How to Fill In Your ET1 Employment Tribunal Claim Form

The ET1 is the form that starts an employment tribunal claim. It is your first chance to set out your case - and how it reads sets the tone for everything that follows. A well-organised, factual ET1 form signals to the tribunal that your case is serious and well-prepared; a vague or muddled one creates doubt before anyone has read a single document.

What is the ET1 form?

The ET1 (the "Claim Form") is the document filed with the employment tribunal to begin proceedings against your employer. It asks for details about you, your employer, the employment, the nature of the complaint and what you want as a remedy. You file it online via the GOV.UK employment tribunal service.

You cannot file an ET1 without an ACAS Early Conciliation certificate reference number - see our ACAS Early Conciliation guide for that step. There are no tribunal fees: filing the ET1 is free.

How do you name the respondent correctly?

Section 2 asks for your employer's full legal name and address. This is the part inexperienced claimants get wrong most often, and getting it wrong can delay the case or, in rare situations, undermine it.

The respondent must be the legal entity that employed you, not just the brand on the building or the website. Check the registered entity on Companies House, then cross-check it against the name and address on your contract and payslips. Trading names are not enough on their own. If your employer trades under a different name, list the legal entity first and the trading name in brackets - for example, "Acme Holdings Ltd (trading as Acme)".

A few common pitfalls:

• Group companies. Large employers often have several related companies. The one named on your payslip is usually the employer, but check the contract too. Naming the wrong company in the group is a frequent cause of delay.
• The business has changed hands. If your employer was bought, merged, or went into administration, the correct legal entity may have changed. Use the most recent documents.
• Individual respondents. In discrimination claims under the Equality Act 2010, individuals - such as a manager or colleague who did the discriminating - can be personally liable as well as the employer. You can name them as additional respondents. You usually need a separate ACAS certificate for each respondent.

How do you write the claim narrative?

Section 5 is the most important part of the form. You describe what happened and why it was unlawful. The strongest narratives:

• Are chronological - tell the story in order, with dates
• Are factual - what was said, by whom, on what date; not how it made you feel
• Are specific - name the individuals involved, reference documents, quote short extracts
• State the legal basis - name the law: unfair dismissal under Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and so on
• Are concise - aim for 2 to 4 pages in the form, with a separate document attached for complex cases

Avoid emotional adjectives and rhetorical questions. Tribunals respond to facts.

A short worked example

Here is the difference in practice. Instead of "My manager made my life a misery and treated me appallingly for months until I couldn't take it any more", a tribunal-ready paragraph reads:

On 3 February 2026 I told my line manager, Jane Smith, that I was pregnant. From 10 February 2026 I was removed from the two client accounts I had managed for three years and given only administrative tasks. On 24 February 2026, in a one-to-one recorded in the meeting notes, Ms Smith said the change was "because of the baby". On 11 March 2026 I was selected for redundancy; I was the only person in my team selected. I say this treatment was discrimination because of pregnancy and maternity, contrary to the Equality Act 2010.

Notice what it does: it is dated, it names the person, it quotes the load-bearing words, it points to a document (the meeting notes), and it names the legal basis in one sentence. No emotion, no argument - just the facts that, if proved, make out the claim.

How do you state the remedy you are seeking?

Section 6 asks what outcome you want. For most people this is compensation. You can also ask for reinstatement (getting your old job back) or re-engagement (a comparable job), but tribunals award these rarely.

You do not need a precise calculation at this stage, but give a rough estimate of your financial losses so the tribunal understands the scale of the claim. A one-line schedule of loss preview helps:

You will refine this into a full schedule of loss later in the case. For how compensation is actually built up - the week's pay cap of £751, the basic award, and the unfair dismissal compensatory cap (£123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay if lower, from April 2026, where employment ends before 1 January 2027; the cap is removed where it ends on or after that date) - see our employment tribunal compensation guide rather than trying to fit it all into the form.

What are the common mistakes to avoid?

• Wrong respondent name - using the trading name only, or naming the wrong group company, can delay or undermine the claim
• Vague claim details - "I was treated unfairly" is not enough; the tribunal needs specific dates, conduct and people
• Missing the legal basis - name the statute and the section if you can
• Emotional language - focus on conduct and consequences, not adjectives
• Forgetting to sign and date - obvious, but it happens
• Filing without your deadline in mind - the ACAS step must be done in time, and the ET1 itself must follow within the post-certificate window

What are the deadlines?

The basic time limit for most employment tribunal claims is 6 months less 1 day from the act complained of (for unfair dismissal, the effective date of termination) where it happened on or after 1 October 2026, and 3 months less 1 day where it happened before. Before you file the ET1 you must notify ACAS Early Conciliation, which pauses the clock: it can run for up to 12 weeks, and after you get the certificate you have whatever time was left on your original deadline, or one month from the day you receive the certificate, whichever is longer.

The 6-month limit came into force on 1 October 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025, s.152; S.I. 2026/954). It applies by the date of the event, not the date you file: an earlier event keeps the 3-month limit.

Get the timing exactly right with our employment tribunal deadlines guide, and work out your own date with the free tribunal deadline calculator. Missing the deadline almost always bars the claim.

What happens after you submit?

The tribunal sends a copy of your ET1 to the respondent, who has 28 days to file an ET3 Response Form setting out their defence. After that:

• Initial consideration. A judge reads the ET1 and ET3 on the papers to confirm the tribunal has jurisdiction and the claim has reasonable prospects.
• Case-management orders. The tribunal sets a timetable - dates for disclosure of documents, exchange of witness statements, and preparing the hearing bundle.
• Preliminary hearings. Some cases have a preliminary hearing to sort out procedural issues (for example, whether a claim was in time, or to clarify the issues) before the full hearing.

For a walkthrough of the final hearing itself, see our what happens at an employment tribunal hearing guide.

Can you amend a claim after filing?

Sometimes. If you realise you have left out a claim or a key fact, you can apply to the tribunal to amend your ET1. The tribunal weighs up factors including how significant the change is, whether it is in time, and the balance of hardship to each side. Minor corrections are usually allowed; adding a substantial new claim out of time is harder. It is always better to get the ET1 right first time than to rely on amending later.

Key takeaway

The ET1 is the foundation of your whole case. Name the right legal entity, tell the story in dated, factual order, name the law, and file within your deadline. If you are going to run the case yourself from here, our tribunal without a solicitor guide walks through what to expect next.