seemed kinda sloppy tbh <| sep |> Thanks . Just signed up there . <| sep |> UK employment law That ' s called making someone redundant . It ' s different to firing someone . If the role the person fills is no longer needed , you ' re free to remove it and cease their employment under redundancy laws , but you are required to give them notice , and depending on the size of your business , how long they ' ve worked for you , and the nature of their employment you may need to pay them out in a redundancy package usually doesn ' t apply to small business . If you make someone redundant , it ' s illegal to then hire someone else to perform a similar role to the one they were performing soon after the redundancy is declared . You only need to prove they ' re incapable of , or unwilling to , performing their role to fire someone and have someone else fill their role . EDIT It ' s worth noting that the distinction is very important for the employee in the UK . Because being fired is so difficult , you may find it hard to get a job after being fired . Being made redundant doesn ' t really have any negative impact on job prospects , and in some cases may be even better than resigning when trying to find new employment . EDIT 2 Also worth noting that it is possible to fire someone without going through disciplinary measures first . Gross misconduct , criminal activity , or gross negligence will get you fired on the spot .