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The announcement that the Government will amend the Employment Rights Bill - reducing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection from two years to six months. Rather than scrapping altogether for a ‘day one' right this is a sensible move that will speed up the delivery of improvements to working conditions and reduce the risk of firms being put off hiring, the Resolution Foundation said.

This is a welcome change, says the Foundation, that strikes the right balance between strengthening worker protections and encouraging businesses to hire.

The UK currently has a two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection – meaning workers can be well established in their job but still lack this protection. The Government is right to want to bring this down. Other rich countries which have unfair dismissal protection typically have much shorter qualifying periods, reflecting the fact that it doesn’t take employers more than a few months to judge whether a new hire is a good fit.

But getting rid of qualifying periods altogether would have been a step too far in the other direction, risking putting employers off hiring. That’s especially true in the context of a struggling labour market – hiring has been slowing and unemployment rising this year.

This is a sensible solution that bring the UK into line with international norms and allows the Government to focus on other important areas of the Employment Right Bill, such as rights guaranteed hours and notice periods for shift work. Six million workers will benefit from stronger protections, compared to the status quo.

Nye Cominetti, Principal Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said:

"The Employment Rights Bill contains a welcome package of measures to improve conditions for those most likely to suffer from insecurity at work.

“But the reforms have risked being derailed by the new ‘day one’ right to protection against unfair dismissal. The UK currently has one of the longest qualifying periods for protection which needs to come down. But scrapping it entirely would have meant lurching from one extreme to the other and putting firms off hiring new workers.

“This sensible move to a six month qualifying period will bring the UK into line with other countries, deliver tangible improvements to working conditions, and help the Government move forward with other key aspects of the Employment Rights Bill."

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