Employment Rights Act 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 will, from 1 October 2026, extend time limits for bringing tribunal claims from three to six months.

Currently, most tribunal claims need to be brought within three months of the act complained of. A pledge to increase tribunal time limits was included in the Labour Party’s Plan to Make Work Pay:

‘We will improve and strengthen enforcement through employment tribunals to provide quicker and more effective resolutions. In line with the Law Commission recommendation in April 2020, we would increase the time limit within which employees are able to make an employment claim from three months to six months, bringing the time limit for all claims in line with the time limit for statutory redundancy and equal pay claims.’

All employees will have six months to bring a claim. This will apply to all types of claims, including discrimination claims and unfair dismissal claims. The Act misses out some types of claim (e.g. breach of contract) but the government are changing time limits for those claims through additional separate regulations.

The new time limits will apply only where the relevant act, detriment or termination takes place on or after 1 October 2026. Existing rules on extending time limits, including the effect of ACAS early conciliation in pausing limitation periods, will remain unchanged.