As it stands, most employment tribunal claims in England, Wales and Scotland need to be brought within three months of the act complained. This includes claims for dismissal, discrimination and unlawful deduction from wages.
A small number of claims currently have a six-month time limit, such as claims for equal pay or a statutory redundancy payment.
This is set to change from 1 October 2026.
What is changing?
The Employment Rights Act 2025 extends the time limit to six months for all employment tribunal claims.
Although the Act originally omitted some types of claims, including breach of contract claims, the government has extended the time limits for those claims through separate regulations.
What claims will be impacted?
Generally, the new time limit will apply where the relevant date falls on or after 1 October 2026. For breach of contract claims in Scotland, the change will come into force on 9 November 2026.
The “relevant date” will usually be the act or failure to act complained about, or the last in a series of acts or failures.
Example
Sara has been employed by a large retailer for five years. A colleague accuses her of stealing cash from the tills and, following a disciplinary process, she is dismissed for gross misconduct. She is told she has been dismissed with immediate effect at the disciplinary meeting on 15 October 2026.
As Sara’s termination date falls after 1 October 2026, the new time limit applies. Subject to the effect of Acas early conciliation, she will have until 14 April 2027 to bring an unfair dismissal claim.
Under the previous rules, the primary deadline would have been 14 January 2027.
Identifying the date of the relevant act may not always be straightforward. The commencement regulations specify the “relevant date” for particular claims, so it will be important to identify the appropriate event that determines whether the old or new limit applies. For example, for a claim alleging a failure to consult collectively with employee representatives, the relevant date is the date on which the last dismissal takes effect.
Employers should be aware that if a claimant argues that there has been an ongoing course of conduct (such as discrimination), the six month time limit may run from the end of that period, bringing into scope events that occurred before 1 October 2026.
What will this mean for employers?
The government’s intention is to give employers and employees more time to resolve matters internally before a claim needs to be brought. This could be helpful where there are chunky disciplinary appeals or grievances to manage. The change will also give parties more time to explore settlement, should they choose to do so.
Parties already have more time to focus on early conciliation than they previously did. The Acas early conciliation period increased from six to 12 weeks on 1 December 2025. This is expected to be reviewed in October 2026 although, given the current pressures on Acas, it seems unlikely that the early conciliation period will be reduced.
The combined effect of the increased early conciliation period and longer time limits means that employers will often need to wait a significant amount of time before they find out if an employee has brought a claim.
Example
Sara contacts Acas about her claim on 13 April 2027, just before her primary time limit expires.
The limitation clock is paused while early conciliation takes place. The employer does not hear from the conciliator until early July. It is not interested in settlement and Acas issues the certificate on 5 July 2027.
Under the Acas early conciliation rules, Sara will then have one month to submit her claim. Her claim must therefore be submitted by 5 August 2027.
The upcoming changes therefore mean that an employee could have almost 10 months before they need to actually submit their claim.
There is then often a further delay while the tribunal processes the claim and notifies the employer. The tribunal system is currently under significant pressure, and delays are becoming more common. The latest quarterly tribunal statistics show that, in the first quarter of 2026, 25,000 employment tribunal claims were received, compared with 10,000 claims disposed of. At the end of the quarter, 537,000 claims remained open.
In practice, the extended time limits could have a significant impact on employers. There is a greater risk that potential witnesses will have left employment or that evidence will no longer be available. The longer time limit may also lead to an increase in claims over time, further exacerbating the pressures on the tribunal system.
Actions for employers
Here are some practical steps employers can take to adjust to the longer time limits:
- Strengthen internal processes: Keep disciplinary, appeal and grievance procedures up to date, and ensure they are followed in practice. A focus on informal resolution could help nip issues in the bud before a claim is brought.
- Think about your witnesses early: Identify key witnesses early and retain up-to-date contact details. Employment contracts should include a clause requiring employees to provide reasonable assistance with legal proceedings during and after their employment. If a key witness leaves, consider including a similar obligation in a settlement agreement or taking a written witness statement before their employment ends.
- Review retention periods: Check that HR records, emails and other relevant data will be kept long enough to cover the extended claim window and any proceedings, while remaining consistent with data protection principles.
- Preserve evidence: As soon as a dispute arises, collate relevant documents, messages, meeting notes and records of decision-making. If not in place already, consider whether litigation hold emails should be sent to key staff when there’s the possibility of a later claim.
- Widen transaction due diligence: Buyers should examine dismissals, grievances and other potential employment claims over a longer look-back period. Buyers may also need longer contractual limitation periods and appropriate warranty or indemnity protection.
The commencement regulations can be viewed here: The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
