Dismissal: UK employment law

Essential points

• A dismissal is normally when the employer ends a contract of employment. This includes when a fixed term contract expires, even if that contract expires in accordance with its terms and the employer takes no other action to bring it to an end. Dismissals can be both fair and unfair. Employers have legal obligations to fulfil if they wish to conclude a fair dismissal.
• A dismissal will also be deemed to have occurred when the employer commits a serious (otherwise known as repudiatory) breach of the employment contract, and the employee resigns in response to that breach. For example, the employer reduces the employee’s pay without agreement or any contractual or legal right to do so, in response to which the employee resigns. This is known as a 'constructive dismissal'.
• In some cases, a dismissal will always be deemed to be unfair. This is when the dismissal is for a particular reason (for example, because the employee made a protected disclosure, or 'blew the whistle'). This is known as an 'automatic unfair dismissal'.
• There are strict rules around dismissal and rules around how employees can challenge dismissals. These rules are explained below.
• Unfair dismissal rules are set to change under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Keep up to date with the latest on these changes with our tracker of potential law changes. This page outlines the current legislation. We will update this page once any changes are enforced.
• In Northern Ireland, employment law is devolved (transferred). Please see CIPD information on the key differences in employment law between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.