Written by Employment Tribunal limitation · 2026 transition
Employment Tribunal time limits are changing, but that does not mean every claimant now has six months to bring a claim. In 2026, the safe question is not “what have I heard is changing?” It is “which time limit applies to this claim, on these facts, on these dates?”
Publication snapshot
- Most Employment Tribunal claims are still treated as three months minus one day under current Acas guidance.
- Some claims already have six months minus one day.
- Interim relief can require action within seven days.
- The general six-month reform should not be assumed unless commencement and transitional provisions confirm it.
Why this article follows the 2026 Employment Tribunal update
That matters because tribunal limitation is unforgiving. A claimant who waits for a future reform may find that the existing three-month rule still applies. A respondent who assumes a claim must be late may also be wrong if early conciliation, claim type, continuing conduct, interim relief, or a later commencement rule changes the calculation.
Legal Lens has already explained that Employment Tribunal law in 2026 is best understood as a phased reform programme, not a single commencement event. Some changes are already in force. Some are expected later in 2026. Ordinary unfair dismissal reform is principally a 2027 issue. Limitation, commencement and transitional provisions remain case-specific.
This article develops that warning. It focuses on one practical problem: how claimants, advisers and respondents should approach Employment Tribunal time limits during the 2026 transition.
The current position: most claims are still three months minus one day
Acas’s current guidance says there are strict time limits for making an Employment Tribunal claim. It says the first step is usually to notify Acas, and that this should be done within the applicable time limit.
The current Acas position is that most claims are subject to three months minus one day, while a few claims are subject to six months minus one day.
That means the headline “six months” is not yet a safe working assumption for most claims. If the claim is unfair dismissal, discrimination, wages, whistleblowing detriment, holiday pay, or a mixed claim, the exact claim type and date still matter.
Urgent exception: interim relief can be seven days
Some urgent applications have much shorter time limits. Acas warns that an application for interim relief must be made within seven days of the effective date of termination. In almost all cases, Acas explains that this means either the last day of the employee’s notice period, or the date of dismissal where no notice was given.
Interim relief is only available in specific automatically unfair dismissal situations. Acas and GOV.UK identify examples including dismissal because of whistleblowing, trade union activities, and certain worker-representative activities.
What is expected to change in 2026
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the reform framework. Acas says the Employment Rights Act 2025 became law on 18 December 2025, that employment law changes will happen in 2026 and 2027, and that most changes have not yet happened.
For Employment Tribunal time limits, the general statutory reform is contained in section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. Those provisions are intended to increase many Employment Tribunal claim periods from three months to six months.
However, enactment is not the same as commencement. Our legal research shows that section 152 and Schedule 12 had not commenced by 27 May 2026. They were not brought into force automatically by the Act, and the Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement materials reviewed did not bring them into force.
S.I. 2026/3 is The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, 2026 No. 3 (C. 2), made on 5 January 2026. It contains commencement, transitional and saving provisions, but on the materials reviewed it does not commence section 152 or Schedule 12. Later Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement materials identified in our research, including S.I. 2026/323 and S.I. 2026/373, also do not commence section 152 or Schedule 12.
Acas and GOV.UK do not use exactly the same wording
Acas currently says Employment Tribunal time limits will increase to six months for all claims, and that this will change in October 2026.
GOV.UK’s implementation timetable uses more cautious wording. It says the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms will be delivered in phases, timings will be kept under review, and Employment Tribunal time limits will take effect no earlier than October 2026.
That is not a practical contradiction. It is a warning about precision. Acas explains the expected change. GOV.UK confirms that the implementation timetable remains phased and subject to review. The statutory commencement position still has to be checked.
The transitional trap
The dangerous mistake is to ask only: “Will Employment Tribunal time limits become six months?”
This is why claim identification matters. A new statutory complaint route may have its own time limit. A pre-existing claim may still depend on whether the relevant amendment has been commenced. The general three-month to six-month reform for many existing Employment Tribunal claims is contained in section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, but the uploaded vLex materials state that those provisions had not commenced by 27 May 2026.
