Can I be dismissed after a PIP?

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, capability (which includes performance and skill) is one of five potentially fair reasons for dismissal. 'Potentially' fair means the reason is legitimate in principle, but a tribunal will still examine whether the employer acted reasonably in treating it as sufficient reason to dismiss in this specific case.

Were the objectives clear and communicated in writing? Was the timeframe long enough to give a genuine chance to improve? Was proportionate support offered — training, mentoring, adjusted workload? Were checkpoints held, documented, and shared with the employee? Was the employee warned, clearly, that failure to meet the plan could lead to dismissal? And was there a fair hearing and a right of appeal before the final decision?

A 'yes' to all of these strongly supports fairness. Gaps in several of them — vague targets, no support, no clear warning of consequences — are the pattern seen in successful unfair dismissal claims.

Employees need two years' continuous service to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim (this doesn't apply to automatically unfair reasons, such as dismissal linked to whistleblowing, pregnancy, or certain protected characteristics, which have no service requirement). If you have under two years' service, your practical protection is narrower, though the employer's contractual and discrimination obligations still apply.

Ask for the objectives, timeframe and any consequences in writing if they aren't already. Keep your own notes of checkpoint meetings, including what support was actually provided (or wasn't). If you think a target is unreasonable, or that the process is skipping steps, raise it in writing at the time — a contemporaneous record of your concern matters more later than a recollection after the event. If you have a colleague or trade union representative who can accompany you to formal meetings, use that right.

If poor performance coincides with a disability, pregnancy, a recent grievance, or a protected characteristic, the analysis changes: an employer has to consider reasonable adjustments, and a dismissal that's really connected to one of these factors — even if performance is cited as the reason — can be discriminatory or automatically unfair regardless of length of service. If this applies to you, get advice from ACAS or a solicitor before the process concludes.

You're entitled to written reasons for dismissal (automatically if you have two years' service, or on request in some other cases) and a right of appeal under the ACAS Code. If you believe the process was unfair, ACAS early conciliation is a mandatory first step before an employment tribunal claim, and there are strict time limits — normally three months less one day from the dismissal date.