From 1 October 2026, employees have twice as long to bring most employment tribunal claims. The deadline for claims including unfair dismissal, discrimination and unlawful deductions from wages has increased from three months less one day to six months less one day, extending the period during which employers may face legal action.
Key points
- The change applies only to acts from 1 October 2026 onwards. If the act or failure complained of happened before that date, the previous three-month limit continues to apply. Employers will therefore need to work with two sets of deadlines side by side during the transition.
- Ongoing conduct requires particular care. Where an employee complains about a series of acts, such as repeated harassment or a run of underpayments, the six-month limit applies if the last act took place on or after 1 October 2026. This may bring earlier events back into scope.
- Acas early conciliation still comes first. The maximum early conciliation period was extended to 12 weeks in December 2025. Combined with the new six-month time limit, this means a tribunal claim may not reach an employer until as long as nine months after the workplace dispute began.
What does this mean for businesses in practice?
- Disputes stay open for longer. A complaint that appears to have gone quiet may still end up in the tribunal. Employers should not assume a matter is closed once six or even nine months have passed, as it can take the tribunal several weeks, and sometimes longer, to serve a claim on the employer.
- Your paperwork matters more than ever. Investigation notes, meeting minutes, emails and messages created today may be scrutinised many months from now. As time passes, memories fade and staff move on, so good written records will often be the main evidence available to defend a claim. Effective document retention is therefore vital.
- More time to bring a claim may mean more claims. Employees who might not have acted quickly at a stressful time, such as immediately after a dismissal or disciplinary process, now have longer to take advice, consider their position and gather evidence. Fewer claims are likely to fail for being out of time.
- Working out deadlines is now more complicated. One employee may bring several claims with different deadlines, depending on when each event took place. A calculation error could lead an employer to incur unnecessary costs defending a claim that might have been challenged as out of time. It could also lead the employer to assume incorrectly that a claim was brought too late.
- This is only one part of a wider set of changes. The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal is due to fall from two years to six months on 1 January 2027. Together, these changes mean more employees will be able to bring claims, and for longer.
What should employers do now?
- Review how you keep records. Make sure disciplinary, grievance and absence processes are properly documented, and that records are kept for at least as long as a claim could be brought.
- Check your retention policies. Review whether current retention periods cover the full window in which a claim could be brought, including the Acas early conciliation period, and update any periods that are now too short.
- Brief your managers. Line managers are usually the ones creating records and holding difficult conversations, so they need to understand the importance of keeping accurate, objective notes.
- Take advice early on live matters. If you are managing an exit, dealing with an ongoing complaint or facing a claim about events either side of 1 October, early advice can help manage risk and save significant costs.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. It reflects the law in England and Wales as at 2 October 2026.
