Unfair dismissal time limit: your last day to claim, from your dismissal date
- What
- The unfair dismissal time limit is your last day to claim at an employment tribunal: 6 months less a day if you were dismissed on or after 1 October 2026, 3 months less a day if before.
- When
- It runs from your effective date of termination: the last day of your notice, or the day you were dismissed if you got no notice (Employment Rights Act 1996, section 111).
- How
- Add 3 or 6 months, take off 1 day, then add any Acas pause. The calculator below does it with your dates.
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.
If the date has passed
A tribunal can still let an unfair dismissal claim in where it was not reasonably practicable to claim in time (section 111). That is the tribunal's decision. Acas says there are strict time limits, so tell Acas as soon as you can.
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.