Ministers have abandoned plans to give workers day-one protection against unfair dismissal in a bid to ensure the Government’s Employment Rights Bill makes it through Parliament.

People will need to have six months of service to claim unfair dismissal against their employer, in a watering down of the legislation which breaches Labour’s manifesto.

This is reduced from the current qualifying period of 24 months.

The legislation has been caught in a stand-off between peers and MPs over the Government’s plan to give workers protection on their first day in a job, as well as measures to ban “exploitative” zero hours contracts.

In an update on Thursday, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said: “The Government convened a series of constructive conversations between trade unions

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