UK employment law: check your claim, deadline and next step

Start with the jurisdiction and the kind of claim

A contract label does not settle every employment right. The Employment Rights Act definitions distinguish employees and other workers; some protections also cover applicants or former workers. Ordinary unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy pay generally require employee status. Pay and discrimination rights have different scopes. Agency work, zero-hours arrangements, self-employment and cross-border work need assessment on their actual facts.

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Tell the adviser where you worked, where the employer is based and whether work crossed national borders. Your home address alone does not resolve jurisdiction.

Three months or six months? Check the claim and its date

The 1 October 2026 commencement and transitional rules use a different relevant date for different claims. For example, unfair dismissal uses the effective date of termination, a wage deduction uses the payment date or last qualifying deduction in a series, and discrimination uses the act, continuing conduct or failure rules. It is unsafe simply to use the date you decided to complain.

The Acas deadline guide describes ordinary periods as three or six calendar months minus one day. The table gives starting rules before any applicable conciliation adjustment or tribunal extension. It is not a deadline calculator. Multiple claims in the same dispute can have different clocks.

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For GB conciliation, section 207B and section 140B exclude a defined notification-to-certificate period and contain a qualified minimum-one-month rule. Keep the notification and certificate dates. Late notification does not automatically revive an expired claim. Acas and government guidance announce a Scottish contract-claim change for 9 November 2026; that is a future change at this check date. If time may have expired, get advice promptly about the particular extension test.

Unfair dismissal, notice pay and compensation are different questions

Under section 98, an employer must establish a potentially fair reason and the tribunal assesses reasonableness in the circumstances. The usual categories include capability or qualifications, conduct, redundancy, statutory restriction and some other substantial reason. A dismissal is not fair merely because the employer uses one of those labels.

At 24 October 2026, GB ordinary unfair dismissal normally needs two years’ continuous employee service; NI’s ordinary qualification is normally one year. Specified automatically unfair grounds and other statutory exceptions can remove the usual service requirement. A discrimination claim is a separate question. Wrongful dismissal concerns breach of contract, often notice or notice pay; it does not use the ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period.

The made January 2027 commencement regulations bring the GB ordinary qualifying period down to six months and remove the ordinary compensatory-award cap for cases with an effective termination date on or after 1 January 2027. Those changes are not yet in force on this page’s check date. They do not abolish every basic-award limit or change NI law.

For appropriate dates from 6 April 2026, the ordinary GB compensatory limit is generally the lower of £123,543 and 52 weeks’ pay as legally calculated, subject to statutory exceptions. This is separate from the basic award and from any reductions. NI has its own ordinary compensatory ceiling of £123,785. Neither ceiling predicts what a particular claim is worth. Discrimination and specified other claims use different remedies and limits.

The Acas disciplinary and grievance Code requires fairness in the cases it covers. An unreasonable failure to comply can affect awards by up to 25% in relevant GB proceedings; it is not an automatic uplift in every dispute. The Code does not apply to redundancy dismissals or the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts on their expiry. Keep the allegations, evidence, meeting notes, decision and appeal correspondence. Seek advice before resigning in response to an employer’s conduct.

Check redundancy pay and consultation separately

Statutory redundancy pay normally requires an eligible employee with at least two years’ continuous service. In GB, the calculation uses completed years, working backwards: half a week’s pay for years below age 22, one week for years aged 22–40, and one and a half for years aged 41 or over, with no more than 20 years counted. The April 2026 GB weekly ceiling is £751 and the maximum statutory total £22,530. NI’s corresponding ceilings are £783 and £23,490. Use actual qualifying pay where it is below the ceiling.

Compare the employer’s written calculation with the GB official redundancy guide or NI redundancy guide, your contract and service dates. Contractual enhancements, notice pay and accrued holiday need separate checking. Do not assume every part of a leaving package is tax-free or that every employee has the same paid job-search entitlement.

For GB collective consultation, the current rule concerns proposed redundancy dismissals of 20 or more employees at one establishment within 90 days or less. Consultation must begin in good time and normally at least 30 days before the first dismissal, or 45 days where 100 or more are proposed. The current Acas guide explains the establishment and counting questions. Future organisation-wide reforms should not be treated as the current threshold. NI consultation rules need separate advice.

For covered GB dismissals taking effect from 6 April 2026, the protective-award maximum for failure to consult is 180 days’ remuneration. The tribunal decides the appropriate protected period; the maximum is not automatic and is not ordinary redundancy pay. An offer of suitable alternative work may affect redundancy entitlement. A qualifying alternative-employment trial is generally four weeks, with a statutory route to agree longer retraining in writing. Get advice before refusing or ending a trial.

Record what happened and which protection may apply

In GB the nine Equality Act protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Protection can apply during recruitment and employment, but the legal tests differ. Direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and reasonable adjustments are not interchangeable labels; harassment does not apply identically to all nine characteristics.

Keep a dated record of the words, actions, decisions, people involved and any comparable treatment. Preserve relevant messages, policies, applications and requests for disability adjustments. A reasonable-adjustment claim depends on the statutory duty and the facts; it is not a guarantee that every requested change must be granted. Unfair treatment does not always amount to unlawful discrimination.