The phrase “for specified purposes” should not be treated as full commencement. In the S.I. 2026/3 context, our research confirms it means limited commencement for identified purposes, mainly preparatory functions such as consultation and regulation-making. It does not mean that a provision is fully operative for all substantive purposes.
Until a relevant commencement instrument brings section 152 and Schedule 12 into force, and until any saving or transitional provisions are checked, a claimant should not assume that the general six-month limit applies merely because the Employment Rights Act 2025 contains the reform.
How to calculate limitation in practice
Separate the claims
Do not treat the dispute as one general grievance. Identify each legal claim separately. A dismissal may involve unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing detriment, notice pay, holiday pay and unpaid wages. Each claim needs its own limitation check.
Identify the trigger date
For unfair dismissal, start with the effective date of termination. For wages, identify the date of incorrect payment. For discrimination, identify the act or the last act relied on. For whistleblowing and detriment claims, identify the act complained of and whether there is more than one act.
Calculate the ordinary deadline before Acas early conciliation
Under the current general rule, most claims are three months minus one day. Some claims are already six months minus one day. Acas gives the example of a wrong payment on 1 May: add three calendar months and take off one day, giving a deadline of 11:59pm on 31 July.
Insert Acas early conciliation
Record the date Acas was notified, the date the early conciliation certificate was issued, the certificate number and the adjusted ET1 deadline. Do not treat Acas early conciliation as a general licence to wait. Acas says time is paused when Acas is notified, but only where the notification is made within the Employment Tribunal time limit.
Check whether any extension argument is needed
If the claim is late, the Tribunal may still have power to accept it in some circumstances. The applicable test depends on the claim. Unfair dismissal commonly raises the “not reasonably practicable” test. Discrimination claims raise the “just and equitable” test under Equality Act 2010, section 123.
What does not stop time
A common mistake is to wait for the employer’s process to finish. That can be dangerous.
Acas says that going through grievance, disciplinary or appeal procedures does not change the time limit. If those procedures take a long time, the worker still needs to notify Acas before the time limit runs out.
The same caution applies to settlement discussions, document requests, subject access requests, internal investigations, occupational health processes and informal correspondence. They may matter evidentially or strategically, but they do not automatically stop the tribunal limitation clock.
Worked examples
These examples are deliberately conservative. They show the questions to ask, not the final deadline for any real claim.
Example 1: dismissal before October 2026
A worker is dismissed on 15 September 2026. They read that tribunal time limits are changing to six months in October 2026. The safe approach is not to assume the six-month rule applies. The first calculation should still be made under the current unfair dismissal limitation framework, using the effective date of termination, Acas notification date and early conciliation certificate date. The October reform should be checked only against the final commencement, saving and transitional provisions.
Example 2: unpaid wages spanning September and October 2026
A worker says they were underpaid on 30 September 2026 and again on 31 October 2026. The dates may matter separately. A wages claim can involve individual deductions, a series of deductions, or both. The worker should not assume that one later payment date automatically rescues an earlier underpayment. The claim type, payment dates, statutory route and any series argument need separate analysis.
Example 3: discrimination before and after October 2026
A worker says they experienced discriminatory comments in August 2026, September 2026 and November 2026. The issue may be whether there was conduct extending over a period, whether the November incident is part of the same continuing conduct, or whether earlier matters require a just-and-equitable extension argument. The future six-month reform does not remove the need to identify the acts relied on and the legal basis of the claim.
Example 4: Acas notified after an internal appeal
A worker waits for an appeal outcome, then notifies Acas after the ordinary time limit has expired. Acas guidance is clear that internal grievance, disciplinary and appeal procedures do not change the time limit. The worker may still present a claim and seek an extension, but that is a risk position, not a safe filing strategy.
Example 5: possible whistleblowing dismissal and interim relief
A worker is dismissed without notice and believes the dismissal was because they made a protected disclosure. This may raise two separate timing issues: the ordinary unfair dismissal/whistleblowing claim timetable, and the much shorter interim-relief timetable. Acas says an interim-relief application must be made within seven days of the effective date of termination. That is an urgent specialist issue.
Practical checklist before you rely on any deadline
Claim and date checks
- What legal claims are being considered?
- What is the act, omission or decision complained of?
