Increased employment tribunal time limits: practical takeaways for employers

The primary time limit to bring a claim in the employment tribunal has increased today (1 October 2026), from three to six months. However, a claimant could have up to 10.5 months in some cases by virtue of ACAS early conciliation. Moreover, the hearing of the claim could be another three years later, approximately, due to increasing delays in the tribunal system. These timescales underscore the need for evidence preservation and encourage early dispute resolution where possible.
  

Key points for employers

The overall issue for employers is time and delay: the length of time before they become aware that an individual is contemplating bringing a claim; more time before they receive the detail of the claim; and then even longer before the claim is heard and disposed of by the Employment Tribunal.

Employers should therefore consider the following points:

• Document retention: You might not become aware of a potential claim until even later than six months after an event (e.g. a dismissal), because the claimant will nearly always be required to ACAS before they can issue a claim, and ACAS does not always immediately inform the employer (again due to resourcing issues). With the delays in the Employment Tribunal system too, it could be approximately three years before a hearing. You therefore need to ensure robust document retention/retrieval processes.

• Witness evidence: The increasing timescales for Employment Tribunal claims exacerbate the risk of faded memories. In addition, there is an increased likelihood that key personnel may have moved on by the time a claim surfaces or is heard. Both these risks underscore the already best practice of having full, contemporaneous records documenting HR processes from start to finish. (NB: DSARs should always be at the forefront of your mind re documentation.) For departing personnel who might be needed as a witness, you should ensure you have their new contact details. You should also consider securing agreement for cooperation with any future Employment Tribunal processes. This is often a feature of negotiated exit packages. Going forward, this may increasingly become a feature of employment contracts, included at the outset of employment. The alternative is to draft the witness statement while it is still fresh in the mind of the witness’s mind rather than leave it until nearer the hearing.

• Due diligence in transactions: Due diligence should cover sufficient time periods to unearth potential claims. Warranties and indemnities should be similarly drafted, to ensure liabilities are allocated in line with commercial expectations, including the cost of defending and managing the claim, not just the value of the potential claim.

• Dispute resolution: The increased timescales for ET litigation are unattractive for both parties. Both will have potentially serious allegations hanging over them. For a claimant, they may experience financial pressures due to being out of work or earning less. For an employer, they may face the practical difficulties outlined above around document retention and witnesses. Earlier commercial dispute resolution will often be attractive, either through a “classic” settlement agreement route or potentially through a more formal form of mediation or arbitration. In relation to settlement expectations and the removal of the cap on compensation for unfair dismissal claims from 1 January 2027, see our previous article: Senior exits: a new risk landscape on the horizon.
   

Practical application

The increase to the primary time limit for Employment Tribunal claims is one of the many measures ushered in by the Employment Rights Act 2025. It takes effect from 1 October 2026, broadly applying to things that happen on or after that date. So, for example, an individual who was dismissed with effect from 1 October 2026 or later and wanted to claim unfair dismissal would have six months to do so, whereas the old rules will continue to apply to someone dismissed with effect from an earlier date, i.e. they would only have three months to bring the claim. (In both cases, this is subject extensions of time for ACAS EC – see below.)

The picture muddies in relation to discrimination claims: if there is a chain of allegedly discriminatory events, the time limit for all of them might only start to run from the date of the last event. If that date is 1 October 2026 or later, the new six-month primary time limit will apply, even though the chain of events might include incidents going back several months earlier in 2026, or even further back in time.

There are likely to be many cases involving multiple heads of claim that have a mixture of three-month and six-month primary time limits.

As noted above, it is rarely the case that a claimant will only have the primary time limit (whether three or six months) to submit their claim. In most cases, they must commence ACAS EC and they will usually benefit from an extension to the primary time limits to take account of the EC period, the standard length of which is 12 weeks.

Without going into the complexities of the relevant rules, someone who is dismissed on 1 October 2026 could have until mid-July 2027 to bring a claim about their dismissal.