reasons in writing and check them against what you were told at the start. If the reason given is capability, you should have had the chance to improve. If you believe the real reason is discriminatory, or linked to a protected act such as raising a safety concern or asking for your rights, you can claim at an employment tribunal regardless of service, within three months less a day. Acas offers free early conciliation and advice. If it's simply not the right fit, take the reference, take the notice pay and treat it as information for the next application.
Illustrative example: the review that had no surprises
A graduate starts a six-month probation in an operations team and asks in week one what good looks like. The answer is "owns the weekly report without being chased and has fixed at least one process". She sends that back as an email, asks for monthly check-ins, and by month four has automated the report and cut a supplier onboarding step. At the review her manager reads her own criteria back to her and signs her off a month early.
Questions people ask
- How much notice do I get if I'm let go during probation?
- Whatever your contract says, with a statutory minimum of one week once you've worked a month. Many contracts set one week during probation and a month after. If you've worked under a month, there's no statutory minimum, only what the contract gives. You should be paid for the notice period and any holiday you've built up.
- Can my probation be extended?
- Only if the contract allows it, and the employer should tell you before the original period ends, in writing, with the reasons and the new end date. An extension isn't a failure; it usually means a specific concern that can be fixed. Ask exactly what needs to change and how it will be measured.
- Do I get holiday and sick pay during probation?
- Yes. Holiday builds up from day one and statutory sick pay applies from the start of employment. Some employers restrict company sick pay above the statutory level or ask you not to book long holidays during probation, but they can't withhold the statutory entitlements.
- What changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025?
- The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months, expected to apply from 2027. Beyond six months an employer will need a fair reason and a fair process to dismiss you. Within six months the current position broadly continues, so probation reviews will carry more weight and be better documented.
Exercises are practice, not evidence of career fit or a qualification. How to read our guides and report a correction.
Sources
- Probation at work · Acas
- Employment Rights Bill: implementation roadmap · Department for Business and Trade, GOV.UK
- Starting a new job · Acas
How this page is written
Sources support the factual background, not a guarantee that an exercise predicts career fit. Fictional practice material is labelled. Dates record content updates; no independent expert review is implied. More about OffLadder.