Employment Rights Bill extends Tribunal claim time limits to six months
03 April 2025
Time limits to present claims in the Employment Tribunal, for nearly every claim, to be extended from 3 months to 6 months.
The Employment Rights Bill (“the Bill”) changes the current three-month deadline to bring Employment Tribunal claim to six-months for almost all employment claims.
The Bill amends the time limit provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996, Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, the Working Time Regulations 1998, the Equality Act 2010, Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, Pension Schemes Act 1993, Health and Safety (consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996, National Minimum Wage Act 1998, Employment Regulations Act 1999, Transnational Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations 1999, Agency Workers Regulations 2010, and others.
The Employment Tribunal (Extension of Jurisdiction) (England and Wales) Order 1994, which governs breach of contract claims after employment has ended, is not amended at present and therefore the three-month time limit continues to apply in these cases.
Although the Bill amends the limitation period from three to six months, in reality employees presenting claims will continue to be afforded more time to present a claim over and about the 6-month limitation, as employees will still get additional time to present their claims due to ACAS early conciliation.
The Tribunal can also extend time where it was not reasonably practicable to bring the claim earlier in unfair dismissal cases and where it is not just and equitable in discrimination cases.
It will be important for employers to review current practices and ensure that procedures take into consideration the additional time afforded to employees to present claims, this may include ensuring data retention policies are extended to ensure evidential data is retained long enough to be able to use, in the event of a tribunal claim being presented.
The additional time afforded to employees to present claims will likely trigger more claims, therefore employers should also assess their currently internal grievance and appeal procedures to try to avoid litigation at an early stage, as far as possible.
If you have any questions regarding these impending changes, please do not hesitate to contact our Employment team.
This article was written by Gabrielle Scriven.
