Employment Tribunal Claim UK: Process, Deadlines & 2026 Changes

At a glance

• Time limit (current law): three months less one day from the date of the act complained of — for example, the dismissal date or the last discriminatory act — under section 111 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and equivalent provisions for other claim types.
• Time limit (incoming change): the Employment Rights Act 2025 extends most tribunal deadlines to six months, for claims where the relevant date falls on or after 1 October 2026. Breach of contract claims are also extended to six months, under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 2026, using the same 1 October 2026 trigger date.
• ACAS Early Conciliation: mandatory in almost all cases before a claim can be accepted, with narrow exceptions. The conciliation window is up to 12 weeks for notifications made on or after 1 December 2025 (previously up to 6 weeks).
• Fees: there is no fee to bring a claim to an employment tribunal. A reintroduction of fees was consulted on, but the government confirmed in October 2025 that fees will not return.
• The claim form: the ET1, which must be submitted with your ACAS Early Conciliation certificate number for each respondent (with limited exceptions).
• The response: employers normally have 28 days to respond using the ET3 form.
• Typical process: notify ACAS → Early Conciliation → certificate → submit ET1 → employer submits ET3 → case management → final hearing → decision, usually published on GOV.UK.

Overview

An employment tribunal is an independent judicial body that hears disputes between workers and employers across England, Wales and Scotland. Unlike the county court or High Court, tribunals are designed to be more accessible, with less formal procedures and judges who specialise in employment law.

Claims typically cover issues such as unfair dismissal, redundancy payments, discrimination on protected grounds, unlawful deductions from wages, breach of contract on termination, and whistleblowing detriment. Before a claim can be filed with the tribunal, the claimant must in almost all cases first notify ACAS and go through Early Conciliation — a free service aimed at settling the dispute without litigation.

If that does not produce an agreement, ACAS issues a certificate containing a unique reference number, which you need in order to submit the ET1 claim form. Strict time limits apply — currently three months less one day from the act complained of, though this is due to become six months for most claims from 1 October 2026 (see below). Getting the procedural basics right matters: GOV.UK's own guidance makes clear that a claim filed late, or without the required Early Conciliation certificate, is at serious risk of being rejected.

The 2026 change to time limits — what is actually changing

The three-months-less-one-day deadline has applied to most tribunal claims for decades, and it remains the law today. That is changing under the Employment Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in 2025. The Act extends the standard time limit for bringing most tribunal claims from three months to six months, for claims where the relevant date — broadly, the date of dismissal, the discriminatory act, or the other matter complained of — falls on or after 1 October 2026.

A few points worth being precise about:

• Breach of contract claims are also extended. This is done by a separate but parallel instrument — the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 2026, rather than the Employment Rights Act 2025 itself — which substitutes "six" for "three" in the 1994 Order's jurisdiction provisions, using the same 1 October 2026 effective-date-of-termination trigger.
• This does not change the Early Conciliation rules, though the Early Conciliation window itself has separately been extended (from up to 6 weeks to up to 12 weeks, for notifications made from 1 December 2025) under related regulations.
• The change applies going forward, not retrospectively. If your relevant date falls before 1 October 2026, the current three-months-less-one-day limit still applies to you.

Because the change turns on when your dismissal or the act you are complaining about happened, not when you read this page, always check the current position on GOV.UK or against the primary legislation before relying on either the old or the new deadline for your own claim.

