probation-review

---
name: probation-review
description: Runs a probation review from written evidence and produces the evidence table, the invite, the meeting script, the decision and the letter that follows it, including a fair way to end the employment if the answer is no. Use when someone's probation period is ending, has already ended, or when you know it is not working and need to handle it properly.
---

# Reach a probation decision you can put in writing

You give the contract or offer letter, the probation wording, any notes or earlier review records, and what you have actually seen this person do on shift. You get back an evidence table, the invite, a meeting script, the decision tested against a written standard, and the letters that follow it. Nothing goes into the output that you have not seen happen on a date you can name.

## What it does

1. **Pull together what was agreed on day one.** Ask the owner for the written statement or contract, the probation length and end date, any wording about extending it, the job description, the targets, the induction and training record, and any earlier review notes. Acas, "Following a fair process": "Employers should set out expectations for successfully completing probation", giving examples such as meeting targets, satisfactory attendance and completing mandatory training. If none of that exists in writing, that is the first line of the output, not a footnote: the decision then rests only on what the person was actually told, and when.

2. **Put the dates on the page before anything else.** Write down the start date, the probation end date taken from the contract, and today's date. Set the final review to happen at least five working days before the end date, so there is still room to extend or to give notice inside probation. Acas, "Extension": "Confirm an extension before the original probation period ends – failing to do this could be a breach of contract." If the end date has already gone by, say so at the top of the document in bold, because the options narrow from that point.

3. **Build one table, one row per expectation.** The columns are: the expectation as it was set, what was observed, the date, who saw it, what support was given before that point, and the gap in one sentence. Every row needs a real date and a named person. "Slow on service" is not a row. "Fri 8 Aug, section 4, 60 covers, nine dishes left the pass out of order, Maria on shift with him" is a row.

4. **Cut every row you cannot stand behind, and flag the ones you must not use at all.** Delete hearsay, one-off grumbles and anything that is only a feeling with no example under it. Acas, "Probation periods": "'Day one' employment rights apply during probation periods", so any row that rests on pregnancy, a disability, sickness absence, race, religion, age, part-time hours, union membership, or on the person asking for holiday pay or the National Minimum Wage, comes straight out of the table and goes into a separate note to the owner. Acas, "Reviews", is explicit that for disabled employees employers must make reasonable adjustments, so where a gap could be linked to a disability the row must record the adjustment that was offered, or state plainly that none was.

5. **Score the support that was given, not only the performance that came back.** List the induction, the training, the shifts worked alongside someone experienced, and every time feedback was given, each with its date. Acas, "Reviews": "Managers should keep records of probation reviews" and employers should "share the records with the employee after each review meeting". Where there is no record that the person was ever told about a problem, write "not previously raised" in that row in the same plain words as everything else. That one column decides more probation outcomes than the performance column does.

6. **Write the invite and send the evidence with it.** Acas, "Reviews": "Managers should share this information with the employee before the review meeting." The invite gives the date, the time, a private place away from the floor, the three possible outcomes (pass, extension, dismissal), and attaches the evidence table in full. Give at least two full working days between sending it and the meeting. Where dismissal is one of the possible outcomes, the invite says so in the first paragraph and offers the right to be accompanied by a work colleague or a trade union representative.

7. **Draft the meeting as questions, not as a verdict read out.** For each surviving row, write one specific question and then a written instruction to stop talking and wait. Acas, "Reviews": "The outcome of probation should not come as a surprise to the employee", and the same guidance asks managers to allow enough time for a genuine two-way conversation and to be honest about performance. Close with two fixed questions: "What would have helped you that you did not get?" and "Is there anything going on that I do not know about?" The decision box in the script stays empty until after the meeting.

8. **Test the decision against three written doors.** Pass: every must-have expectation is met and what is left is ordinary learning. Extend: the gaps are real but improvement is likely with more support or training, and the extension is confirmed in writing before the original end date with a new end date, review dates, exactly what has to change, and what happens if it does not. Dismiss: the gaps sit on must-have expectations, were raised with the person on dates you can show, support was given, and nothing changed. Acas, "Dismissal": "Dismissing an employee during probation should be a last resort", and an employer should try performance management and an extension first.

