Your AI Assistant Might Be a Liability. Here's Why Context is Everything in UK Employment Law

Your AI Assistant Might Be a Liability. Here's Why Context is Everything in UK Employment Law.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the go-to co-pilot for businesses everywhere. From drafting emails to analysing market data, its power is undeniable. For busy HR professionals and business owners, asking an AI a quick question about employment law seems like an efficient way to get a fast answer.

But in a high-stakes field like UK employment law, a "good enough" answer can be dangerously misleading. The difference between sound guidance and a potential employment tribunal can hinge on nuance, precision, and—most importantly—context. A generic AI pulls from the vast, chaotic expanse of the internet. A specialised AI, powered by a system like AgentContext, pulls from a curated, up-to-date, and relevant knowledge base.

To see the difference, let's look at a real-world example. We asked a simple but critical question to an AI, both with and without AgentContext.

The Question: Can We Fire Someone During Their Probation Period for Any Reason?

For full transparency, you can view the original, unedited AI conversations using the links below before we break down the responses.

• Conversation With AgentContext: https://claude.ai/share/0bf...
• Conversation Without AgentContext: https://claude.ai/share/af6...

Here’s how the answers stacked up.

The Answer Without AgentContext

This is the kind of response you might get from a standard, general-purpose AI.

In the UK, employees have very limited employment rights during their probation period, but you can't fire someone for literally "any" reason - there are still some legal protections.

What you generally CAN do:

• Dismiss employees with less than 2 years' service without giving a reason
• End employment with minimal notice (often just the contractual notice period)
• Terminate for performance, conduct, or capability issues more easily than with established employees

What you CANNOT do, even during probation:

• Dismiss for discriminatory reasons (race, gender, disability, pregnancy, religion, sexual orientation, etc.)
• Fire someone for exercising statutory rights (like requesting maternity leave or raising health and safety concerns)
• Dismiss for whistleblowing
• Terminate for trade union membership or activities

Best practice: Even though you have broad discretion, document performance or conduct issues clearly and follow your stated probation review process. This protects against potential claims and maintains good employment practices.

At first glance, this answer seems okay. It’s not technically wrong. It correctly identifies that you can't dismiss for discriminatory reasons. However, it lacks the professional framework and legal precision a business needs to act confidently. The simple "CAN/CANNOT" list oversimplifies a complex legal landscape.

The Answer With AgentContext

Now, let's see the same question answered by an AI grounded with AgentContext, which has been specifically fed with current and relevant UK employment law sources.

Based on my search of UK employment law, here's what you need to know about dismissing someone during their probation period:

The Two-Year Rule and Probation Periods You cannot fire someone "for any reason" during their probation period. While employees need two years of continuous service to claim ordinary unfair dismissal, there are important exceptions that protect employees even during probation.

What You Can Do During Probation During a probation period (typically within the first two years of employment), you can dismiss someone without them being able to claim ordinary unfair dismissal, provided the dismissal is for legitimate business reasons such as:

• Poor performance that doesn't meet job requirements
• Failure to demonstrate necessary skills or competencies
• Conduct issues that breach company policies
• Lack of capability for the role
• Redundancy for genuine business reasons

Important Legal Exceptions - Automatically Unfair Dismissals Even during probation, dismissals are automatically unfair if the reason relates to:

• Discrimination based on protected characteristics (age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.)
• Whistleblowing or raising health and safety concerns
• Pregnancy or maternity-related reasons
• Trade union membership or activities
• Asserting statutory employment rights

These protections apply regardless of length of service and can result in tribunal claims even for employees with less than two years' service.

Best Practice Requirements Even though you have more flexibility during probation, you should still:

• Follow a fair procedure - investigate facts, hold meetings, allow the employee to respond
• Document the reasons for dismissal clearly
• Provide proper notice as per their contract

Bottom Line While probation periods do give employers greater flexibility to end employment relationships that aren't working out, you cannot dismiss someone for discriminatory reasons or in retaliation for exercising legal rights. The dismissal must still be for a legitimate business reason and follow a reasonably fair process.

Why the Difference is a Game-Changer

The AgentContext answer is not just better—it's safer and more actionable. Here’s why:

1. Correct Legal Framing: It immediately introduces the correct legal concept: the "two-year rule" for "ordinary unfair dismissal". This is the foundational principle that governs this entire issue. It then correctly contrasts this with "automatically unfair dismissals," which have no service length requirement. This structure mirrors how a legal professional would analyse the problem.

2. Actionable Categories: Instead of a vague list, it provides legitimate, categorised business reasons for dismissal (performance, conduct, capability). This gives an employer a clear framework for documenting their decision-making process, significantly reducing legal risk.

3. Emphasis on Procedure: The "Best Practice" section is more robust, explicitly mentioning the need to follow a fair procedure, hold meetings, and allow the employee to respond. A generic AI might miss this procedural advice, which is often the very thing that trips employers up in a tribunal.

How Does AgentContext Achieve This?

The power of AI is immense, but without guardrails, it's unpredictable. AgentContext provides those guardrails by ensuring the AI's knowledge is not just vast, but deep, relevant, and current.

• Curated Knowledge Base: Instead of scanning the entire public internet—with its mix of outdated forums, non-UK advice, and conflicting articles—AgentContext focuses the AI on a specific, vetted library of information. For this query, that means current UK government guidance, ACAS codes of practice, and relevant legislation.

• Always Up-to-Date: Employment law is not static. New case law and legislative changes can alter your obligations overnight. Our knowledge base is continuously updated, ensuring the advice you receive reflects the very latest legal landscape, not a snapshot from when the AI's general training data was last compiled.

• Reduced "Hallucinations": By restricting the AI to a trusted set of sources, AgentContext dramatically reduces the risk of the AI inventing facts or providing plausible but incorrect information—a common and dangerous flaw in general models.

The Bottom Line for Your Business

For regulatory professionals and employers, accuracy isn't a luxury; it's a necessity. The cost of getting employment law wrong—in legal fees, tribunal awards, and reputational damage—is immense.

While a general AI can be a useful tool for low-stakes tasks, relying on it for complex, regulated areas like HR is a significant gamble. AgentContext transforms the AI from an unpredictable oracle into a reliable, precise, and invaluable assistant.

Before you ask your AI for critical business advice, ask yourself: do you know what context it's using?