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ACAS Early Conciliation and Employment Tribunal Time Limits Explained

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Budget Legal Advice

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This article covers Acas early conciliation and employment tribunal time limits in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). Northern Ireland has a separate system – see the note at the end. This is general information, not legal advice, and exact deadlines depend on your specific claim.

Why you almost always have to contact Acas first

Before you can bring most types of claim to an employment tribunal in Great Britain, the law requires you to first notify Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) and go through “early conciliation.” This applies to the great majority of tribunal claims – unfair dismissal, discrimination, unlawful deductions from wages, redundancy disputes and more – though a small number of exemptions exist for specific circumstances, such as certain group claims or urgent applications, so check current guidance rather than assuming your situation is exempt.

How early conciliation works

You submit an early conciliation notification to Acas, online or by phone, giving basic details about yourself and your employer. Acas then contacts both sides to see whether the dispute can be resolved without going to a tribunal at all – this is free, confidential, and doesn’t commit either side to settling. The conciliation window runs for up to six weeks, though it can end earlier if either side confirms they don’t want to conciliate, and it can potentially be extended by agreement in some cases. At the end of the process, whatever the outcome, Acas issues an Early Conciliation Certificate with a unique reference number. You need that number to submit a tribunal claim (an ET1 form) – without it, in most cases a tribunal cannot accept your claim.

The time limit clock doesn’t stop while you decide – but it does pause during conciliation

Most employment tribunal claims have a strict time limit, usually three months less one day from the date of the event you’re complaining about – for a dismissal, that’s normally the effective date of termination. Some claim types run to different limits (equal pay and redundancy payment claims, for example, typically allow six months), so don’t assume the three-month rule applies to every situation. Contacting Acas for early conciliation pauses this countdown for the time you’re in the process, effectively extending your overall deadline to reflect the time spent conciliating – the exact calculation is technical and depends on when you notified Acas and when your certificate was issued, so if you’re close to a deadline, check the precise date with Acas or a legal adviser rather than estimating it yourself.

The single most common way people lose the right to bring an otherwise valid claim is simply running out of time – tribunals have very limited discretion to accept a late claim, generally only where it genuinely wasn’t reasonably practicable to claim in time. Don’t wait until you’re sure you want to proceed before contacting Acas; starting early conciliation preserves your position while conciliation is tried.

What conciliation actually achieves

A meaningful proportion of disputes that go through Acas early conciliation settle without ever reaching a tribunal hearing – sometimes through a financial settlement, sometimes through a reference agreement, an apology, or a change to a dismissal record. Acas conciliators are neutral; they don’t represent either side or give legal advice about who’s right, but they can help both sides understand realistic outcomes and facilitate a settlement (often recorded in a COT3 agreement, which is legally binding once signed).

If conciliation doesn’t resolve it

If no settlement is reached, or either party doesn’t want to conciliate, you’re free to submit your ET1 claim to the employment tribunal once you have your certificate number, provided you’re still within your time limit as extended by the conciliation period. Acas conciliators can continue to be available to help settle the case even after a tribunal claim has formally started, right up until a hearing.

Practical steps if you think you have a claim

  • Work out the date of the act you’re complaining about and count forward to identify your normal deadline;
  • Contact Acas for early conciliation as soon as you’re seriously considering a claim – don’t leave it until close to the deadline;
  • Keep the Early Conciliation Certificate and reference number safe – you’ll need it to submit an ET1;
  • If you’re near a deadline and unsure how the extension applies to your case, get advice quickly rather than guessing.

Northern Ireland: a different system

The Acas early conciliation process described above applies in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own separate employment dispute resolution system, run by the Labour Relations Agency (LRA), with its own tribunal system and rules. If you’re bringing a claim in Northern Ireland, the process and time limits above do not apply – contact the LRA directly.

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