Employment Tribunal Claims: What You Need to Know (UK)
Employment Tribunal Claims: What You Need to Know (UK)
Last updated: 7 February 2026 By Yerty Applies to: England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has a separate tribunal system.
Important: This article provides general information about UK employment law. It is not legal advice. Time limits for tribunal claims are strict, so if you are considering a claim, check your deadlines carefully and consider seeking professional advice.
In Brief
An employment tribunal is an independent judicial body that resolves disputes between workers and employers. If your employer has broken employment law — by dismissing you unfairly, discriminating against you, or failing to pay you correctly — you may be able to bring a claim. There is no fee to make a claim. Most claims must start within three months less one day of the problem happening, and you must contact ACAS before you can submit your claim.
Not every case follows exactly this sequence. The process depends on the type of claim and its complexity, and some steps may be combined, reordered, or skipped. This article describes the most common path.
What Is an Employment Tribunal?
An employment tribunal decides legal disputes about employment rights. It is not a criminal court and it is not the same as a civil court. Tribunals are designed to be more accessible than courts, but they follow formal rules and their decisions are legally binding.
A tribunal panel typically consists of an employment judge sitting alone, or an employment judge with two lay members (one with an employer background, one with an employee background). Discrimination and some other claims are more likely to be heard by a full panel.
Tribunals can hear specific types of employment claim defined by statute, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, unlawful deduction from wages, breach of contract (up to £25,000), whistleblowing, and redundancy pay disputes.
→ What are my employment rights?
Can You Make a Claim?
You may be able to bring a tribunal claim if you are an employee, a worker, or in some cases a job applicant. The key question is whether your employer (or former employer) has broken a specific employment law.
Common reasons people bring claims include:
Unfair dismissal — your employer ended your employment without a fair reason or without following a fair process. Unfair dismissal is available to employees only (not workers or self-employed contractors). You generally need two years' service for ordinary unfair dismissal, though this is reducing to six months from January 2027 under the Employment Rights Act 2025.
→ Unfair dismissal: what to do if it happens to you
Automatically unfair dismissal — dismissal connected to a protected reason such as pregnancy, whistleblowing, or health and safety activity. No minimum service required.
→ 60 grounds for automatic unfair dismissal
Discrimination — direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, or victimisation connected to a protected characteristic (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation) under the Equality Act 2010.
Unlawful deduction from wages — your employer has not paid you what you are owed, including unpaid wages, holiday pay, or commission.
Breach of contract — your employer has broken the terms of your employment contract. Tribunal jurisdiction for breach of contract is limited to £25,000 and is generally only available after employment has ended.
Constructive dismissal — you resigned because your employer's conduct was so serious it amounted to a fundamental breach of contract.
→ Constructive dismissal guide
Whistleblowing — you suffered a detriment or were dismissed for making a protected disclosure about wrongdoing.
→ Whistleblowing at work guide
Redundancy pay — your employer has not paid your statutory redundancy entitlement.
Time Limits
Time limits for employment tribunal claims are strict. For most claims, you have three months less one day from the date the problem happened — usually the date of dismissal, the discriminatory act, or the unpaid wages.
Some claims have different time limits: redundancy pay and equal pay claims have a six-month deadline. Interim relief applications (for whistleblowing or certain trade union dismissals) must be made within seven days.
If you miss the deadline, a tribunal may still accept your claim, but the test is strict. For unfair dismissal and most statutory claims, you must show it was "not reasonably practicable" to submit in time. For discrimination claims, the test is "just and equitable," which gives tribunals more discretion. Even so, late claims are rarely accepted.
Coming change: The Employment Rights Act 2025 extends the standard time limit from three months to six months for most claim types (breach of contract claims are excluded from this extension). This is expected no earlier than October 2026 per the government's revised timeline of 3 February 2026. Until this takes effect, work to the current three-month deadline.
→ Workplace deadlines and time limits → Missed the deadline? You may still have options
Step 1: Try to Resolve It Internally
Before making a tribunal claim, consider whether you can resolve the problem through your employer's internal procedures. Raising a formal grievance is not a legal requirement before claiming, but tribunals will look at whether reasonable steps were taken to resolve the dispute.
If a tribunal finds you unreasonably failed to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, your compensation can be reduced by up to 25%. Equally, if your employer unreasonably failed to follow the code, your compensation can be increased by up to 25%.
This stage involves specific tasks: drafting your grievance letter, gathering supporting documents, keeping records of meetings and outcomes, and understanding your employer's internal timescales.
Step 2: Contact ACAS for Early Conciliation
Before you can submit a tribunal claim, you must notify ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service). This is a legal requirement for almost all claims.
