How to make an employment tribunal claim: 4 steps, with your last day worked out
- What
- You make the claim yourself on the ET1 form, after Acas early conciliation. GOV.UK charges no fee.
- When
- Inside your time limit: 6 months less a day if it happened on or after 1 October 2026, 3 months less a day if before.
- How
- 4 steps: work out your last day, tell Acas, get the certificate number, then send the ET1 online or by post.
The date is free. The £29 draft pack drafts the claim from your own timeline.
Dismissed before 1 October 2026: 3 months less a day. Dismissed from 1 October 2026: 6 months less a day. If you were dismissed on 15 September 2026, your last day is 14 December 2026; if on 1 October 2026, it is 31 March 2027.
The 4 steps
- Work out your last day. Use the calculator above: the date it happened decides between 3 and 6 months.
- Tell Acas before that day. Early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks, and your clock pauses while it runs.
- Get the certificate. With no deal, Acas gives you a certificate with a number, and you have at least 1 month after it.
- Make the claim on the ET1. Online on GOV.UK or by post, with 1 certificate number for each employer you claim against.
After step 4, the tribunal decides. Past your date? A tribunal can still accept a late claim in some cases; that is its decision, and it is hard to win.
ET1 draft pack: your claim details, drafted (£29)
Work out your date above; the pack is offered under it. You type what happened, date by date. Back comes a numbered draft for the claim form, the list of what the form asks for, and a calendar file with your last day and reminders 14, 7 and 1 days before.
Not a legal review, not filed for you. The checking and the filing stay with you: you make the claim yourself on GOV.UK.
You pay £29 only for the draft and the calendar file, never for the date: the date and every step are free above.
Sources, each opened on 8 October 2026
- SI 2026/954 (made 1 September 2026): regulation 3, the longer limits "come into force on 1st October 2026"; regulation 4(1), they do not apply where the relevant date "occurs before 1st October 2026".
- SI 2025/1153 (in force 1 December 2025): early conciliation goes from six weeks to 12.
- Acas, Employment tribunal time limits (updated 1 October 2026): the worked examples (wrong pay on 30 September 2026 ends on 29 December 2026; on 1 October 2026, 31 March 2027) and the pause while early conciliation runs.
- Acas, How early conciliation works (updated 1 October 2026): "Early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks"; the certificate number goes on form ET1; at least 1 month after the certificate if you told Acas in time.
- GOV.UK, Make a claim to an employment tribunal: "You do not have to pay a fee to make a claim"; claim online or post the form; the Acas certificate numbers.
- GOV.UK, Form ET1 (updated 1 October 2026): the claim form, online or as a download.
Every rule the calculator uses, with the full source list.
Not legal advice. We are not solicitors and we file nothing: you make the claim yourself.