For many years, employers have worked on the basis that most Employment Tribunal claims had to be brought within three months of the relevant event. That long-standing assumption has now changed.
As of today, 01 October 2026, significant reforms introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 have doubled the limitation period for many employment claims from three months to six months. This change has important practical implications for employers, not only in terms of defending claims but also in how long they retain evidence and employment records.
What Has Changed?
The new legislation extends the time limit for a wide range of employment claims, including:
- Unfair dismissal
- Discrimination claims
- Unlawful deductions from wages
- Working Time Regulations claims
- TUPE-related claims
- LDetriment claims
Claims that already had a six-month limitation period, such as equal pay and statutory redundancy payment claims, remain unchanged.
Not Every Claim Will Benefit from the New Rules
The extended six-month limitation period generally applies where the relevant act, omission or dismissal occurs on or after 1 October 2026.
Employers should therefore be mindful that claims arising from events before that date may still be subject to the previous three-month limitation period.
There is also a particular point to note in relation to discrimination claims and other allegations involving a “continuing act”. Where a claim relies on a series of connected incidents, the limitation period may run from the most recent event in the sequence, potentially bringing historical allegations back into scope for a potential claim.
Six Months May Actually Mean Much Longer
Although the headline change is an extension from three months to six months, in reality employers may not become aware of a Tribunal claim until considerably later.
This is because the ACAS Early Conciliation process pauses limitation periods for up to 12 weeks. In addition, further statutory extensions can apply once the Early Conciliation certificate is issued. By the time a claim is lodged, processed and served by the Tribunal, employers may not receive notification of proceedings until many months after the underlying workplace event occurred.
The practical reality is that employers may need to assume that litigation remains a possibility for close to a year after a dismissal, grievance outcome or other contentious workplace decision.
Why Employers Should Expect More Claims
The reality is that the time limit extension is likely to increase the number of claims reaching the Employment Tribunal.
Previously, some potential claimants missed the strict three-month deadline because they were absent due to ill-health, waiting for the outcome of an internal appeal, attempting to resolve matters through a grievance process, or simply unaware of the limitation period. Those individuals now have substantially more time to seek advice and commence proceedings.
A further risk is that employers may see better-prepared claims. Individuals will have more opportunity to obtain legal advice, gather supporting evidence and formulate their case before issuing proceedings.
The Hidden Risk: Document Retention
One of the most significant consequences for employers concerns document preservation.
Many organisations operate retention policies that were developed when the practical risk period for most Employment Tribunal claims was significantly shorter. Internal notes may be destroyed after appeals are exhausted, messaging platforms may automatically delete communications after a set period, and CCTV footage is often overwritten within weeks.
Those practices should now be reviewed.
Where an employer is involved in a dismissal, disciplinary process, grievance, redundancy exercise or any other decision that could realistically give rise to a claim, relevant evidence may need to be retained for considerably longer than before.
Without appropriate retention procedures, employers risk finding that key evidence has been deleted long before a claim is received, making it much harder to defend a claim effectively.
Expert Commentary
Gracie Coleman, Solicitor in the Employment Law team at Wolferstans Solicitors, said:
“While the extension of Employment Tribunal limitation period is intended to improve access to justice for employees, employers should not underestimate the practical impact of these changes. Businesses will need to retain evidence for longer, review document retention policies and recognise that workplace decisions could now be challenged many months after they were made. Organisations that prepare now will be in a far stronger position should a claim arise in the future.”
What Employers Should Do Now
Employers should take proactive steps to prepare for the new regime, including:
- Reviewing document retention and deletion policies.
- Assessing automatic deletion settings on email, messaging and collaboration platforms.
- Ensuring managers understand the importance of retaining notes relating to disciplinary, grievance, capability and redundancy processes.
- Preserving evidence for longer following dismissals and other contentious employment decisions.
- Seeking legal advice promptly when workplace disputes arise, rather than assuming a claim will quickly become time-barred.
Conclusion
The extension of Employment Tribunal limitation periods represents one of the most significant procedural changes to employment law in recent years.
For employers, the key message is simple: the window for potential litigation has increased substantially. Decisions made today may be scrutinised many months later, and organisations that fail to preserve relevant evidence may find themselves at a serious disadvantage when defending claims.
Now is the time to review your policies, retention practices and internal procedures to ensure they remain fit for purpose in this new employment law landscape. If you require assistance with this, our Employment Law team is always happy to help. Please feel free to contact us on employment@wolferstans.com to discuss how we can assist your business.