Employment tribunal time limits: the new six-month deadline

Your employer can take months to answer a grievance. Your tribunal deadline does not wait. From 1 October 2026, most claims in Great Britain have six months minus a day, but problems from before that date usually keep the old three-month limit. Write down the dismissal date or short payday, then notify Acas in time. A missed deadline can cost you the claim before anyone hears what happened.

Six months, or three, minus a day

The change is already in force. Section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 moved most Great Britain tribunal limits from three months to six. The commencement regulations draw a hard line. If the relevant date is before 1 October 2026, the amendments do not apply. You are still on three months minus a day.

The relevant date is not when you decided to act or when HR acknowledged your grievance. For unfair dismissal, it is the effective date of termination under section 97. That is normally the end of your notice period, or the day the job ends if you are dismissed without notice. Notice given in September but ending on 15 October 2026 normally puts you on the new limit. Payment instead of notice can mean the job ends immediately. Do not count from the date you would have finished working notice.

For a wage deduction, use the payday when you were short-paid, or the last deduction in a legally linked series. For discrimination, use the act or the end of conduct extending over a period. Separate incidents do not automatically become one continuing claim.

Acas describes the limit as three or six calendar months minus a day. Add the months to your relevant date, then subtract one day. These are starting deadlines, before any early-conciliation adjustment. If the later month has no matching date, get the calculation checked rather than guessing.

1. Save the date and the evidence. Keep the dismissal letter, payslip, rota or messages somewhere you control, not only on a work phone. Write down when each incident happened.
2. Find the starting deadline. Use the claim table below. If two dates are arguable, protect the earlier one. Check Scottish contract claims and the seven-day interim-relief rule separately.
3. Notify Acas within the limit. Use the notification service. A general helpline call is not notification. In Northern Ireland, notify the Labour Relations Agency. Check the employer’s legal name on your contract or payslip. If an agency and hirer are both involved, get advice about whom to name.
4. Keep the certificate and check the new deadline. Record when you receive it and its number. Early conciliation does not give you a fresh six months. Your claim must reach the tribunal by the adjusted deadline. Our claim guide covers the ET1 form.

Message your union rep with the dates. UNISON represents care and NHS support staff; Usdaw represents shop workers. Unite and GMB organise in hospitality, warehouses, food factories, security and logistics. IWGB represents delivery riders and other precarious workers. Ask what advice or representation your membership covers. Acas is free, and Citizens Advice or a law centre may help you find legal advice.

The diagram compares two short paydays either side of the change. Both deadlines are before any Acas pause.

Which claim starts which clock

Six months is the new starting limit for most Great Britain claims, not every claim. Statutory redundancy pay and equal pay already had six-month limits. Interim relief still has only seven days.

For older claims, do not assume every limit was three months. Statutory redundancy pay and equal pay were already six months. Acas also lists certain claims against trade unions and certain armed-forces claims among the longer limits. For older holiday pay claims, get the deadline checked for the legal route you are using.

Equal pay has its own rules under section 129 of the Equality Act 2010. You do not have to leave your job to claim. Concealment, incapacity and a stable working relationship can change the date used. Do not apply the ordinary discrimination clock to an equal-pay claim.

Schedule 12 also extends limits for detriment claims, time off, union rights, protective awards, TUPE information and consultation, agency-worker rights and other statutory complaints. The claim’s own trigger date still matters.

A zero-hours or agency label does not settle your legal status. Read employee, worker or self-employed, agency work and zero-hours contracts. Agency Workers Regulations claims also moved to six months. Genuinely independent contractors cannot claim unfair dismissal or unlawful wage deductions, but some people described as self-employed have discrimination protection through contracts to do work personally. Get status advice rather than accepting the label on the paperwork.

Dates you can check

These examples assume the dates shown are the correct legal triggers. They exclude early conciliation. Filing a grievance or discovering an old underpayment later does not reset them.

Discrimination has a different test. Section 123 treats conduct extending over a period as done at the end of it. A continuing discriminatory shift-allocation policy ending on 3 October 2026 could use the new limit. A one-off remark in August does not acquire six months because you complained in October. The tribunal decides whether the conduct continued. See how to make a discrimination complaint.

If you resign and claim constructive dismissal, the effective date is normally when the resignation takes effect, not the first breach. Get advice before you resign.

