Unfair Dismissal in the UK: Do You Have a Claim?

Being dismissed from your job can be devastating - financially, emotionally and professionally. But not every dismissal is lawful. Unfair dismissal is one of the most commonly brought employment tribunal claims in England and Wales, and the law behind it is more demanding of employers than many people realise. Fairness is judged on two separate fronts: the reason for the dismissal and the process used to carry it out. An employer with a perfectly good reason can still lose at tribunal because the procedure was botched - and a dismissal that felt outrageous may turn out to be lawful. This guide explains how the test actually works.

What is unfair dismissal?

Unfair dismissal happens when your employer ends your employment without a fair reason, without following a fair procedure, or both. The right is statutory - it comes from Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, not from your contract - and it is enforced in the employment tribunal.

It is worth separating unfair dismissal from its close relative. Wrongful dismissal is a contract claim about notice - being dismissed without the notice your contract requires. Unfair dismissal is about whether the reason and the process were fair. The two can overlap, but they have different tests and different remedies - see the wrongful dismissal guide for how they compare.

What are the five fair reasons for dismissal?

Under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, it is for your employer to show that the dismissal was for one of five potentially fair reasons:

The word "potentially" is doing real work in that sentence. Showing one of these reasons only gets the employer through the first gate. The tribunal then asks whether dismissing you for that reason was reasonable in the circumstances, and whether the process used was fair.

What makes a dismissal procedurally unfair?

Even with a fair reason, a dismissal can be unfair because of how it was carried out. The benchmark is the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. For a disciplinary dismissal, a fair process typically means:

1. A genuine investigation before any decision is contemplated
2. Setting out the case against you in writing, with enough detail and evidence for you to respond
3. A hearing before any decision is made, with the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative
4. A decision communicated in writing, with reasons
5. A right of appeal, ideally to someone more senior who was not involved in the original decision

The appeal matters more than most people think. An employer that refuses one hands the claimant a procedural-unfairness argument; an employee who skips it can see compensation reduced. The Code is not legally binding in itself, but tribunals must take it into account, and an unreasonable failure to follow it can move compensation up or down by up to 25% (more on that below).

Failures tribunals have typically treated as serious: deciding the outcome before the hearing, refusing to share the evidence, and using the same manager as investigator, decision-maker and appeal officer.

How do tribunals judge conduct dismissals?

For misconduct dismissals, tribunals apply the Burchell test, named after the case of British Home Stores Ltd v Burchell. The employer must show three things:

• a genuine belief that you committed the misconduct
• reasonable grounds for that belief
• a reasonable investigation to support it

Note what is missing: the tribunal does not need to be satisfied that you actually did it. An employer who honestly and reasonably believed the allegation, after a proper investigation, can fairly dismiss someone who was in fact innocent. That feels harsh, and it is - which is why investigation failures are often the strongest line of attack in conduct cases.

Alongside Burchell sits the band of reasonable responses standard. The tribunal does not ask "would we have dismissed this person?" It asks whether dismissal fell within the range of responses a reasonable employer could adopt. Two reasonable employers can reach different conclusions on the same facts - one issuing a final warning, the other dismissing - and both can be fair. This makes conduct cases harder to win than many claimants expect, and it shifts the weight of the argument onto investigation gaps and procedural failures rather than the merits of the decision itself.

Who can claim unfair dismissal?

You generally need three things:

• Employee status. Ordinary unfair dismissal protection covers employees - not the self-employed, and not "limb (b)" workers such as many gig-economy roles. Status is judged on the reality of the working relationship, not the label on the paperwork - see GOV.UK guidance on employment status.
• 2 years' continuous service with the same employer, as the law currently stands. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is expected to reduce this to 6 months for dismissals from 1 January 2027, subject to commencement regulations - it is not a day-one right, and it is not yet in force. See the day-one unfair dismissal rights guide for what is changing and when.
• A dismissal. That includes being sacked, a fixed-term contract not being renewed, and resigning in response to a fundamental breach by your employer - constructive dismissal, which has its own demanding test.

What counts as automatically unfair dismissal?

