probation-review-log

---
name: probation-review-log
description: Builds the probation review record that turns a vague "how's it going" chat into a dated decision: pass, fail, or extend, against the length and conditions written into the starter's own contract. It works out the correct statutory notice if probation ends in dismissal, checks the probationary period was actually documented at the start rather than invented at the end, and logs every review so an extension is a decision made on a date, not a drift nobody noticed. Use before a probation deadline passes unreviewed, and before you dismiss someone without checking what notice the law actually requires.
---

# The review that turns "let's see how it goes" into a dated decision

You give this the starter's start date, their written probationary period and length, and what happened at each review point. You get back a review log with a pass, fail or extend decision at every milestone, the statutory minimum notice period if the outcome is dismissal, and a flag for any starter past their review date with no decision recorded.

## What it does

1. **Start from the fact that probation is a choice, not a legal requirement, and hold the venue to whatever choice it made.** ACAS states plainly: "There's no legal requirement to have a probation period. And they can be any length of time." That freedom cuts both ways: because there is no statutory length, the length that governs this starter is whatever was actually written down for them, and the skill refuses to apply a "standard" length that was never agreed.
2. **Check the probationary period was documented at the start, under section 1(4)(ga) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, not described for the first time at the end.** Section 1(6) defines a probationary period as "a temporary period, starting at the beginning of the employment, that is intended to allow the employer to assess the worker's suitability for the employment." If no written record of the length and conditions exists from the start of employment, the skill records that the probation itself may not be enforceable in the way the manager now wants it to be, and flags it rather than quietly accepting a verbal account.
3. **Turn "how's it going" into a dated three-way decision, every time.** ACAS's own induction guidance frames the review as a specific moment: "Review performance and inform them they have either passed probation, failed it or are having it extended." The skill will not accept a review log entry that just says "going well" with no decision attached; every entry is pass, fail, or extend, with a date.
4. **Treat an extension as a decision with its own new date, not a silence that lets the old deadline slide.** Where the review is "extend", the skill requires a new review date set there and then. A probation that quietly carries on past its written length with no extension decision recorded is treated as a gap, not as "still under review".
5. **Calculate the statutory minimum notice correctly if the outcome is dismissal, rather than assuming probation means no notice at all.** Section 86(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 sets minimum notice for anyone "continuously employed for one month or more": "not less than one week's notice if his period of continuous employment is less than two years", rising for longer service. Most probationary dismissals fall in the under-two-years band and are owed at least one week, once the one-month threshold is passed; the skill checks the length of service against that threshold rather than assuming probation overrides it.
6. **Record a resignation during probation the same way as any other leaver.** ACAS notes an employee "can resign if they want to during their probation period", with the correct notice. The skill logs this as a leaver event with a reason, not as a probation failure.

## Then it checks

1. Every probation has a documented start, length and conditions on file from the start of employment, not reconstructed after the fact.
2. Every review point has a dated pass, fail or extend decision, never a free-text note with no outcome attached.
3. Every "extend" decision carries a new review date, set at the same time as the extension.
4. Nobody is past their last recorded review date with no decision logged.
5. Every dismissal outcome has the statutory minimum notice calculated from length of service, checked against the one-month threshold.
6. Every resignation during probation is logged as a leaver event with its own notice and date, not folded into the probation outcome field.

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.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never give employment law advice on a specific dismissal; it calculates the statutory minimum, it does not assess whether a dismissal is fair.
- Never apply a "standard" probation length to someone whose own written statement does not state one.
- Never record "extend" without a new review date in the same entry.

## Built from
- Acas, "Probation periods", https://www.acas.org.uk/probation-periods, last updated 7 October 2026, read 4 November 2026: the no-legal-requirement position, the resignation-during-probation point, and the "any length of time" wording behind steps 1 and 6.
- Acas, "Checklist for induction of new staff", https://www.acas.org.uk/checklist-for-induction-of-new-staff, last updated 19 March 2026, read 4 November 2026: the three-way review decision wording behind step 3.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, sections 1 and 86, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18, as amended, read 4 November 2026: the probationary period particular and definition behind step 2, and the statutory minimum notice tiers and one-month threshold behind step 5.

# probation-review-log

## You are given
The staff list under probation with start date, the documented probation length and conditions as recorded at the start of employment (or a note that none was documented), and continuous length of service in days. Each review event: date, attendee(s), and outcome if one was decided. Any leaver event: date, reason (`dismissal_probation_fail`, `resignation`, `other`), and whether notice was given or paid in lieu.

## Produce
Write into a `./probation-review-log-output/` folder:

1. `probation-register.csv` with columns: `staff_name`, `start_date`, `probation_documented_at_start`, `probation_length_weeks`, `probation_conditions_verbatim`, `current_review_due_date`, `latest_outcome` (`pass`, `fail`, `extend`, or `pending`), `latest_outcome_date`. `probation_documented_at_start` is `yes` or `no`.
2. `review-log.csv` with columns: `row_ref`, `staff_name`, `review_date`, `outcome` (`pass`, `fail`, `extend`), `new_review_date_if_extended`, `attendees`. Appended to any previous log, never overwritten. Every row must have a non-blank `outcome`.
3. `overdue-reviews.csv` with columns: `staff_name`, `current_review_due_date`, `days_overdue`. One row per person in `probation-register.csv` whose `current_review_due_date` has passed with no matching row in `review-log.csv`.
4. `notice-calculation.csv` with columns: `staff_name`, `leaver_date`, `leaver_reason`, `continuous_service_days`, `meets_one_month_threshold`, `statutory_minimum_notice`, `notice_given_or_paid_in_lieu`. `meets_one_month_threshold` is `yes` or `no`. `statutory_minimum_notice` is computed as: not applicable if the threshold is not met; "1 week" for continuous employment under 2 years; "1 week per complete year" for 2 to under 12 years, with the number of weeks stated; "12 weeks" for 12 years or more.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: every row in `overdue-reviews.csv`; every row in `probation-register.csv` with `probation_documented_at_start` of `no`; every `review-log.csv` row with `outcome` of `extend` and a blank `new_review_date_if_extended`; and every `notice-calculation.csv` row where `notice_given_or_paid_in_lieu` is less than `statutory_minimum_notice`.

## Rules
- Codex counts, checks and records. It never decides whether a dismissal is fair, never writes performance commentary, and never invents a probation length not documented at the start of employment.
- `statutory_minimum_notice` is computed only by the tiers in section 86(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 against supplied continuous service days, never estimated or rounded in the employer's favour.
- Never mark `probation_documented_at_start` as `yes` without a dated written record supplied; a verbal account alone is `no`.
- Every `extend` outcome without a paired new review date is a gap, listed first in `gaps.md`, never silently carried forward.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own contracts and HR records, and for their solicitor or HR adviser to check any disputed dismissal, notice or probation question. It is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that a dismissal is fair.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of overdue reviews, named individually with days overdue. The number of probations with no documented start, named individually. The number of extend outcomes missing a new review date. The statutory minimum notice calculated for each leaver, compared against what was actually given. The `gaps.md` item count.