If this individual has been employed by you for under two years, they will not have accrued the necessary continuous service to claim ordinary unfair dismissal. Provided they are paid their contractual notice, your exposure to potential claims may be limited. However, claims in relation to discrimination (such as disability, gender and age) and whistleblowing are ‘day one’ rights and someone may still be able to bring a claim against you on these grounds. As compensation for such claims is potentially unlimited, it is important to take legal advice if you have any concerns e.g are there any discrimination or whistleblowing issues?
If the individual has already accrued over two years’ employment, you will need to show a fair reason for the termination of their employment. If there are insufficient grounds to proceed with a performance management or disciplinary process, it may nevertheless be possible for you to rely on the potentially fair reason of ‘some other substantial reason’ (SOSR). Personality clashes or irreconcilable differences between colleagues can amount to SOSR but you would need to show that the conflict is causing substantial disruption to the business and that you explored other ways of resolving the situation without resorting to dismissal. If that can be shown, a dismissal on these grounds may be fair provided that a fair procedure is followed, including meeting with the individual and giving them an opportunity to comment on the situation.