Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of returning the unfair dismissal qualification period to one year on employee's employment rights.
The qualifying periods for unfair dismissal are intended to strike the right balance between providing fairness to employees and to increase business confidence for recruiting and retaining staff. The UK now has record levels of payroll employees, and the unemployment rate is at 3.8%, which is below the pre-pandemic rate.
It is important to note that no qualifying period applies if a dismissal is for certain specified reasons, for example the right not to be unlawfully discriminated against. We believe this provides the right balance for employees and employers.