Employers are being urged to review their record keeping after a change that extends the deadline for bringing most Employment Tribunal claims from three months to six months.
The longer deadline applies to relevant acts occurring from 1 October 2026. It does not extend the deadline for claims concerning earlier incidents.
Employment lawyers at Smith Partnership say the change makes it more important for businesses to know what records they hold, how formal and informal concerns relating to, or decisions made about, an employee are documented, and what happens to an employee’s records after they leave.
Katie Bullimore, an employment solicitor at Smith Partnership, said employers should review their data protection policies alongside their employment procedures.
“The employers most affected will be those that do not consistently follow their policies and processes or keep proper records,” she said. “If a complaint arrives many months later, they may struggle to establish what happened, including whether an employee raised an informal concern with a manager, for example, during a one-to-one meeting that was not documented.”
“If someone experiences discrimination in the workplace on 29 September 2026, the existing three-month deadline will still apply,” Bullimore said. “If it happens on 5 October 2026, they will have until 4 April 2027 to bring the claim, subject to time spent in Acas Early Conciliation.”
In almost all cases, employees must notify Acas through the Early Conciliation scheme before bringing a tribunal claim. Early Conciliation can last up to 12 weeks, potentially extending the time before an employer receives a claim, and tribunals will keep discretion to extend some claim deadlines in certain circumstances.
“In practice, an employer could therefore be left waiting nine months or more after an incident before a claim reaches the tribunal,” Bullimore said. “A grievance may appear to have been resolved, only for a tribunal claim to arrive six, nine or perhaps more months later.”
She said business owners do not necessarily need to change how they handle grievances, performance issues or employee exits, but they do need to consider whether someone could reconstruct what happened if a complaint is made much later.
“Memories fade, and any final hearing may be further away, particularly given existing tribunal backlogs. Good meeting notes, minutes and other records will be important,” she said.
The firm advises employers to resolve concerns promptly where possible and to make sure their records show how a complaint was handled, including when it was raised informally. It says the review is about retaining relevant information for a justified period, rather than keeping every staff record indefinitely.
