Most claims to an employment tribunal require an individual to commence ACAS Early Conciliation within three months, less one day from the date of the act that is being complained about. 

This is known as the original limitation date. The act complained of could be a termination date or the date that something happened. 

For example, if an employee was dismissed on 1 January and wanted to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, they must commence Early Conciliation by 31 March. 

What is early conciliation?

Early Conciliation is facilitated by ACAS and is an opportunity for employee and employer to reach agreement before an employment tribunal claim is made. It takes place over a maximum of six weeks but if one party does not want to conciliate it will be ended early. 

When is the original limitation date?

The original limitation date is extended to take into account the time taken for ACAS early conciliation. The actual date by which a claim must be made is identified using day A and day B:

Day A is the day on which an employee contacts ACAS or the day on which ACAS receives the early conciliation form.

Day B is the day on which an employee receives the early conciliation certificate from ACAS.

The original limitation date is extended by taking the number of days between the day after Day A and day before Day B.

In the example above, we said the original limitation date was 31 March. 

If an employee contacted ACAS on 1 February (Day A) and ACAS presented the early conciliation certificate to them on 20 February (Day B), then the limitation date to present the claim would be extended by 19 days, so 31 March plus 19 days and therefore 19 April. 

Are there any exceptions during limitation dates?

There is an exception to this: if the new limitation date would expire during the period between Day A and one month after Day B, the deadline to present the claim is extended to one month after Day B. 

Try it out for yourself, use our time calculator

Time limits can be tricky, so we would advise that if you are unsure if you or an employee has brought a claim in time, you take legal advice. 

The Tribunal has discretion to extend the time limit in limited circumstances and these vary depending on the type of claim. Despite this, any employee wishing to bring a claim is best to do so within the time limit to avoid potentially losing the ability to pursue the claim.