Employment Tribunal
Claims

Employment Tribunal Claims Procedure

The employment tribunal claims procedure is governed by the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024, which came into force on 6 January 2025.

Time Limits For Employment Tribunal Claims

The time limits for bringing most Employment Tribunal claims increased from 3 months to 6 months on 1 October 2026. The applicable time limit depends on the type of claim and when the relevant event occurred.

• Dismissal & discrimination claims – 6 months less one day where the relevant date falls on or after 1 October 2026. Where the relevant date falls before 1 October 2026, the previous time limit of 3 months less one day continues to apply. For unfair dismissal, the relevant date is the effective date of termination. For discrimination, it is the date of the act complained of or, where conduct extends over a period, the end of that period.
• Equal pay and statutory redundancy payment claims – 6 months less one day (unchanged).
• Contractual redundancy payment claims – Where pursued as Employment Tribunal breach of contract claims in England and Wales, 6 months less one day where employment terminated on or after 1 October 2026. Where employment terminated before 1 October 2026, the previous time limit of 3 months less one day continues to apply. In Scotland, the time limit remains 3 months less one day. The extension to 6 months less one day is scheduled to apply where employment terminates on or after 9 November 2026, subject to final approval of the relevant legislation.

Employment Tribunal Claims Procedure

• Claim form (known as “ET1”) lodged by Claimant to commence tribunal proceedings
• Respondent has 28 days to file a response (known as “ET3”). Should they fail to do so or the response be inadequate, then the tribunal will award “Judgment in Default”.
• Directions set down by tribunal (e.g. document exchange, exchange of witness statements, etc). A preliminary hearing may be held prior to setting down directions. This enables the tribunal to discuss what directions it should make with the parties. On occasions, the parties may even agree upon directions between themselves. They would then write to tribunal requesting that it makes a directions order in those terms
• Should a preliminary matter need addressing or further directions need setting down prior to the full hearing, the tribunal may schedule the matter for a preliminary hearing to deal with that issue.
• Full hearing – normally heard by either a judge alone or in some cases a panel of 3. A panel of 3 consists of a judge and 2 lay or “wing” members. The lay members would be one from an employer background, and the other from an employee background. The hearing itself usually follows the following course for each person giving evidence. It begins with the examination in chief in which the statements taken as read. This is followed by cross examination, and then re-examination. Once everyone has given evidence, each side then delivers its closing submissions. The tribunal’s decision can be unanimous or by majority. Where by majority, the judge has the casting vote should it be required. When delivering its decision, the tribunal usually provides oral reasons at the hearing. Written reasons can be requested by either party at the hearing or within 14 days of the date the Judgment was sent out

Reconsideration and Appeals

An Employment Tribunal may reconsider a judgment where it is necessary in the interests of justice to do so, for example, where a significant error has occurred or relevant new evidence becomes available. An application for reconsideration must normally be made in writing, explaining why reconsideration is necessary, within 14 days of the judgment being sent to the parties, or within 14 days of any separately issued written summary or full reasons, whichever is later.

Appeals against Employment Tribunal judgments and orders can be made to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), but only on a point of law. For judgments made on or after 2 March 2026, an appeal must normally be lodged within 42 days of the date on which the written record of the judgment was sent to the parties. However, where written full reasons were requested within the permitted time, were reserved by the Tribunal, or were provided by the Tribunal in response to a request for written summary reasons, the 42-day period runs from the date the written full reasons were sent. Written summary reasons alone do not extend the appeal deadline.

Where full reasons were given orally at the hearing, written full reasons can be requested at the hearing or by a written request received by the Tribunal within 14 days of the written record of the judgment being sent. Where summary reasons were given orally, written summary reasons can be requested in the same way. If written summary reasons are subsequently provided, a request for written full reasons must be received by the Tribunal within 14 days of the written summary reasons being sent.

For appeals against Employment Tribunal orders, the time limit is normally 42 days from the date of the order itself.

An appeal against a judgment must include the written record of the judgment and written full reasons, or an explanation of why the full reasons are not included. The appeal and required documents must be received by the EAT by 4pm on the final day of the applicable period. An application for reconsideration does not extend the appeal deadline.

Employment Tribunal Fees Have Been Abolished

Employment Tribunal fees were introduced on the 29th July 2013. However, on the 26th July 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that those fees were illegal. Accordingly, all Employment Tribunal fees were abolished immediately forthwith with effect from the 26th July 2017. Accordingly, no Employment Tribunal fees now have to be paid of any kind whatsoever.

Settlement Agreement Specialists

Please note that we no longer handle  unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal, wrongful dismissal, or any other type of employment tribunal matter. We are settlement agreement specialialists, who handle settlement agreements on behalf of both employers and employees. We also handle non-contentious employment law matter