Employment Tribunal Limitation
Work out the 3-months-less-1-day limitation deadline for an Employment Tribunal claim, taking into account ACAS Early Conciliation stop-clock.
Fill in your details and press Calculate.
How this is calculated
The time limit changed on 1 October 2026. Claims about an act or failure to act occurring on or after 1 October 2026 get 6 months less 1 day; anything before that keeps the historic 3 months less 1 day (Employment Rights Act 1996 s.111). The extension comes from The Employment Tribunal (Extension of Time Limits) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026, and the transitional rule turns on the date of the act — not the date you claim. Both limits will therefore run side by side for some time, and the calculator branches on the act date you enter. Where you complain about a series of acts, it is the date of the last one that counts — enter that date.
Time pauses while ACAS Early Conciliation runs (Employment Rights Act 1996 s.207B):
- The clock stops on Day A (when you notify ACAS).
- The clock resumes on Day B (when the EC certificate is issued).
- The calculator adds the number of days between A and B back onto the base deadline.
- As a safety net, the deadline can never be earlier than one month after Day B — if the adjusted date would fall sooner, the calculator moves it to that one-month point.
Calendar months are counted the way courts count them: adding months lands on the corresponding day of the target month, clamped to the month's last day where none exists, and the result is then reduced by one day. A dismissal effective 30 November therefore gives a 3-month deadline of 27 February (or 28 in a leap year).
Limits: some claim types carry different periods — equal pay and statutory redundancy payment claims allow 6 months even for pre-October-2026 acts, and this calculator does not model them. Nor does it model the tribunal's discretion to extend time ("not reasonably practicable" or "just and equitable"), the small list of Early Conciliation exemptions, or discrimination "continuing act" arguments. Missing the limitation date usually loses the claim outright, so treat the earlier of any two candidate dates as your deadline and get specialist advice for anything unusual.