By Rudy Fendlen, Director and Head of Employment Law
Employment tribunal time limits doubled on 1st October 2026, which means that most employees now have six months to bring a claim against a business, up from three months previously. A defended claim can then take many more months to reach a final hearing, so a business’s exposure from a single dismissal, whether for conduct, redundancy or capability, can run for a year or more.
Under the old three-month limit, many potential claims never reached a tribunal because the employee came forward too late. Those claims now stay open for twice as long, and I expect businesses to face more of them as a result.
What Are the Employment Tribunal Time Limits From October 2026?
For most claims, including unfair dismissal and discrimination, an employee now has six months, minus one day, from the date the problem happened. According to Acas guidance on employment tribunal time limits, the six-month limit applies only where the dismissal or other act took place on or after 1st October 2026. As a result, anything that happened before falls under the old three-month limit, so the last claims under the old rules fall due in late December 2026, or later where early conciliation has paused the clock.
This means that an employee dismissed on 20th September 2026 will keep the old three-month limit and has until 19th December 2026, while an employee dismissed on 2nd October 2026 has until 1st April 2027.
Statutory redundancy pay and equal pay claims were already carrying a six-month limit, so nothing changes for those. The new six-month time limit is one of several reforms we have seen in the Employment Rights Act 2025 of late, which I covered in detail in Employment Rights Act 2025: prepare, don’t panic.
The main exception to the new employment tribunal time limits is interim relief, which has a seven-day deadline. An employee who says the business dismissed them for whistleblowing, trade union activities or acting as a workers’ representative can apply for it within seven days of dismissal. If the tribunal grants it, the business has to keep paying the employee until the case is decided, which could be many months away. A business dismissing someone who has raised concerns of this kind should take advice before it acts.
When Does the Time Limit Start for Dismissal and Discrimination Claims?
The time limit for unfair dismissal starts on the “effective date of termination”. As defined in section 97 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, if the business dismisses with notice, the date is whenever this notice expires. However, if the employment was ended without notice, the date is the day the termination took effect.
For businesses, this rule provides some control over when their exposure will actually start. Ending employment immediately, with a payment in lieu of notice, will usually start the clock that day, while asking an employee to work a three-month notice period will push the beginning of the process back until they actually leave.
The same rule covers resignations, which matters for constructive dismissal time limits. The clock runs from the date the employee’s own notice expires, or from the day they leave in the event they walk out without notice.
For a discrimination claim, the time limit runs from the last act of discrimination the employee includes in their claim. Where the treatment continued over months, the latest incident sets the date, so a pattern that carried on past 1st October 2026 falls under the six-month limit.
Ultimately, in such circumstances, the timing matters less than how the business handles the dismissal. Whatever the time limit, a business still needs a fair reason and a fair process to defend an unfair dismissal claim.
How Does Acas Early Conciliation Affect the Time Limit?
Early conciliation is a free Acas service that tries to resolve a dispute before it reaches a tribunal. A conciliator speaks to the employee and the business separately to see whether they can agree terms. For most claims, the employee must notify Acas before they can submit a claim.
If the employee notifies Acas within their time limit, the clock pauses until early conciliation ends. For notifications made from 1st December 2025, early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks. When it ends, Acas issues a certificate, and the employee then has at least one calendar month to submit their claim.
Two rules limit how far this stretches. Internal grievance and appeal procedures do not pause the clock, however long they run, so the time limit still counts from the original date. The clock also pauses only when the employee starts early conciliation. If the business contacts Acas first, for example to open settlement talks, the employee’s time limit keeps running.
Even so, early conciliation can stretch employment tribunal time limits well beyond six months. Take an employee whom a business dismisses without notice with effect from 15th October 2026:
- Their time limit ends on 14th April 2027.
- They notify Acas on that day, and early conciliation runs the full 12 weeks, to 7th July 2027.
- Acas issues its certificate, and the employee has one month from that date, so around the 7th August 2027.
That is a valid claim arriving almost ten months after the dismissal.
Can an Employment Tribunal Claim Be Brought Out of Time?
An employee can submit a claim after the employment tribunal time limit has passed, but the tribunal decides whether to accept it, and Acas notes that tribunals enforce time limits strictly in most cases. Whether a tribunal allows a late claim depends on the type of claim. For unfair dismissal, the employee has to show it was not reasonably practicable to claim in time. For discrimination, the tribunal asks whether allowing the late claim would be just and equitable in all the circumstances.
Claims about money owed under the employment contract, such as unpaid notice pay, can take a different route. An employee can bring some of these in the civil courts, which have their own, much longer time limits, so a missed tribunal deadline does not always end a business’s exposure.
How Long Does an Employment Tribunal Take?
How long an employment tribunal takes depends largely on the tribunal’s own workload, and a defended claim usually runs for many months. HM Courts and Tribunals Service estimates around 26 weeks for the case management stage. It aims to issue judgment within four weeks of the final hearing.
The employment tribunal backlog makes timings harder to predict. Ministry of Justice statistics placed the average time to clear a single claim at 31 weeks between October and December 2025, with more than 30,000 claims open. That average includes claims that settle or are withdrawn early, so one that reaches a final hearing will take even longer.
The length of the final hearing depends on the issues. At the preliminary hearing, the judge decides how many days the hearing needs, perhaps two for a straightforward claim or ten for a complex one. The tribunal then books the first dates it has available for a hearing of that length. Longer hearings can take longer to find space for, and more claims under the new time limits are likely to lengthen waits even further.