Some dismissals are automatically unfair, with no qualifying period - even a brand-new employee can claim. They include dismissals because of:

• Pregnancy, maternity, paternity or parental leave (with parallel protection under the Equality Act 2010)
• Whistleblowing - making a protected disclosure
• Asserting a statutory right, such as requesting the national minimum wage
• Trade union membership or activity
• Raising health and safety concerns
• Exercising the right to request flexible working

Where the reason is automatically unfair, the employer's procedural care is largely beside the point - the reason itself condemns the dismissal. If your dismissal might be discriminatory, the Equality Act 2010 gives separate protection with no qualifying period and uncapped compensation - see the workplace discrimination guide.

What can a tribunal award?

A tribunal that finds unfair dismissal can order reinstatement (your old job back) or re-engagement (a comparable job with the same employer). In practice these orders are made in only a tiny fraction of successful cases - by hearing day the relationship has usually broken down, and tribunals will not force one back together. The realistic remedy is compensation, which comes in two parts.

The basic award

The basic award is calculated like statutory redundancy pay under section 119 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It is age-banded, per complete year of service:

• 1.5 weeks' pay for each year in which you were aged 41 or over
• 1 week's pay for each year aged 22 to 40
• 0.5 week's pay for each year under 22

Service is capped at 20 years, and a week's pay is capped at £751 as of 6 April 2026 (SI 2026/310), giving a maximum basic award of £22,530.

Worked example. A 45-year-old dismissed after 8 complete years' service, earning £900 gross a week. Counting back from the dismissal, 4 of those years fall at age 41 or over (4 x 1.5 = 6 weeks) and 4 fall in the 22-40 band (4 x 1 = 4 weeks) - 10 weeks in total. Their week's pay is capped at £751, so the basic award is 10 x £751 = £7,510.

The compensatory award

The compensatory award covers what the dismissal actually cost you:

• Lost earnings from dismissal to the hearing, less anything earned elsewhere
• Future loss while you find equivalent work
• Lost pension contributions - often the largest overlooked head of loss
• Lost benefits such as a car allowance or private health cover
• Loss of statutory rights - a modest conventional sum reflecting that you must re-earn protection in your next job

For ordinary unfair dismissal the compensatory award is capped at £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay, whichever is lower, as of 6 April 2026. The cap is expected to be removed for ordinary unfair dismissal from 1 January 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025, subject to commencement regulations. Whistleblowing and health-and-safety dismissals are already uncapped. For the full breakdown of how awards are calculated, adjusted and taxed, see the employment tribunal compensation guide.

What can reduce - or increase - the award?

Three adjustments come up constantly:

• Polkey deductions. If a fair procedure would probably have led to the same dismissal anyway, the tribunal can reduce the compensatory award by that percentage chance - up to 100%. A purely procedural win can therefore produce a very small award.
• Contributory fault. If your own conduct contributed to the dismissal, both the basic and compensatory awards can be reduced, sometimes substantially.
• ACAS Code adjustment. Under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, an unreasonable failure to follow the ACAS Code can increase the award by up to 25% where the failure is the employer's, or reduce it by up to 25% where it is the employee's - one more reason not to skip the internal appeal.

How long do you have to claim?

The deadline is 3 months less 1 day from the effective date of termination - usually your last day of employment - and you must start ACAS Early Conciliation before a tribunal will accept your claim. Conciliation is free and pauses the deadline clock while it runs (up to 12 weeks for notifications made on or after 1 December 2025). The Employment Rights Act 2025 is expected to extend the basic limit to 6 months for most claims, targeted for October 2026, but that change is not yet in force - work to the current deadline until commencement is confirmed.

You can work out your own dates with the tribunal deadline calculator, and the employment tribunal deadlines guide covers trigger dates and the ACAS pause in detail. In practice, missing the deadline almost always bars the claim. There is no fee to bring an employment tribunal claim.

What should you do now?

If you have been dismissed, or dismissal looks imminent, the practical order is:

1. Calculate your deadline first. Everything else can flex; the time limit cannot.
2. Use the internal appeal. It costs nothing, preserves your compensation position, and occasionally reverses the decision.
3. Contact ACAS to start Early Conciliation before the deadline.
4. Gather the paper trail - your contract, payslips, the dismissal letter, disciplinary correspondence, and any emails or messages about the decision.
5. Prepare the claim properly. Read the guide to writing your ET1 claim form before you draft it.

A dismissal that felt outrageous is not automatically unfair in law, and a dismissal that felt routine may have been deeply flawed. The fastest way to find out which you have is to test the reason and the process against the rules above - while the deadline clock is still on your side.