Statutory notice period
The minimum notice an employer must give. Contracts and collective agreements can lengthen it and only rarely shorten it, and the tenure bands are where cross-border assumptions usually go wrong.
Employees and apprentices with at least a month's continuous service; the statute requires nothing below that. Contracts may lengthen the periods and commonly do.
| Service | Employer notice |
|---|---|
| 1 month to under 2 years of service | 1 week |
| 2 years to under 12 years | 1 week per complete year of service |
| 12 years or more | 12 weeks |
The employee's own statutory notice stays at 1 week regardless of service. From 1 January 2027 the qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal falls from 2 years to 6 months, which changes how early dismissals are handled, though not these notice floors.
Source: Employment Rights Act 1996, section 86, legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives; Unfair dismissal rights, employment changes, business.gov.uk, UK Government. Checked on 2026-07-27.
Minimum paid annual leave
The statutory floor for paid holiday. The counting basis matters as much as the number, since some laws count a six-day week and others count working days or calendar weeks.
5.6 weeks per year.
Capped at 28 days, so a 5-day-week worker gets 28 days and a 6-day pattern gets no more. Bank holidays may be counted inside the entitlement at the employer's choice; nothing extra is owed for them.
Source: The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 13A, legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives. Checked on 2026-07-27.
Probation limit
The longest trial period the law allows an employer to agree, together with the notice that applies while it runs.
No statutory maximum; probation in the UK is a contractual arrangement
Notice while it runs: the statutory minimum of 1 week applies once service passes a month.
Statutory rights do not pause during probation; what employers rely on in practice is the unfair-dismissal qualifying period.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 dropped the earlier proposal for a statutory probation framework. What changes instead is the unfair-dismissal qualifying period, falling from 2 years to 6 months on 1 January 2027, with the compensation cap removed.
Source: Unfair dismissal rights, employment changes, business.gov.uk, UK Government; Employment Rights Act 1996, section 86, legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives. Checked on 2026-07-27.
Employer social contributions
What the employer pays on top of gross salary into statutory schemes. Some countries charge a percentage of pay, others charge flat amounts, and a single headline rate hides caps, regional rules and industry-rated items.
Figures apply for the 2026/27 tax year.
| Scheme | Rate, per cent of pay | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Class 1 National InsuranceNil bands apply for the youngest employees and apprentices up to an upper earnings limit. The same rate applies to benefits in kind. | 15 | pay above 5,000 GBP per year, with no ceiling |
| Apprenticeship LevyCharged only where the annual pay bill exceeds 3 million, with an offsetting allowance. | varies |
Workplace pension auto-enrolment obliges a minimum employer contribution as well; it is a pension duty rather than a social security charge and is not shown. There is no upper ceiling on employer National Insurance.
Source: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, HM Revenue and Customs, GOV.UK. Checked on 2026-07-27.