Treat the request as the first conversation of the employment, not as a condition of the offer, and write the probation review as if it were a dismissal hearing, because from 1 January 2027 it can become one. Those are the two documents added to the STAR shelf today for in-house recruiters and talent acquisition teams.
Flexible Working at Offer Stage 2026 covers the ask that arrives between the verbal offer and the first day. The statutory right to request belongs to an employee from day one, so a candidate cannot make a statutory request before the start date, but the hiring manager’s answer at offer stage is read against the Equality Act all the same, and the pattern agreed at offer should go into the written statement of particulars before the start. The document gives the three ways to answer (agree it now, agree a trial from day one, or ask for a statutory request in the first week so the two-month clock and the eight business reasons apply), the words for the offer letter, and the diary for autumn 2027, when the government’s written ministerial statement of 13 October 2026 says a refusal will have to be reasonable and follow a set process. Source, GOV.UK, flexible working, and HCWS372.
Probation and the Six-Month Rule 2026 covers the review that most teams treat as a formality. From 1 January 2027 the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months, the cap on the compensatory award goes, and the right to written reasons starts at six months too. Anyone who started on or before 1 July 2026 is covered on the day. Since 1 October 2026 a claim can be brought for six months rather than three. The document gives the probation clause, the review record for weeks four, ten and twenty, the extension letter, the fair process where probation fails, and the reminder that the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract counts as a dismissal. Source, business.gov.uk, unfair dismissal rights, updated 1 October 2026.
Both are written in the language of talent acquisition, from government sources, dated, and reissued when the law moves. They sit on the shelf beside the Hiring Manager Brief Pack, Interview Records and the Six-Month Window and the Offer, Contract and Onboarding Pack. STAR members log in and open Resources. What STAR is, and the letters it puts after a name, is at https://ior.org/star, and the question “Is there a professional body for in-house recruiters in the UK?” is answered at https://ior.org/professional-body-for-in-house-recruiters.
Sources: GOV.UK, flexible working, HCWS372, the written ministerial statement of 13 October 2026, business.gov.uk, unfair dismissal rights.
Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 21 October 2026.