Statutory Trial Period Agreement

A written trial period agreement for an offer of alternative employment, protecting the employee's redundancy rights if the role does not work out.

When to use it

Whenever an at-risk employee accepts an alternative role that differs from their current one.

Using the statutory four-week trial period properly

When an at-risk employee accepts an alternative role that differs from their existing one, a statutory trial period of four weeks applies. It protects both sides: the employee keeps their redundancy entitlement if the role does not work out, and the employer gets a genuine chance to redeploy rather than dismiss.

What the agreement records

The new role, its terms, the start and end dates of the trial, and confirmation of what happens at the end — either the role continues, or the employee returns to redundancy with their original entitlement and termination date intact. Getting this in writing before the trial begins is the whole point; a trial arranged verbally is the one people later dispute.

Extending beyond four weeks

The statutory period can be extended in writing where retraining is required, provided the extension is agreed before the trial starts and sets out the terms and end date. Ad hoc extensions agreed halfway through do not carry the same protection.

During the trial

Check in weekly rather than waiting for week four. Most trials that fail do so for reasons — a shift pattern, a skills gap, a manager relationship — that could have been solved in week one. Record the reviews.

Ending the trial

If either party ends it within the period for reasons connected to the role''s unsuitability, the employee is treated as dismissed for redundancy on the original date. Note the outcome in the Redeployment and Suitable Alternative Vacancy Tracker and, where the outcome is redundancy, move to the Redundancy Notice and Outcome Letter.

The redeployment chapter of our restructuring guides covers how to make trials succeed rather than simply administering them.