Key steps

1. Raise the issue internally first. Before anything reaches a tribunal, most workplace disputes are expected to go through the employer's own grievance or appeal procedures. Speaking directly to a manager, HR, or following the written grievance process can sometimes resolve matters, and a tribunal may take a dim view of a failure to engage with internal processes first.
2. Notify ACAS and begin Early Conciliation. Contacting ACAS is a mandatory step before lodging a claim in almost every case. You notify ACAS online or by phone, and a conciliator will speak with both sides to see whether a settlement can be reached during the conciliation window — currently up to 12 weeks for notifications made from 1 December 2025 onward.
3. Obtain the Early Conciliation certificate. If conciliation does not resolve the dispute, ACAS issues a certificate with a unique reference number for each respondent. You cannot submit a tribunal claim without this number in the ordinary run of cases. GOV.UK confirms that once you receive the certificate you will have at least one month left to make your claim — keep the certificate safe and check the dates carefully, as they affect your deadline.
4. Submit the ET1 claim form to the tribunal. The ET1 is the form used to start a claim. You can file it online through the GOV.UK employment tribunals service or send a paper form by post. You need to set out the facts clearly, identify the respondent accurately using details such as those in your contract or payslips, and specify which legal claims you are bringing. Incomplete or unclear claims can be rejected or delayed.
5. The employer responds with an ET3. The respondent normally has 28 days to file its response using the ET3 form, though an extension can be requested from the tribunal.
6. Case management and preparation. Once the ET3 is filed, the tribunal usually issues a case management order (sometimes called "directions") setting a timetable for disclosure of documents, exchange of witness statements, and preparation of the hearing bundle. More complex cases may have a preliminary hearing first. ACAS also typically receives both the ET1 and ET3 at this stage and can continue trying to help the parties settle without a hearing.
7. The final hearing. You will normally get at least 14 days' notice of the hearing date, which may take place by phone, video, or in person depending on what the tribunal decides. Both sides present their evidence, witnesses may be questioned, and the tribunal — an employment judge, sometimes sitting with two other members — decides the outcome. A written decision usually follows within days or weeks, and many are published on GOV.UK.

What it costs — and why fees have been in the news

There is currently no fee to bring a claim to an employment tribunal in England, Wales or Scotland. This follows the Supreme Court's 2017 decision striking down an earlier fee regime, and GOV.UK's current guidance confirms there is still no fee to make a claim.

Fees have, however, been actively under discussion. A Ministry of Justice consultation considered reintroducing a modest fee to issue a tribunal claim, and reports through 2025 suggested the government was not ruling this out. That question was resolved in October 2025, when the government confirmed employment tribunals would remain free to use, on the basis that access to justice at work should not depend on a claimant's means. Because this has moved before, it is worth checking GOV.UK for the current position before relying on this page if a meaningful amount of time has passed since you are reading it.

You may still be liable for your own costs along the way — for example, witness expenses — and in limited circumstances a tribunal can order you to pay the other side's costs if it decides you acted unreasonably in how you brought or conducted the claim.

What a tribunal can award if you win

Remedies depend on the type of claim:

• Unfair dismissal typically attracts a basic award (calculated by reference to age, length of service and a capped weekly pay figure) and a compensatory award reflecting your actual financial loss. Both figures are uprated each April; as of April 2026 the compensatory award cap is £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay, whichever is lower. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, this cap is expected to be abolished for dismissals from 1 January 2027, alongside a reduction in the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims from two years to six months — this is a forward-looking change, so treat the 2027 date as provisional pending the government's final implementation timetable.
• Discrimination claims carry no statutory cap on compensation and can include an award for injury to feelings, in addition to financial loss.
• Other remedies include reinstatement, re-engagement, declarations, and orders addressing the effects of unlawful treatment.

A tribunal will generally only award what has been properly claimed and evidenced — which is why a clear schedule of loss, and accurate supporting evidence, matters as much as winning the underlying point.

If the employer does not pay

If you win and the employer does not pay voluntarily, GOV.UK sets out several enforcement routes: contacting the employer directly to ask why, applying for a penalty enforcement notice (which can lead to the employer being fined and named online by the government if it does not pay within 28 days of a warning notice), and asking a court to enforce payment — including a Fast Track scheme using a high court enforcement officer in England and Wales. These routes carry their own modest administrative fees, which are added to the debt owed to you, and are separate from any tribunal issue fee (there being none).

This guide provides general information about bringing an employment tribunal claim in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific situation — particularly given the time-limit change described above, getting your dates right matters more than almost anything else in this process. The position described was accurate as at July 2026 and is subject to change, including the commencement of further Employment Rights Act 2025 provisions — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the current position before acting.

Last reviewed: July 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: January 2027 or on the commencement of the Employment Rights Act 2025 time-limit provisions, whichever is sooner.