- If dismissed, what is the effective date of termination?
- If wages or holiday pay are involved, what were the payment dates?
- If discrimination is alleged, what is the last act relied on?
- Is the complaint about one act, repeated acts, or conduct extending over a period?
Procedure and risk checks
- Is interim relief potentially relevant?
- If interim relief may be relevant, has the seven-day deadline been checked?
- When was Acas notified?
- Was Acas notification required for every claim being pursued?
- When did Acas issue the early conciliation certificate?
- What is the ET1 deadline under the current rules?
Six-month reform checks
- Does the claim already fall into a six-month category?
- Is the claimant relying on the expected October 2026 reform?
- If so, what commencement instrument supports that reliance?
- Have any saving or transitional provisions been checked?
- Is an extension argument needed?
- Has the ET1 actually been presented and receipt retained?
For claimants, advisers and respondents
For claimants and advisers
The safest approach is to act as though the shortest plausible deadline applies until the position is verified. Waiting for reform is not a strategy.
Do not wait for a grievance, appeal, settlement discussion or subject access request before notifying Acas if limitation is approaching. Preserve the claim first, then continue the evidence and settlement work.
If interim relief may be relevant, treat the matter as urgent. The seven-day time limit is materially different from the ordinary tribunal claim timetable.
For employers and respondents
Do not assume a claim is late merely because more than three months have passed. Check early conciliation dates, claim type, alleged continuing conduct, series arguments and any future commencement provisions.
Also be careful in correspondence. A limitation defence may be available, but it should not be asserted without checking the dates and the claim type.
Conclusion
Employment Tribunal time limits are in transition. The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains the statutory framework for increasing many Employment Tribunal time limits from three months to six months. The general reform is contained in section 152 and Schedule 12.
But on the researched materials, section 152 and Schedule 12 had not commenced by 27 May 2026. S.I. 2026/3 commenced other provisions and contained transitional and saving provisions, but not for section 152 or Schedule 12 on the materials reviewed. Later Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement materials identified in the research, including S.I. 2026/323 and S.I. 2026/373, also did not commence them.
The same-day source check for this article did not identify any later Employment Rights Act 2025 commencement instrument bringing section 152 or Schedule 12 into force. The general six-month reform has not been shown to be in force as at the check date.
Source note
Checked: 27 May 2026.
- This article reflects official public guidance from Acas, GOV.UK, UK Parliament and HMCTS/GOV.UK tribunal guidance, together with legal research supplied for statutory verification.
- Acas’s current Employment Tribunal time-limit guidance says most claims are subject to three months minus one day, with six months minus one day applying to a few claims, including statutory redundancy pay, equal pay, strike-related unfair dismissal, certain trade union claims and certain armed-forces claims.
- Acas’s Employment Rights Act 2025 page says the Act became law on 18 December 2025, that changes will happen in 2026 and 2027, and that most changes have not yet happened. It also says Employment Tribunal time limits will increase to six months for all claims in October 2026.
- GOV.UK’s implementation timetable says Employment Rights Act reforms will be delivered in phases, timings will be kept under review, and Employment Tribunal time limits will take effect no earlier than October 2026.
- GOV.UK’s general Employment Tribunal claim guide still says a claimant usually has to make a claim within three months of employment ending or the problem happening, and separately flags the seven-day interim-relief route and the Northern Ireland distinction.
- The research material identifies section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 as the general reform provisions intended to increase many Employment Tribunal time limits from three months to six months. It also states that, on the materials reviewed, section 152 and Schedule 12 had not commenced by 27 May 2026.
- S.I. 2026/3 is The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, 2026 No. 3 (C. 2), made on 5 January 2026. It contains transitional and saving provisions, but the uploaded materials do not show those provisions applying to section 152 or Schedule 12.
- Later research confirms that S.I. 2026/323 did not show section 152 or Schedule 12 as already commenced or newly commenced by that instrument.
Legal disclaimer
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Limitation, jurisdiction, Acas early conciliation, interim relief, continuing acts, series of deductions, extension applications, privilege, costs exposure, settlement terms and undertakings depend on the facts and dates of each case. If a deadline may be close, obtain case-specific advice urgently.