ACAS early conciliation is free. An ACAS conciliator will contact both you and your employer to see if the dispute can be settled without going to tribunal. Discussions during conciliation are confidential and cannot be used as evidence in tribunal. You do not have to accept any settlement — participation in discussions is voluntary, but notifying ACAS is mandatory.
Early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks (extended from six weeks on 1 December 2025). While early conciliation is in progress, the clock on your time limit pauses. When it ends, you will have at least one month from the date on your early conciliation certificate to submit your claim.
If you do not want to conciliate, or conciliation does not resolve the dispute, ACAS will issue you an early conciliation certificate. You need the certificate number to submit your ET1 claim form.
Important: You must notify ACAS within your original time limit. Do not wait until the deadline has passed.
At this stage, your key tasks include calculating your exact deadline, preparing a summary of your dispute before contacting ACAS, understanding what you would accept as a settlement, and keeping a record of all ACAS communications.
Step 3: Submit Your ET1 Claim Form
If early conciliation does not resolve your dispute, the next step is to submit your claim using the ET1 form. You can do this online at GOV.UK. There is no fee.
The ET1 asks for your personal details, your employer's details, the type of claim you are making, and the facts you are relying on. The section where you set out the grounds of your claim — the 'particulars of claim' — is the most important part. This is where you explain what happened, when, and what law your employer broke.
Common mistakes include: not identifying the correct respondent, missing claims that arise from the same facts, and not explaining the factual basis clearly enough. Getting the ET1 right matters. It defines the scope of what the tribunal will consider.
You can save and return to the form before submitting. Claims submitted online are processed faster than postal submissions.
Key tasks at this stage: confirming your ACAS certificate number, identifying every respondent correctly, deciding which claims to bring, and drafting clear particulars that set out the facts, the legal basis, and the remedy you are seeking.
Step 4: Your Employer Responds (ET3)
Once the tribunal accepts your ET1, it sends a copy to your employer (the 'respondent'). The respondent has 28 days to file their response using form ET3.
In the ET3, the employer will state whether they contest your claim, and on what grounds. If they do not respond within 28 days, the tribunal may issue a default judgment in your favour.
Step 5: Case Management
After both forms are filed, a judge will review the case and decide what happens next. This often involves a preliminary hearing — a shorter hearing (often by phone or video) where the judge:
- Clarifies the issues in the case
- Sets a timetable for preparing for the final hearing
- Makes directions (orders) about disclosure of documents, witness statements, and the hearing bundle
- May consider whether any claims should be struck out or whether a deposit order is appropriate
Not every case has a preliminary hearing. In simpler cases, the tribunal may issue written directions without one.
→ Why employment tribunal claims get struck out
Step 6: Preparing for the Final Hearing
In the weeks and months before the final hearing, both sides must prepare their case. This typically involves:
Disclosure — exchanging relevant documents with the other side. You must disclose documents that help your case and documents that hurt it.
The hearing bundle — an agreed, paginated file of all the documents both sides will refer to at the hearing. Usually the respondent prepares this, but both sides must agree on its contents.
Witness statements — written statements from you and any witnesses, setting out the evidence you will give. These are exchanged with the other side before the hearing and stand as your evidence in chief — meaning the tribunal reads them instead of you giving your account orally from scratch.
Each of these tasks has its own deadlines set by the tribunal, and missing them can damage your case. Staying organised through this stage — tracking which documents you need, when witness statements are due, and what the bundle should contain — is where many self-represented claimants struggle most.
Step 7: The Final Hearing
At the final hearing, both sides present their case to the tribunal. The typical format for a standard unfair dismissal claim is:
- The claimant's witnesses give evidence (their written statements are read, then cross-examined by the respondent)
- The respondent's witnesses give evidence (same process)
- Both sides make closing submissions (oral or written arguments summarising their case)
Hearings can last from one day to several weeks depending on complexity. Unfair dismissal claims typically take one to three days. Discrimination claims often take longer.
You can represent yourself — tribunals are designed for this. But you can also be represented by a solicitor, barrister, trade union representative, or a lay representative. The tribunal will make reasonable allowances for people representing themselves.
Possible Outcomes
If the tribunal finds in your favour, it can order:
Compensation — the most common remedy. For unfair dismissal, this typically includes a basic award (based on age, service, and weekly pay) and a compensatory award (based on financial loss). The compensatory element of discrimination and whistleblowing claims has no statutory cap.
→ Basic award: how it's calculated → Compensatory award: what you could get
Reinstatement or re-engagement — the tribunal can order your employer to give you your job back (reinstatement) or a comparable job (re-engagement). These orders are rare in practice.
