When you have been to Acas Early Conciliation, the time limit to present a claim will be an important consideration.
The time limit to present claims in the Employment Tribunal is short.
For most claims, you must complete an Early Acas Notification form within the applicable Employment Tribunal time limit. For claims where the relevant act or event occurred before 1 October 2026, this will generally be 3 months less 1 day. For most claims where the relevant act or event occurs on or after 1 October 2026, the usual time limit is 6 months less 1 day. It is important to understand how Acas Early Conciliation impacts time limits.
Acas Early Conciliation Time Limits
Set out below is an explanation with examples of calculating the time limit for an unfair dismissal claim. For dismissals taking place on or after 1 October 2026, you will usually need to commence Acas Early Conciliation within 6 months less 1 day from the “effective date of termination” (when your employment ends). For dismissals taking place before 1 October 2026, the previous time limit of 3 months less 1 day will generally continue to apply.
The examples below use dismissals from 2022 and therefore illustrate the previous 3 months less 1 day time limit. The principles explaining how Acas Early Conciliation affects the calculation of time remain relevant.
For example, if your employment ended on 02 February 2022, you must commence Early Acas Conciliation no later than the 01 May 2022 (the Tribunal time limit).
A prospective Claimant contacting ACAS for early conciliation (with more than one month to go before the Tribunal time limit) will ‘stop the clock’ on the tribunal time limit which will take effect from the day after the Claimant contacts ACAS, ending with the day that they receive a certificate from ACAS. However, it is important to note that if a prospective Respondent contacts ACAS for early conciliation (which is unusual), the tribunal time limit will continue to run.
Where the prospective Claimant contacts ACAS with less than one month to go before the expiry of the Tribunal time limit, they will still have a whole month from the day they receive the certificate from ACAS in which to bring the claim.
The date Acas Conciliation is started is known as Day A.
The date Acas Conciliation ends is known as Day B (the dates for both Day A and Day B are set out in the certificate produced when Conciliation ends).
The Acas certificate also contains a reference number that is needed when presenting the claim to the Tribunal.
The examples below are based on the time limits that applied in 2022.
Example 1 – More than one month to limitation
21 March 2022 = effective date of termination (EDT)
20 June 2022 = Tribunal time limit
08 May 2022 = Day A
28 May 2022 = Day B (conciliation only lasted for 20 days in this example.
10 July 2022 = The deadline to present the claim to the Employment Tribunal.
In other words, you add the 20 days that was spent in Early Acas Conciliation onto the original tribunal time limit (20 June 2022 plus 20 days = 10 July 2022).
Example 2 – less than one month to limitation
21 March 2022 = EDT
20 June 2022 = Tribunal time limit
15 June 2022 = Day A
15 July 2022 = Day B
15 August 2022 = The deadline to present the claim to the Employment Tribunal.
Because Day A (15 June 2022) was less than 1-month away from the original Tribunal time limit (20 June 2022) you are given 1-calendar month from day B (15 July 2022) to present the claim (this takes us to the 15 August 2022).
Important note where an employee is dismissed with notice
When an employee is dismissed with notice, their employment does not end until the notice period expires. In that situation, the employee has been told that their employment will end, but the effective date of termination for unfair dismissal purposes is when the employment comes to an end, so at the end of the notice period, not the earlier date on which notice of dismissal was given.
This is also important when determining whether the old or new time limit applies. For an unfair dismissal claim, if the effective date of termination is on or after 1 October 2026, the usual time limit will be 6 months less 1 day from the effective date of termination, even if notice of dismissal was given before 1 October 2026.
That matters when calculating the effect of Acas Early Conciliation on time limits. If a claimant starts Early Conciliation before the effective date of termination, for example during their notice period, there is not yet an unfair dismissal time limit running, so there is no clock to stop at that stage. If Early Conciliation continues beyond the EDT, only the part of the conciliation period falling after the EDT can affect the calculation of time.
It is important not to assume that every Employment Tribunal claim now has a 6-month time limit. Different rules and time limits can apply to certain claims and applications. For example, an application for interim relief in certain unfair dismissal cases must be made within just 7 days of the effective date of termination. You should identify the applicable time limit and notify Acas as soon as possible.
Acas Early Conciliation Time Limits – Try Our CALCULATOR
If you have been to Acas Early Conciliation, then try our CALCULATOR to help calculate the Time Limit.
Disclaimer:
This blog is for information purposes only. Nothing should be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice and nothing written should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a lawyer-client relationship.