Qualifying Period for Statutory Claims.

The time limit for bringing employment tribunal claims has been extended from three months to six months where the act, omission or dismissal occurs on or after 1 October 2026.

If the claim relates to a series of related acts, if the last of them is on or after 1 October, the extended time limit will apply.

For the avoidance of doubt, claims founded on an act, omission or dismissal that occurred before 1 October 2026 remain subject to a three-month limitation period.

Acas early conciliation (a necessary precursor to tribunal proceedings) continues to stop the clock on limitation periods for up to twelve weeks. Further, if the normal time limit would have expired during early conciliation or up to one month after the end of it, the limitation period is extended to one month after the early conciliation certificate is issued – which means that limitation periods can extend to approaching 10 months.

The tribunal can take several weeks to send the claim form to the employer, so it could be pushing a year from an act, omission or dismissal before an employer finds out that it is to face a claim.

Therefore, from 1 October the safe destruction point for any information or data connected to a dismissal, or a grievance or otherwise a contested decision, will be not less than a year, and taking into consideration that the issuing of notices of claim can be significantly delayed for a number of reasons, 18 months would be prudent.

Some disputes might be resolved within the extended limitation period without proceedings being commenced, when a shorter limitation period would have caused a claim to be submitted. However, overall, there are bound to be more claims, including because fewer employees will miss the window for bringing a claim because of such things as illness, waiting to conclude a grievance process or an appeal against dismissal, or otherwise due to initially being ignorant of the limitation rules.