A declaration — a formal statement that your rights were breached. Common in discrimination claims.
Recommendations — in discrimination cases, the tribunal can recommend steps the employer should take to reduce the effect of the discrimination.
If the tribunal finds against you, you will not normally have to pay the other side's costs. Cost orders are uncommon and are generally reserved for cases where a party has acted unreasonably or vexatiously, or where a claim had no reasonable prospect of success.
How Long Does It Take?
The tribunal system is currently dealing with significant backlogs. Simpler cases can take six to twelve months, but many regions are listing final hearings eighteen months or more after the claim is filed. The timeline depends on the complexity of the case, the region, and whether there are preliminary hearings.
Settlement is possible at any stage — through ACAS conciliation, direct negotiation, or judicial mediation. A significant proportion of claims settle before reaching a final hearing.
How the Employment Rights Act 2025 Changes the Tribunal System
The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. Several changes affect the tribunal system directly. The government published a revised implementation timeline on 3 February 2026.
Already in force (18 February 2026):
- Dismissal for taking part in lawful industrial action is now automatically unfair with no time restriction
- Repeal of most of the Trade Union Act 2016
April 2026:
- Fair Work Agency established — a new enforcement body consolidating enforcement of minimum wage, employment agency rules, and holiday pay
- Maximum collective redundancy protective award doubled
- Sexual harassment disclosures qualify as protected disclosures under whistleblowing law
- SSP reforms (payable from day one, lower earnings limit removed)
No earlier than October 2026:
- Standard tribunal claim time limit extended from three months to six months
- Employer duty to take 'all reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment (including third-party harassment)
January 2027:
- Unfair dismissal qualifying period reduced from two years to six months (applies to dismissals from 1 January 2027, not employment start dates — anyone already employed with six months' service at that date gains protection immediately)
- Compensation cap for unfair dismissal removed
- Fire and rehire becomes automatically unfair dismissal (delayed from October 2026 to January 2027 per the 3 February 2026 timeline update). The government has opened a consultation on the detailed regulations, closing 1 April 2026.
→ GOV.UK: Employment Rights Act 2025 — Timeline Update → ACAS: Employment Rights Act 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it cost anything to make a tribunal claim? No. There is no fee to submit an ET1 or to attend a hearing. Tribunal fees were abolished in 2017 following a Supreme Court ruling.
Can I claim while still employed? Yes. Discrimination, whistleblowing detriment, unlawful deduction from wages, and working time claims can all be brought during employment.
Do I need a solicitor? Not necessarily. Tribunals are designed for people to represent themselves, and many claimants do. However, legal advice can make a significant difference, particularly for complex discrimination claims, high-value cases, or if your employer is legally represented. Trade unions, free legal clinics, and organisations like Citizens Advice can also help. If you are offered a settlement agreement at any stage, independent legal advice is a legal requirement before you can sign it.
→ Where to get help with work problems
What if I have more than one claim? You can bring multiple claims on a single ET1 if they arise from the same facts — for example, unfair dismissal and discrimination together.
Can my employer find out I contacted ACAS? ACAS will contact your employer as part of early conciliation. However, ACAS discussions are confidential and cannot be used as evidence in tribunal.
What is the difference between wrongful and unfair dismissal? Wrongful dismissal is a breach of contract claim (usually about notice pay). Unfair dismissal is a statutory claim about the fairness of the reason and process.
→ Wrongful vs unfair dismissal
What to Do Next
If you think your employer has broken employment law, the most important thing is to check your time limit. For most claims, you have three months less one day — and you must notify ACAS within that period.
If you are unsure whether you have a claim, or which type of claim applies to your situation, an initial assessment can help you understand your position.
Yerty is designed to help you assess your situation, understand your rights, and take structured steps — whether you have a solicitor or not. The free assessment takes about five minutes and gives you a personalised report covering your potential claims, relevant deadlines, and what to do next. Yerty's stage-by-stage guidance then breaks each step of the process down into clear tasks — from drafting your grievance through to preparing for a hearing — so you know exactly what to do and when.
→ Start your free assessment at Yerty
Sources
- Make a claim to an employment tribunal — GOV.UK
- Employment tribunals — ACAS (reviewed 30 January 2026)
- Early conciliation — ACAS
- Employment Rights Act 1996
- Employment Rights Act 2025
- Equality Act 2010
- Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013
- GOV.UK: Plan to Make Work Pay — Timeline Update (3 February 2026)
- ACAS: Employment Rights Act 2025
- ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures