The UK’s Employment Rights Bill marks one of the most significant overhauls of workplace rights in a generation. At its core, the legislation seeks to extend protections for workers from “day one” of employment, rather than after years of service.
What is changing?
Under current law, many key protections (for example the right not to be unfairly dismissed) only apply after an employee has two years’ service. The new Bill removes that waiting period, meaning an individual could be protected from day one. The Bill also proposes new rights such as immediate access to parental leave, bereavement leave and enhanced sick pay from day one in some cases.
Another notable change is the introduction of a statutory probationary period, expected to last around nine months, during which the “lighter touch” dismissal process may apply.
Why this matters for supported-living and housing providers
For providers operating in supported housing or accommodation services, the employment model often includes a mix of full-time, part-time and shift staff, sometimes with relatively short service periods. These changes will have direct implications for how staff are supervised, how dismissal or performance management are handled and how HR and compliance processes are designed.
Because workers will have stronger rights from day one, supervision records, performance reviews, disciplinary processes and termination decisions will face heightened scrutiny. It will become more important than ever to ensure that staff supervision is fair, documented, timely and consistent. Any provider who treats a new worker simply as “in probation” without proper process may expose themselves to legal risk.
Impact on Supervision, Performance & Training
Supervision and review processes must evolve:
- Supervision must be more structured, with clear records of meetings, development plans, performance concerns and support interventions.
- Performance management must include documented guidance, feedback and improvement pathways, particularly in those first months of employment when the probation period still applies.
- Training and induction should be robust and completed promptly so new staff are clear on expectations and policies from day one.
- Termination decisions (even during a probationary period) must be handled carefully, with fair reason, opportunity to respond and appropriate documentation. The Bill makes clear that even during the early months the right to claim unfair dismissal will exist, though subject to the lighter process.
Practical Steps for Providers
Housing and supported living providers should start reviewing their HR systems now. Key actions include:
- Updating supervision templates, induction checklists and performance review workflows to reflect new rights.
- Ensuring digital records capture supervision discussions, improvement plans, training completion and feedback.
- Reviewing termination and dismissal policies to ensure they align with new “day one” protections and the statutory probation framework.
- Training line managers and supervisors on the new rights, and the importance of fair and documented processes from the start of employment.
- Auditing current practice to identify any informal or inconsistently applied supervision or dismissal processes which might expose risk.
How ECCO Can Help
For ECCO, the evolving employment law landscape presents both a challenge for providers and an opportunity to support them through digital tools. ECCO’s staff module can play a pivotal role in helping organisations adapt to the changes by providing features such as an integrated supervision tracker, onboarding and induction workflow, performance review templates, dismissal/exit process logs and audit trails.
By capturing supervision notes, training completions, probation milestones and performance conversations digitally, ECCO can help providers ensure that every step of the supervision and review cycle is documented and accessible.
With the Bill’s “day one” rights coming into effect, having a system which supports early-stage supervision, tracks evidence of training, monitors probation progress and logs dismissal reasoning becomes essential. ECCO’s staff module will therefore equip supported housing and care providers with the tools they need to deliver fair, consistent, auditable supervision and performance management in a changing legal environment.