SOSR dismissals: what every employer needs to get right

va9423

Sep 6

5 min read

Support from an HR consultant in Ipswich to understand SOSR dismissals, avoid common pitfalls, and build an evidence trail that actually holds up.

The rules around dismissal haven't changed recently, but the way tribunals scrutinise them has tightened.

If you've ever considered letting someone go for a reason that doesn't neatly fit into misconduct, poor performance, or redundancy, you've probably come across the term SOSR.

It stands for "some other substantial reason" and it's one of the most misunderstood grounds for dismissal in UK employment law.

Get it right and it's a legitimate route. Get it wrong and a tribunal will take it apart.

Here's what you need to know before you go anywhere near it.

Start with the practical steps

Before we get into what SOSR actually means, let's focus on what matters most to you as a business owner: what do you actually need to do if you're considering this type of dismissal?

There are four things a tribunal will look for, and all four need to be in place.

A genuine business reason. Not just a convenient one. The question a tribunal will ask is whether a reasonable employer in your position would have considered this reason serious enough to justify dismissal. If your answer to "why did you dismiss this person?" boils down to "it just wasn't working out," that won't be enough.
A fair process. The employee needs to know the reason they're being dismissed. They need a proper opportunity to respond. And the person making the final decision needs to have the authority to make it. Skipping any of those steps creates a gap that a tribunal will find.
Evidence that you considered alternatives. If there was another option available to you, you'll be asked why you didn't take it. Dismissal should be the last resort, not the first response.
Documentation written at the time. Record the business reason, the steps you followed, the outcome, and any appeal. Write it down as it happens. Pulling it together months later for a tribunal bundle is a red flag, and tribunals know the difference.

So what does SOSR actually mean?

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, there are five fair reasons for dismissal. Four of them are specific: conduct, capability, redundancy, and statutory illegality. SOSR is the fifth, and it's deliberately broad.

It exists to cover situations where dismissal is justified but the reason doesn't fall into any of the other four categories.

In practice, it tends to apply in situations like these:

A business reorganisation that changes roles or structures but doesn't meet the legal definition of redundancy
A third-party relationship breaking down, for example a client refusing to continue working with a particular member of your team
A fixed-term contract coming to an end where there's a genuine reason for not renewing it
A conflict of interest, such as an employee's partner working in a sensitive role at a direct competitor

Each of those can be a valid reason. But the reason alone isn't enough. You still need the process and the evidence to back it up.

Where employers go wrong

I see a pattern with SOSR dismissals that don't hold up. The mistakes tend to fall into a handful of categories.

The most common one is reaching for SOSR when the real issue is conduct or capability. If someone's underperforming or behaving badly, that's a conduct or capability matter. Relabelling it as SOSR because you didn't follow the right process first won't fool a tribunal. They look at the substance of what happened, not the label you've put on it.

Another frequent issue is cutting corners on the process. When the reason for dismissal feels obvious to you, it's tempting to move quickly. But "obvious" to you doesn't mean fair. The employee still needs to hear the reason, respond to it, and have their response genuinely considered.

Then there's the documentation problem. Writing up what happened after the fact, rather than recording it as you go, weakens your position significantly. Tribunals can tell when notes have been reconstructed.

Finally, failing to explore alternatives before dismissing someone is a common oversight. If you didn't at least consider whether there was another way to resolve the situation, expect to be challenged on that.

Questions worth asking yourself

If you're thinking about an SOSR dismissal, pause and work through these before you take any action:

Can you clearly articulate the specific business reason for this dismissal in one or two sentences?
Have you ruled out conduct, capability, redundancy, and statutory illegality as the real reason?
Has the employee been told what's happening and given a genuine chance to put their side across?
Have you explored whether there's any alternative to dismissal that could resolve the situation?
Are you documenting each step as it happens, rather than planning to write it up later?

If you're hesitating on any of those, that's a sign you need to slow down.

Protected characteristics and third-party situations

Two scenarios deserve extra caution.

If the employee you're considering dismissing has a protected characteristic, the risk of a discrimination claim running alongside an unfair dismissal claim increases. That doesn't mean you can't proceed, but it does mean you need to be especially careful about your reasoning and your process.

If a client or third party is part of the reason for dismissal, that adds another layer of complexity. A client saying they don't want to work with someone isn't automatically a fair reason to dismiss them. You need to look at the full picture and make sure you're not simply acting on a third party's instruction without proper consideration.

Both of these situations benefit from HR consultancy services in Ipswich or wherever you're based, because the stakes are higher and the margin for error is smaller.

Get advice before you act

The single most important piece of guidance I can give you on SOSR is this: get advice before you start the process.

Once you've had a conversation with the employee, or put something in writing, your options narrow. What could have been a straightforward process becomes much harder to correct if it's already gone in the wrong direction.

I help employers work through dismissal processes, including SOSR. That means identifying whether your reason genuinely qualifies, building the evidence trail you need, and making sure the procedure is fair before you take action.

As an outsourced HR consultant in Ipswich, I'd much rather have that conversation with you now than see the situation land in a tribunal bundle six months from now.

If you're unsure about a dismissal and which category it falls into, get in touch and let's talk it through. A short conversation at the right time can save you a lot of stress and cost down the line.