9. **Produce the four documents.** One: the meeting record, written up the same day, showing what both sides said, and sent to the employee. Two: the outcome letter, where Acas, "Dismissal", says the employer must follow a fair procedure and "give the reasons in writing, for example in a letter or email", and where the reasons can only be the rows that survived step 4. Three: the extension plan, if that is the outcome. Four: if it is dismissal, the letter states notice at the contractual rate or the statutory minimum, whichever is longer (GOV.UK, notice periods: "at least one week's notice if employed between one month and 2 years"), the last working day, final pay and untaken holiday, return of keys and uniform, and a named person to appeal to with a deadline, because the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures says at paragraph 26: "Where an employee feels that disciplinary action taken against them is wrong or unjust they should appeal against the decision."

## Then it checks

1. Every row in the evidence table carries a date and a named observer, and no row contains "attitude", "not a fit" or "not a team player" without a dated example sitting beside it.
2. Every expectation the decision rests on can be traced back to the contract, the job description or a dated earlier conversation, and nothing appears for the first time in the final letter.
3. The invite is dated at least two full working days before the meeting, names all three possible outcomes, and where dismissal is possible it offers the right to be accompanied.
4. The reasons in the outcome letter are the same rows, in the same words, as the evidence table after the step 4 cuts, with no new reason added.
5. If the outcome is an extension, the letter is dated before the original probation end date and states the new end date, the review dates, what must change and what happens if it does not.
6. If the outcome is dismissal, the letter states the notice in weeks, the last working day, final pay and outstanding holiday, and names who to appeal to and by when.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Never invent an incident, a date, a witness or something said on a shift. This file becomes the employer's evidence if the person later brings a claim, and one invented line makes every true line look invented too. An honest thin record beats a strong false one.
- Never hide a missing record. If the start-of-probation expectations were never written down, or nobody ever raised the problem with the person, that goes into the output in plain words. Smoothing it over lets an owner walk into a dismissal believing they are covered when they are not, which is worse than telling them to wait.
- Never rewrite a protected reason as a performance reason. Sickness, pregnancy, a disability, a request for holiday pay or the minimum wage must never be turned into "poor attitude" or "not right for us". Discrimination protection applies from the first day of employment, and dressing the real reason up removes the owner's only honest defence.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's solicitor or HR adviser to check before it is used. It is not legal advice, it does not decide whether a dismissal is lawful, and it must never be presented as though it does.

## Built from
- Acas, "Reviews - Probation periods", https://www.acas.org.uk/probation-periods/reviews, 24 July 2026: gave the rule that evidence is shared before the meeting, that records are kept and sent to the employee afterwards, and that the outcome must not come as a surprise.
- Acas, "Following a fair process - Probation periods", https://www.acas.org.uk/probation-periods/following-a-fair-process, 24 July 2026: gave the requirement to set out what successful completion looks like at the start, and the allowance for adjusting the process for sickness, bereavement and disability.
- Acas, "Extension - Probation periods", https://www.acas.org.uk/probation-periods/extension, 24 July 2026: gave the hard deadline that an extension must be confirmed before the original probation ends, and what an extension plan must contain.
- Acas, "Dismissal - Probation periods", https://www.acas.org.uk/probation-periods/dismissal, 24 July 2026: gave dismissal as a last resort after performance management and extension, the written reasons, and the notice rule.
- Acas, "Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures", https://www.acas.org.uk/acas-code-of-practice-on-disciplinary-and-grievance-procedures/html, came into effect 11 March 2015: gave the shape of the process, the written notice of the meeting, the decision in writing, and the right of appeal at paragraph 26.

# probation-review

## You are given

A folder from a UK hospitality business containing the contract or written statement, the probation wording, the job description, any targets set at the start, the induction and training record, earlier review notes, and the manager's own notes from shift in whatever state they exist: a notebook photographed, messages, a rota with scribbles, an email thread.

Claude supplies `dates.md` (start date, probation end date taken from the contract, today's date, the final review date it set, and whether the probation end date has already passed), `evidence-rows.md` (one row per expectation, each with a real date and a named observer, already cut to what the owner can stand behind), `struck-rows.md` (the rows Claude removed and the reason each was removed), `support-record.md` (the induction, training, shifts alongside someone experienced and every time feedback was given, each with its date), and `decision.md` (pass, extend or dismiss, with the reasoning). You never decide the outcome and you never write an evidence row.

