The 6-Month Employment Tribunal Time Limit: What Changed on 1 October 2026

The employment tribunal time limit moved from 3 months to 6 months less 1 day for most claims on 1 October 2026. This guide is about that change: the instruments that made it, which rule applies to which dates, and what happens to claims that were already out of time. For the time limits themselves - claim by claim, when the clock starts, how the ACAS pause works and how to work out your own deadline - see the main employment tribunal time limits guide.

It is the most practically significant change in the Employment Rights Act 2025 for anyone considering a claim, because time limits end more claims than merits ever do. The change turns on one date. What decides your limit is when the event happened, not when you check. An event on or after 1 October 2026 gets 6 months less 1 day. An event before 1 October 2026 keeps 3 months less 1 day.

Law status - last updated 11 October 2026: Section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 October 2026 under S.I. 2026/954, made on 1 September 2026. Breach of contract and wrongful dismissal claims in the tribunal moved to 6 months on the same date under SI 2026/759. In both cases the longer limit applies only where the relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026.

What changed on 1 October 2026

Three instruments took effect on the same day.

S.I. 2026/954 brought section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 into force. Schedule 12 changes the time limit in around 19 enactments from three months to six, including section 111 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 for unfair dismissal, section 123 of the Equality Act 2010 for discrimination, and the unlawful deductions from wages provisions.

SI 2026/759 amends article 7 of the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994, the instrument that lets the tribunal hear contract claims. That covers breach of contract and wrongful dismissal claims in the employment tribunal.

SI 2026/758 makes the same three-to-six change in a set of regulations, including:

• Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000
• Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002
• Exclusivity Terms in Zero Hours Contracts (Redress) Regulations 2015 and the 2022 successor
• Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010
• Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004

Which limit applies to your dates

The "event" is the claim's trigger date, which the change did not touch. How to identify it for each claim type is covered in the employment tribunal time limits guide.

Either side of 1 October 2026

Two dismissals a month apart show how the cut-off works:

• Dismissal effective 15 September 2026 (before the change): the old rule applies, so ACAS must be notified by 14 December 2026. Checking the date after 1 October does not move it.
• Dismissal effective 15 October 2026 (after the change): the limit is 6 months less 1 day, so ACAS must be notified by 14 April 2027.

Where a series of discriminatory acts straddles the change, time runs from the last act in the series. If that last act was on or after 1 October 2026, the 6-month limit applies to the series. Whether acts really form one continuing series is for the tribunal to decide, so a series that only just crosses the date is the riskiest case to rely on.

In both examples the clock then pauses while ACAS Early Conciliation runs. The tribunal deadline calculator applies the right limit to the date you enter, and the time limits guide works through a full example with the ACAS pause.

Will the change revive a claim that is already out of time?

No. All three instruments are forward-looking.

Regulation 4 of S.I. 2026/954 says the Schedule 12 amendments "do not apply in any case where the relevant date occurs before 1st October 2026". SI 2026/759 applies only where the effective date of termination (or, where there is none, the last day worked) falls on or after 1 October 2026. SI 2026/758 does not apply "where the relevant date occurs before 1st October 2026".

So someone dismissed in August 2026 is still working to 3 months less 1 day, and a limit that expired before 1 October is not brought back to life. As the missed deadline guide explains, tribunals can extend time only where it was not reasonably practicable to claim in time for unfair dismissal, or where it is just and equitable for discrimination, and a mistaken belief about the date of a law change rarely satisfies either test.

What is not changing

• ACAS Early Conciliation remains compulsory. You still cannot lodge an ET1 without a certificate. What goes on the form itself is covered in the guide to writing your ET1.
• The stop-the-clock rule survives. Section 207B still pauses the deadline between notifying ACAS and the day you receive the certificate, and you still get at least one month from the certificate to file.
• Trigger dates are untouched. The effective date of termination for dismissal, the act complained of for discrimination, the last deduction in a series for wages.
• The extension discretions are unchanged. "Not reasonably practicable" and "just and equitable" remain the only routes to a late claim.
• Internal processes still do not pause the clock. A grievance or internal appeal has never stopped the tribunal time limit, and none of this changes that.

For the wider reform package, see the Employment Rights Act 2025 guide.

Key takeaway

A longer time limit is a real improvement, and it removes a trap that has ended a great many arguable claims on the calendar rather than the facts. But the longer limit follows the date of the event. For anything that happened before 1 October 2026 the limit is still 3 months less 1 day, and for anything on or after that date it is 6 months less 1 day, with ACAS notified inside the window in both cases. In similar situations, people who notify ACAS early keep the most options open, and can use the rest of the window to gather and organise their evidence.

_This article is legal information, not legal advice. It describes the law in England and Wales as it stood on the "last updated" date above; check legislation.gov.uk for any later changes._