The six-month tribunal time limit: what employers need to do now
Updated: Oct 5
Advice from an HR consultancy in Harpenden and St Albans on how the longer employment tribunal deadline affects small employers, and what to put in place now.
On 1 October 2026, the deadline for bringing most employment tribunal claims went up from 3 months to 6.
For anything that happens from that date onwards, an employee has as long as 6 months afterwards to lodge a complaint against you.
For years, the shorter deadline worked quietly in employers' favour. Plenty of employees never made it in time, either because legal advice came too late or because the clock ran out while they were still trying to resolve matters internally.
Employers no longer have that cushion.
The government's own estimate is that the Employment Rights Act reforms will push tribunal claims up by 17%. In our view as HR consultants, the true increase will be considerably greater.
What the new time limit covers
The 6-month limit took effect on 1 October 2026 and covers most kinds of tribunal claim. Among others, these include:
Unfair dismissal
Discrimination
Whistleblowing
Harassment
Unlawful deductions from wages
Working time claims
It applies only where the act or dismissal happens on 1 October 2026 or later. Earlier events remain subject to the 3-month limit.
If a claim is about a series of linked acts, the longer limit applies as long as the final act in that series took place on or after 1 October.
Why day-to-day risk looks different now
Previously, once 3 months had gone by after a dismissal or incident with no claim, it was reasonable to assume none was coming.
With a 6-month limit, that assumption no longer holds.
Someone dismissed in October could file their claim in April. A grievance that starts in November could become a tribunal claim in May of the next year. Matters you considered closed can resurface months afterwards, this time with a solicitor involved.
The longer window also gives employees more opportunity to get legal advice and put together a well-prepared case. A claim built over several months is harder to defend than one rushed in to beat the old deadline.
What your HR processes need to include
Where your internal processes were already sound, the longer limit raises the stakes on obligations you already have. Where they were not, this is the point at which the gaps catch up with you.
You should have:
A written record of each conversation about discipline or performance, and of every grievance outcome
Disciplinary and grievance procedures in line with the Acas Code of Practice
Policies applied consistently to every employee
Probation reviews that genuinely take place and are documented
A clear paper trail of how each decision was reached, and the reasons for it
Nothing matters more than documentation when you are defending a tribunal claim. If, 6 months on, you cannot show what happened and the reasons for it, the paperwork alone could cost you the case. That really is how these claims tend to play out.
Look at your retention periods too. Correspondence and HR files have to be kept for longer than you may be keeping them at present. Evidence that no longer exists when a claim lands cannot help you.
Brief your managers
Managers make the daily calls on performance and conduct, and it is those calls that end up in front of a tribunal.
If they are making decisions about people without recording them properly, every one of those decisions is now riskier. Talk to them now about what has to change.
For more on this, read why your managers might be your biggest unfair dismissal risk and how a speak-up culture helps you avoid an employment tribunal.
HR support for employers in Harpenden and St Albans
Progressive HR Solutions is an HR consultancy based in Harpenden, supporting businesses across St Albans, Hertfordshire and London.
We review processes and documentation so your business reaches the standard a tribunal expects. That includes how you run disciplinaries and grievances, and the way you keep records.
If your processes are not yet up to the new time limit, contact us now. Putting this right before a claim arrives costs far less than doing so afterwards.
