Employment tribunal time limits are now six months (England and Wales)

Does this apply to you?

Two facts decide which time limit you have:

• What the claim is about. The change covers unfair dismissal, discrimination at work, unpaid wages and deductions, holiday pay, and whistleblowing detriment.
• Your key date. For unfair dismissal, it is the date your employment ended: the day your notice expired, or the day the dismissal took effect if there was no notice. For discrimination and whistleblowing detriment, it is the date of the act, or the last act if it carried on. For unpaid wages, it is the date the pay was due.

The date you make the claim does not matter. Neither does the date you were told you were being dismissed.

What the law says

The Employment Rights Act 2025, Schedule 12, replaced “three months” with “six months” in the main tribunal time limits. The change came into force on 1 October 2026 (S.I. 2026/954, reg. 3). Regulation 4 and its Schedule set the date that decides whether the old or new limit applies to each claim.

• Unfair dismissal: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.111(2). Keyed to the date employment ended.
• Discrimination at work: Equality Act 2010, s.123(1)(a). Keyed to the date of the act, or the end of conduct that carried on over a period.
• Unpaid wages and deductions: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.23(2). Keyed to the pay date, or the last deduction in a series.
• Holiday pay owed: Working Time Regulations 1998, reg. 30. Keyed to the date the payment should have been made.
• Whistleblowing detriment: Employment Rights Act 1996, s.48(3). Keyed to the date of the act, or the last of a series of similar acts.

What stays the same

• Equal pay: six months beginning with the last day of the employment (Equality Act 2010, s.129). It was six months before 1 October 2026 and still is.
• ACAS early conciliation is still required before a claim, and still extends the deadline. It lasts up to 12 weeks.
• Late claims are still for the tribunal to decide. For unfair dismissal and wages, only if it was not reasonably practicable to claim in time. For discrimination, if it is just and equitable. Neither is an entitlement.

Two other limits are worth knowing because they are often confused with these. A statutory redundancy payment has to be claimed, in writing to the employer or by a tribunal claim, within six months beginning with the date your employment ended (Employment Rights Act 1996, s.164). If you believe you were dismissed for whistleblowing, an application for interim relief has to be made within seven days after your employment ended (s.128(2)).

Key dates and deadlines

Each deadline is the last day a claim can be made, before any ACAS extension.

A claim can be made on the deadline day itself. Where incidents or deductions might not count as one series, the safest date to work to is the deadline for the earliest one on its own.

The next change: 1 January 2027

For unfair dismissal, the qualifying period falls from two years to six months, and the cap on the compensatory award is removed, where the date employment ends is on or after 1 January 2027 (Employment Rights Act 2025, s.25; S.I. 2026/559). That applies even where notice was given before 1 January 2027.

What people in this situation usually do next

Most people check their own date first, then contact ACAS, because a claim can’t be made without an early conciliation certificate. Some settle through ACAS. Others go on to present a claim on form ET1, which is free to issue. People who were dismissed recently and believe it was for whistleblowing usually deal with the seven-day interim relief deadline first.