What Should a Business Do When a Tribunal Claim Arrives?
The first and, by far, the most important thing a business should do when a tribunal claim arrives is to respond on time. The employment tribunal procedure starts when the tribunal sends the business a copy of the employee’s ET1 claim form, together with an ET3 response form. The business must return its response within 28 days of the date the tribunal sent the claim, and the tribunal’s letter gives the exact deadline.
The ET1 sets out the employee’s claim. The ET3, with grounds of resistance, is the business’s response to the employment tribunal claim and its defence. A business that needs more time can put a request into the tribunal for an extension. If it misses the deadline without doing so, the tribunal can decide the claim without hearing the business at all.
Before we draft a response, we usually need to investigate what happened and look at the documents behind the decision, so the first weeks are crucial. The law allows a business to admit a claim, but that is very rare. In most cases the business defends. The tribunal also sends both forms to Acas, and a conciliator contacts both sides to explore settlement. We defend employment tribunal claims for businesses from the ET3 onwards.
What Happens at an Employment Tribunal Preliminary Hearing?
A preliminary hearing is where the tribunal works out what the case is about and sets the timetable to the final hearing. It exists because a new claim tells the tribunal very little. A judge picking up Smith v Smith Limited has the employee’s claim form and the business’s response, and nothing else to go on.
At the hearing, the judge speaks to the parties or their representatives, identifies the issues, and estimates how long the final hearing needs. The tribunal then lists a final hearing date and sets deadlines for every step before it. These hearings are usually private and often take place by phone or video. In simpler cases, the tribunal may send its orders in writing without holding one.
Some preliminary hearings are intended to decide a single point instead. That might be whether the employee brought the claim in time, or whether the person bringing it was legally an employee at all, since only employees can claim unfair dismissal.
What Does a Business Have to Do Before the Final Hearing?
Prior to the final hearing, the business must ensure that it fully complies with every order the tribunal makes, by the date the tribunal sets. A typical timetable covers:
- Disclosure of all relevant documents, which can include emails, meeting notes, recordings, and video footage.
- A single indexed bundle of documents for the hearing, which the business usually prepares.
- The employee’s schedule of loss, setting out what they are claiming.
- Exchange of witness statements for everyone giving evidence.
A business that falls behind risks more than delay. The tribunal can make an unless order, which strikes out the response automatically if the business does not comply by a set date. Persistent failures can end a defence altogether.
Ultimately, evidence is the factor that decides most claims, because it shows whether the paperwork backs up the business’s account of what happened.
Can a Business Still Settle After a Preliminary Hearing?
A business can settle a tribunal claim at any stage, up to and even during the final hearing. By the end of a preliminary hearing, both sides have a clearer view of the issues, the timetable and the cost of carrying on, which makes this a common time to settle.
Acas conciliation stays available throughout, and Acas records any settlement it helps reach in a COT3, which binds both sides. The parties can also agree to a settlement agreement, which requires the employee to take independent legal advice. These are the kinds of confidential, without-prejudice discussions that can resolve a claim without a final hearing.
In more complex cases, the tribunal may offer judicial mediation, where an employment judge helps the parties negotiate. It may also offer a judicial assessment, where a judge gives a confidential early view of the strengths of each side’s case.
What Happens at an Employment Tribunal Final Hearing?
The final hearing is the trial. The tribunal hears the evidence and decides whether any or all of the claims succeed and, if they do, what remedy to award, which is usually compensation.
An employment judge hears the case alone or with two lay members. Each side’s witnesses give evidence and face cross-examination, and both sides then make closing submissions. The tribunal may give its decision on the day or send it in writing later.
If the employee wins and the parties cannot agree compensation, the tribunal may hold a separate remedy hearing to determine the final amount awarded. Either side can ask the tribunal to reconsider its judgment within 14 days, or appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal within 42 days.
An appeal has to show the tribunal got the law wrong. Disagreeing with the decision is not enough.
What Should Your Business Do if It Has Received a Tribunal Claim?
The most important thing you can do should your business receive a tribunal claim is to act now, because the clock is already running. Procrastinating will only set you back. The business’s ET3 is due 28 days from the date the tribunal sent the claim, and the investigation underpinning a strong response takes time.
Contact us as soon as the claim form arrives, and we will review it, tell you where the business stands and how long an employment tribunal is likely to take, and draft the response well inside the deadline.
I lead WHN Solicitors’ employment team as Director and Head of Employment Law. Before joining the firm, I was an employment law partner at Rose Fendlen Law. I spent years acting for employees, so I know how a claimant’s solicitor builds a case and where they look for gaps in an employer’s paperwork. I now put that experience to work for businesses on the other side of the table.
At WHN Solicitors, we represent businesses from the ET3 through to the final hearing, and we advise on settlement at every stage in between, through Acas or a settlement agreement. On the most complex claims, I work alongside our CEO, Michael Shroot. Our employment law service for businesses sets out what defending a claim typically costs, so you know what you are committing to before you instruct us.
With nine offices across Lancashire and Greater Manchester, we can meet you close to your business.
If no claim has arrived yet but a recent dismissal or resignation worries you, talk to us before the employment tribunal time limit runs out. At that stage there is still time to shape the outcome. For ongoing support, our fixed-cost Employer Protection Scheme covers reviews of your contracts and policies.
Contact WHN Solicitors today to request a callback. Alternatively, call 0161 761 8067 or email Rudy.Fendlen@whnsolicitors.co.uk