How Acas stops the clock

For almost every Great Britain claim, you must notify Acas before submitting the ET1. You do not have to agree to settle. Notify within the original limit to protect the time available. Early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks for notifications made on or after 1 December 2025. That is a maximum, not an automatic extension.

For Employment Rights Act claims, the calculation is in section 207B. Day A is the day you notify Acas about the matter. Day B is when you receive the certificate, or are treated as receiving it if that is earlier. The days from the day after Day A through Day B do not count. Add those excluded days to the starting deadline. If that adjusted limit would fall in the period from Day A to one month after Day B, the statutory minimum moves it to the end of that period. It is not a fresh six months from the certificate.

The table assumes one notification covering the claim and no dispute about either date. Multiple respondents, later incidents or notifications made before employment ends can complicate the count. Get those checked. Use the certificate you actually receive, not a forecast of how long conciliation will last.

Seven days, not six months

For specified automatically unfair dismissals, interim relief can keep employment or equivalent pay going until the main hearing. It is available to employees only. Acas lists whistleblowing, specified trade union activities, health and safety representative duties and certain representative, companion and blacklist cases. It is not available for every unfair dismissal, and the tribunal must be persuaded that the dismissal was likely for the protected reason.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

England, Wales and Scotland share the new limits for most statutory claims from 1 October 2026. England and Wales also moved eligible tribunal breach-of-contract claims to six months under a separate order. Scottish contract claims are scheduled to switch on 9 November. Earlier relevant ending dates keep the old limit. These are tribunal limits, not the limits for suing in the civil courts.

Northern Ireland mostly keeps its existing limits. Notify the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas. Early conciliation there can last up to one month, with a possible 14-day extension. It did not become 12 weeks. The government guidance identifies limited extensions for tribunal complaints under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Civil Aviation Working Time Regulations 2004 and the Merchant Shipping MLC Hours of Work Regulations 2018. This does not give every Northern Ireland wage claim six months. Check the particular claim with the LRA. See nidirect’s early-conciliation guidance and our Northern Ireland comparison.

If you are already late

You can still submit a late claim and ask the tribunal to accept it. Act promptly. For unfair dismissal, unlawful deductions and many other Employment Rights Act claims, you must show it was not reasonably practicable to claim in time, then claim within a further reasonable period. Discrimination uses a different test, whether an extension is just and equitable. Neither is guaranteed. A slow grievance does not itself extend time.

Contact Acas or the LRA and a legal adviser as soon as you realise. Give the actual dates and explain the delay. Early conciliation does not revive an expired limit, but a judge may have power to extend it. If you are considering a settlement agreement or Acas COT3, check which claims you would give up before agreeing.

What the extra months do not fix

We welcome more time to bring a claim. It gives a worker trying to keep their job more room to seek advice. It does not guarantee a hearing soon, or payment after a win.

Suspected minimum-wage underpayment can also be reported through HMRC’s enforcement route. The Fair Work Agency has been in force since 7 April 2026, with HMRC continuing minimum-wage enforcement on its behalf. Ask Acas about reporting underpayment as well as recovering your own wages. An enforcement complaint is not an ET1 and does not pause the tribunal clock. Our minimum wage guide covers rates and rights.

If your visa is tied to the employer, the fear is rational. Get immigration advice as well. The deadline will not wait for a sponsor letter.

What is in force, and what is not

This guide states the law as at 1 October 2026. The government timetable, updated on 25 September 2026, distinguishes changes already made from future measures. It says future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes and may change. See our wider Employment Rights Act 2025 guide.

1. 1 Dec 2025In force: up to 12 weeks of early conciliation

   For Acas notifications made on or after this date. Northern Ireland’s LRA period is different.

2. 1 Oct 2026In force: most Great Britain limits increase

   Six months minus a day for relevant dates on or after this day. Earlier dates keep their existing limits. Eligible tribunal contract claims in England and Wales also switch.

3. 9 Nov 2026Scheduled: Scottish tribunal contract claims

   The six-month limit is due to apply to relevant ending dates on or after this day. This is not in force as at 1 October.

4. 1 Jan 2027Scheduled: shorter qualifying service for unfair dismissal

   The timetable schedules a reduction from two years to six months for dismissals from this date, and removal of the compensatory award cap. Neither is the deadline for filing a claim.