As checked on 24 October, the current GB employer duty is to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. The made commencement regulations bring the strengthened “all reasonable steps” requirement and the specified third-party harassment duty into force on 30 October 2026. Keep the event dates and distinguish existing rights from a future duty.

NI has separate discrimination legislation. Religious belief and political opinion are covered by the Fair Employment and Treatment Order; religious-belief protection also exists in GB. The appropriate tribunal, grounds and time rules must be checked. Avoid applying the Equality Act wholesale to NI or assuming a general disagreement is a protected political-opinion claim.

Check pay, sick pay and leave against your actual working pattern

Use the official minimum-wage rates, SSP guide, holiday guidance and flexible-working guide for the relevant conditions. Compare payslips with hours, deductions, contract terms and the actual pay dates. The latest rate is not automatically the rate for an older pay period.

The Fair Work Agency’s current remit includes minimum-wage enforcement, but its holiday-pay and SSP enforcement functions have not yet started at this check date. The official contact guide identifies reporting routes for pay/work-right concerns. Acas or LRA can help identify the relevant route. A regulator report does not itself submit or extend a tribunal claim. GB wage-deduction claims also have specific restrictions on recovering older deductions, with exceptions.

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Questions to resolve before agreeing a settlement

A statutory settlement or NI compromise agreement is a specific way to waive particular employment claims. The relevant conditions include writing, identified claims, advice from a relevant independent insured adviser, identification of that adviser and the required statutory statements. Read ERA section 203, Equality Act section 147 and, for NI, article 245. A generic statement that every agreement is invalid until a solicitor signs it is unsafe.

The Acas formal-offer guidance recommends a reasonable period, normally at least ten days, to consider a written offer and obtain independent advice. That recommendation is not a universal statutory cooling-off period. An employer may contribute to advice costs but is not automatically obliged to do so. Confirm the adviser’s scope and whether the contribution covers it.

Compare the payment breakdown, notice and holiday, benefits and pension issues, tax treatment, agreed reference, confidentiality, restrictions, claims being waived and payment deadline. Ask what remains unresolved and whether the offer expires before advice is available. Do not assume the whole payment is tax-free or that a proposed reference has already been agreed.

An Acas COT3 settlement follows a different route and can bind once agreement is reached, before the document is signed. Do not rely on the absence of a signature as protection. Get advice before accepting terms orally or in writing, and check any effect on an existing tribunal claim.

From workplace complaint to conciliation and tribunal

Where appropriate, raise the issue with the employer and use the grievance or appeal procedure, keeping written records. Do this alongside deadline protection. For covered GB proceedings, notify Acas unless an exemption applies. Conciliation is free and voluntary: a conciliator is impartial and does not represent you, assess the strength of your case or choose whether you should settle. The current statutory early-conciliation period can run up to twelve weeks, but can end earlier.

In NI, LRA early conciliation normally starts with notification. The period is up to one calendar month, with one possible extension of up to fourteen days if both parties agree and the conciliator considers settlement realistically possible. Exemptions exist. Use the NI certificate and filing process, not a GB Acas certificate by default.

The GB claim guide and NI tribunal guide currently state that there is no fee to submit the claim. That does not remove your own solicitor costs, witness expenses or possible adverse costs. Under the GB tribunal costs rules, unreasonable conduct or a case with no reasonable prospect of success can have consequences. A costs order is not automatically limited to £20,000 in every route.

Confirm the correct legal name and address of each respondent, the claims and relevant dates, and certificate numbers or a valid exemption. Keep submission confirmation. Once proceedings begin, follow the actual tribunal orders for disclosure, witness evidence and hearings. Relevant documents may need to be disclosed even if they do not help your case. A solicitor is not compulsory, but advice or representation can be valuable for complexity, urgency or an uneven ability to prepare.

Prepare a useful employment-law advice file

1. Record where you worked, the employer’s legal name, employment start date, working arrangement and any transfer or break in service.
2. Keep the contract, written particulars, relevant policies, job description, payslips, timesheets and the dates of disputed payments.
3. Prepare a short chronology. Separate the decision date, notification, notice expiry, last working day and effective termination date rather than assuming they are identical.
4. Gather dismissal, redundancy, warning, grievance and appeal letters, consultation material, meeting notes, messages and any adjustment requests. Preserve originals without altering them.
5. Keep Acas or LRA notification receipts, certificate and receipt date, tribunal submissions and orders. Identify every potential claim and the earliest possible deadline.
6. For a settlement, bring the full draft, offer deadline, payment breakdown, reference wording, proposed restrictions and any employer contribution to advice costs.
7. List the outcome you want, current losses and steps taken to reduce them. Ask what the adviser will do, by when, and whether drafting, negotiation or representation requires a separate agreement.

Do not miss an urgent deadline while assembling a perfect file. Agree a secure way to provide documents and retain your own copies. This checklist helps prepare an enquiry; it does not determine whether your claim will succeed.

Official help and free legal information

Free information, funded advice and representation have different scopes. Ask about eligibility, capacity and exactly what the service can do before relying on it to protect a deadline.

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