A significant change to Employment Tribunal rules takes effect today, 1 October 2026, with the time limit for bringing most claims increasing from three months to six months.
Introduced under the Employment Rights Act 2025, the change applies to a wide range of claims and means employers could potentially be notified of proceedings considerably longer after the event in question.
The new six-month limit generally applies where the relevant act, omission or dismissal takes place on or after 1 October 2026. Where it happened before that date, the previous three-month limit will continue to apply.
Where a complaint involves a series of similar acts or failures, however, the date of the last act or failure is relevant when determining which time limit applies.
Why does this matter for employers?
The longer claims window has implications beyond the Employment Tribunal process itself.
Employers should consider whether their current document and data retention policies allow relevant evidence to be preserved for long enough. This could include emails and internal messages, managers’ notes, disciplinary and grievance documentation and other records relating to employment decisions.
Evidence that might previously have been routinely deleted within a few months could now be relevant to proceedings brought much later.
Employers should therefore review retention arrangements and ensure managers know that records relating to dismissals, grievances, discrimination complaints and other disputed decisions should be properly retained.
The additional time may also give employers and employees greater opportunity to resolve disputes through internal grievance and appeal procedures or Acas early conciliation before proceedings are issued.
The team at Swift People Services can help employers understand the changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 and review their policies and procedures in preparation for the new employment law landscape.