Employment Tribunal Time Limits Double: What Does The New Six-Month Limitation Period Mean For Employers And Employees?

From 1 October 2026, one of the most significant procedural changes to Employment Tribunal litigation in decades has come into force.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 has doubled the limitation period for many Employment Tribunal (“ET”) claims from three months to six months. While this appears to be a straightforward extension of time, there are practical consequences for both employers and employees.

What Has Changed?

For acts, omissions, dismissals and other actionable events occurring on or after 1 October 2026, the time limit for bringing many ET claims has increased to six months. This includes claims relating to:

• Unfair dismissal;
• Discrimination;
• Victimisation and detriment claims;
• Unlawful deductions from wages;
• Working Time Regulations claims; and
• TUPE-related complaints.

Certain claims, including equal pay and statutory redundancy payment claims, were already subject to a six-month limitation period and remain unchanged.

Importantly, the new time limits do not apply retrospectively. Claims arising from dismissals or acts occurring before 1 October 2026 will still have the previous three-month limitation period.

Why Is This Significant?

The ET limitation periods are notoriously strict. ETs frequently reject claims that are lodged even slightly out of time unless exceptional circumstances apply.

The extension to six months fundamentally changes the litigation landscape. Employees now have substantially more time to take advice and decide whether to even pursue a claim, while employers will need to retain evidence and remain prepared for potential litigation for much longer than before.

The Advantages for Employees

• Greater access to justice – The extended limitation means that more employees may have a more realistic opportunity to bring a claim if before they were prevented from doing so because of dealing with dismissal, ill health, workplace stress, or ongoing internal appeal processes so potentially meritorious claims may no longer be lost due to procedural time limits;
• Improved quality of claims – A long limitation period allows employees to seek to secure funding, gather documentary evidence, complete internal processes and even obtain legal advice. All of those will support potential claimant in being able to articulate and present claims that are better prepared and more focused; and
• Enhanced opportunity for settlement – The longer timeframe may facilitate more constructive discussions for settlement, especially where sometimes much of the ACAS Early Conciliation period is eaten up by waiting through the process due to ACAS being very overburdened.

The Disadvantages for Employees

• Longer time limitation may inevitably lead to more increased burdens on the ETs which could result in longer waiting times for resolutions on top of the existing emotional distress of considering the matter for a longer period before acting;
• Memories fade – the long period beyond the incident(s) complained of the more risk there is that witness’ memories may deteriorate over time even where documents may still exist. This may lead employees to having a harder time proving disputed conversations or interactions; and
• Tactical delays – where employees may choose to wait until the end of the limitation period to commence proceedings, this could delay settlement discussions and the ability to secure relevant evidence.

The Advantages for Employers

• More time for internal resolution – The extension may encourage greater use of workplace processes before litigation as employees are likely to feel less pressured to issue a claim while a grievance, appeal or settlement discussion is still ongoing. This could increase the prospects of resolving disputes internally and preserving employment relationships;
• Better prepared cases – Similarly to the advantage to employees, this will impact on employers too as they may find that better prepared claims are easier to assess and settle appropriately. Early identification of the real issues can often reduce legal costs and procedural disputes; and
• Improved settlement opportunities – The longer timeframe may support more meaningful negotiations, particularly where parties are exploring resolutions that have no monetary value like reasonable adjustments or mediation.

The Disadvantages for Employers

• Increased litigation risk – Many employers can expect to see more claims as employees who may have previously failed to commence proceedings within three months will now have considerably longer to do so;
• Extended period of uncertainty – The above can also lead to longer waiting period. Historically, employers often took comfort if no claim had been received several months after termination but this will largely disappear;
• Evidence retention challenges – The most significant practical issue may be record keeping and witness retention and recollection as retention practices may now be misaligned with the increased timeline and longer waiting runs the risks of potential witnesses moving on in the meantime or recollection becoming less reliable due to the passing of time.

What Should Employers Do Now?

Employers should not wait for a claim before reviewing their procedures, especially where risks have already been identified.

Practical steps include:

1. Reviewing document retention and destruction policies;
2. Assessing the retention periods applied to emails, Teams messages and HR records and disciplinary, redundancy and grievance records; and
3. Training managers on note-taking and evidential preservation.

Organisations that fail to adapt may find that potentially critical evidence has been deleted long before a claim arrives.

Looking Ahead

The extension of Tribunal limitation periods represents a significant shift in employment law.

Whether the reform ultimately reduces disputes through enhanced internal resolution or simply increases ET claims remains to be seen. What is already clear is that employers can no longer assume that a matter is safely behind them just a few months after the event.