The story you heard over breakfast

You know the moment. You're at a networking breakfast, or scrolling the local business WhatsApp group, and someone shares a story. A member of staff they let go has brought a claim. They thought they'd handled it fine. Now there's a letter from Acas and a few months of worry they didn't need.

Everyone nods. Then, quietly, you start running through your own filing cabinet in your head.

If that's you, the fact it stuck with you is a good sign. The owners who worry about getting it right are usually the ones already doing most of it right. And here's the reassuring part: the stories that do the rounds nearly always have the same three small gaps behind them. Each one is quicker to close than you'd think.

Throughout this post you'll see two labels. Law means it's a legal requirement. Good practice means it's recommended, but it's your choice.

One of those stories, step by step

This isn't one real business. It's a composite of situations that come up in small care businesses, with the details changed so nobody could be identified.

Sam runs a home care agency with nine carers. Clients love the team, pay is above the minimum wage, and Sam knows everyone's family by name. By any measure, a good employer.

One carer, about 14 months in, had started arriving late to morning calls. A few weeks earlier, the same carer had told the office twice that some visit slots were too short to do a two-person transfer safely.

Contracts had always been "on the list". The carer had an offer email and a rota, nothing else. There was no written disciplinary procedure, because there had never been a need for one.

After a missed call one Monday, Sam sent a WhatsApp:

"Don't come in tomorrow. This isn't working."

Sam wasn't worried. Someone at a networking event had once said staff can't claim until they've been with you two years.

Six weeks later, Acas got in touch about early conciliation. The carer's case was that they'd been let go for raising safety concerns.

Here's the important part. Sam may well have had a genuine reason. Late care visits matter, especially to the person waiting for one. But with nothing in writing, no conversation and no chance for the carer to give their side, there was very little to show that lateness was the reason and the safety concerns weren't.

The cost started the day the message was sent: time, stress, advice fees, and a dent in the trust of the rest of the team, who all heard about it.

So what went wrong? Three small gaps

None of these are unusual, and none of them are the sign of a bad employer.

1. "They can't claim, they've not been here two years"

This one sits behind more of these stories than anything else. It's half true, which is what makes it risky.

Law

Some claims need no length of service at all

Today, most employees need two years' service to claim ordinary unfair dismissal. But some reasons for dismissal are automatically unfair, whatever someone's length of service. Dismissing someone because they blew the whistle is one of them, and compensation for it isn't capped. A genuine concern that someone's health or safety is at risk can count as whistleblowing, as long as it's raised in the public interest and not just as a personal grievance. Discrimination protection doesn't depend on length of service either.

Legal basis: Employment Rights Act 1996, section 108 and section 103A.

Law

What's changing

Since 1 October 2026, people generally have six months, rather than three, to bring a tribunal claim about something that happened on or after that date. From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal drops from two years to six months, and the cap on unfair dismissal compensation is due to go at the same time.

Source: Acas: Employment Rights Act 2025.

In care, you want staff to speak up when something isn't safe for a client. That's the culture most owners are working hard to build. It sits perfectly well alongside managing lateness, as long as a concern someone raises is logged and dealt with on its own, separately from any conduct issue.

2. No written statement of terms

Law

Main terms in writing from day one

Employees and workers must be given a written statement of their main terms on or before their first day, with some details allowed within two months. If certain tribunal claims succeed (unfair dismissal included) and no statement was ever given, the tribunal must add two weeks' pay to the award, and can add four.

Legal basis: GOV.UK: Written statement of employment particulars; Employment Act 2002, section 38.

It's rarely that owners don't care about contracts. The business grew faster than the paperwork, and the people who joined in the early days were never given one. They're often your longest-serving, most trusted staff.

3. No fair process before the decision

Law

The Acas Code and the right to be accompanied

The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures isn't law in itself, but employment tribunals take it into account. If an employer unreasonably fails to follow it, an award can be increased by up to 25%. Workers also have a legal right to bring a colleague or trade union representative to a disciplinary hearing.

Legal basis: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, section 207A; Employment Relations Act 1999, section 10.

Good practice

Start with a conversation

For something like lateness, Acas suggests a quiet, private chat first. Often that's all it takes, and you find out what's really going on: a childcare change, a rota that doesn't work, a car on its last legs.

If it does need to go formal, the steps are simple. Look into it, set out the concern in writing, meet, let them bring someone, decide, and offer an appeal.

What would have changed the story

Put side by side, the fixes are small. Most are an afternoon's work.

What happenedWhat would have helped
An offer email and a rota, nothing moreA written statement, given on or before day one
Safety concerns mentioned in passingOne place to log concerns, with a note of what was done about each one
No disciplinary procedureA short procedure, two or three pages, that everyone can read
Lateness never raised directlyA private conversation early on, with a short dated note afterwards
A decision sent by WhatsAppA meeting, a letter, and the chance to appeal

What this means for a small team

What the law requires: a written statement for every employee and worker, a fair process before dismissal, and no dismissal because someone raised a genuine concern.

What good practice looks like: a short procedure your team can read, one place to record concerns, and a conversation before any decision.

A sensible order to do this:

  1. Check everyone has a written statement, starting with your longest-serving staff.
  2. Put a short disciplinary and grievance procedure in place.
  3. Choose one place to record concerns staff raise, especially about client safety, with a simple speaking-up policy so people know how to raise things.
  4. Talk before you type. A conversation, then a letter, never a decision by message.
  5. Make a few dated notes after any difficult conversation. A few lines at the time beat a detailed memory six months later.

Where it gets more complicated: if someone has raised a concern, has a health condition, or has (or will have) six months' service when a dismissal takes effect on or after 1 January 2027, the details matter a great deal. That's the moment to get advice before you act, not after. Here's how I support owners through those situations.

Your two-minute self-check

  • Everyone has a written statement of terms, including the people who've been here longest
  • If I had to raise a conduct issue tomorrow, the procedure is written down
  • If someone raised a safety concern today, I know where it would be recorded
  • Anyone who manages staff for me knows the two-year rule becomes six months from 1 January 2027
  • I'd be comfortable showing my notes to someone neutral

If you can tick most of those, you're in a much better place than the business in the story. Want the fuller version? Get the free HR Foundations Checklist: 20 practical checks across hiring, everyday management and people leaving.

Does this sound like you?

If a story you've heard has left you with a small "are we okay?", that's a healthy instinct, not a sign anything's wrong. Most of the owners I speak to are already doing the important things, because they care about their people. They just want to know for sure.

That's what The Pocket HR does. A second pair of eyes on what you've already got, a clear list of any gaps, and plain English help filling them. You stay in charge of the decisions. I'll just make sure you've got what you need to make them with confidence.

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Where this information came from

Checked 14 October 2026. Law and guidance change, so check the current position before relying on it.