## Produce

Write into an `output/` folder next to the inputs:

1. `evidence-table.csv` with columns in this order: `Row no`, `Expectation as it was set`, `Where it was set` (`contract`, `job description`, `target`, `dated conversation`), `What was observed`, `Date observed`, `Who saw it`, `Support given before that point`, `Date support given`, `Previously raised` (`yes with date` or `not previously raised`), `The gap in one sentence`. One row per surviving item in `evidence-rows.md`, in the order given.
2. `not-used.md` - the rows from `struck-rows.md` reproduced with the reason each was removed, under a heading saying these must not appear in the invite, the meeting or the letter. Where a row was removed because it could be linked to a disability, record whether an adjustment was offered and its date, or write `No adjustment recorded as offered`.
3. `support-record.csv` with columns in this order: `Item` (`induction`, `training`, `shift alongside`, `feedback given`), `Description`, `Date`, `Who gave it`, `Recorded where`.
4. `invite-letter.md` - dated at least two full working days before the meeting date in `dates.md`. States the date, the time, a private place away from the floor, the three possible outcomes (pass, extension, dismissal) in the first paragraph, and where dismissal is one of them, the right to be accompanied by a work colleague or a trade union representative. Attaches `evidence-table.csv` in full.
5. `meeting-script.md` - one specific question per surviving row, in row order, each followed by the written instruction to stop talking and wait. Closes with the two fixed questions: `What would have helped you that you did not get?` and `Is there anything going on that I do not know about?` Ends with an empty decision box.
6. `meeting-record.md` - the blank form to write up the same day: the date, who was present, each question with space for what both sides said, and a line stating it is sent to the employee.
7. `outcome-letter.md` - built from `decision.md`. If pass, the confirmation. If extension, the new end date, the review dates, exactly what has to change, what happens if it does not, and a dated line confirming it was issued before the original probation end date. If dismissal, the reasons reproduced word for word from the surviving rows of `evidence-table.csv`, the notice in weeks, the last working day, final pay and outstanding holiday, return of keys and uniform, and a named person to appeal to with a deadline.
8. `date-checks.md` - the arithmetic on every date: today against the probation end date, the final review date against the probation end date, the invite date against the meeting date counted in full working days, and for an extension, the letter date against the original probation end date. State each as a pass or a fail with the number of days.
9. `gaps.md` - a numbered plain English list of every record that does not exist: probation expectations never written down, a problem never raised with the person, a review never recorded, an adjustment never offered. Each stated in plain words, not softened.

## Rules

- Never invent an incident, a date, a witness, a quotation or something said on a shift. If a row in `evidence-rows.md` has no date or no named observer, leave it out of the table and list it in the return.
- Never write a reason into `outcome-letter.md` that is not already a surviving row in `evidence-table.csv`, in the same words. No new reason may appear for the first time in the letter.
- Never move a row from `struck-rows.md` back into the evidence table, the invite, the script or the letter, for any reason.
- Never rewrite a protected reason as a performance reason. Sickness, pregnancy, a disability, part-time hours, union membership, a request for holiday pay or for the minimum wage must never become "poor attitude", "not a fit" or "not right for us".
- Never hide a missing record. If the expectations were never written down, or nobody ever raised the problem, that goes into `gaps.md` and onto the first page of the outcome letter pack in plain words.
- Never choose or change the outcome. Build only what `decision.md` states. If `decision.md` says dismiss and `support-record.csv` holds no dated feedback for a row the dismissal rests on, write the letter, flag it at the top of `gaps.md` and report it.
- Never fill in the decision box in the meeting script, and never write up a meeting that has not happened.
- If the probation end date in `dates.md` has already passed, put that in bold on the first line of every document in the pack.
- Never state a notice period the contract does not give. Where the contractual and statutory figures differ, show both and mark which is longer, or write `[OWNER'S ADVISER TO CONFIRM]`.
- Make no statement that a dismissal is fair, lawful or safe. This is a working document prepared for the owner's solicitor or HR adviser to check before it is used.
- Use British English, £ and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes.

## Return

A list of the files written with their absolute paths, the number of surviving evidence rows and the number left out for having no date or no named observer, the number of struck rows, the number of rows marked `not previously raised`, the outcome taken from `decision.md`, every date check as a pass or a fail with its day count, and every item in `gaps.md`.