Extension of Employment Tribunal time limits: implications for schools

Schools and academy trusts should act now to mitigate the risks of extended time limits

From 1 October 2026, the time limit for bringing most Employment Tribunal claims will increase from three months to six months.

The extended time limit will apply where the "relevant date" is on or after 1 October. Whilst the “relevant date” for many Tribunal complaints is set out in legislation, a general rule of thumb is that the extended time limit will apply to any act, conduct or failure complained of which occurs on or after 1 October, or where there is a series of acts or failures, provided the date of the last act or failure occurs on or after this date.

Coupled with the extension to the ACAS early conciliation period from 1 December 2025 from 6 to 12 weeks, this means that claims are likely to be brought much later than previously and as a result, employers will receive them much later.

Schools and academy trusts can expect to receive claims up to 9 months after a workplace dispute has been notified to ACAS.  The longer timeframe to bring Tribunal claims means greater uncertainty for schools and academy trusts as to when a claim may arrive and require a response. 

Responding to claims during holidays

Claims and ACAS early conciliation processes may commence and progress when key staff are away. Schools should therefore ensure that there are systems in place to monitor correspondence, including emails and post, during summer holidays and other school breaks.

Despite early conciliation being available for 12 weeks, conciliation requests need to be responded to promptly or they will be closed early by ACAS. There is a strict 28-day deadline for responding to claims in the Employment Tribunal. Tribunals are unlikely to be sympathetic to requests to extend this deadline on the basis of annual leave alone. This means that ACAS early conciliation requests and claims received should still be addressed and responded to outside of term time.

Insurers should be informed of claims or early conciliation requests as a matter of priority, as legal expenses insurance may apply to cover some or all of the legal costs of defending and settling claims, and possibly financial awards made by the Tribunal. Schools and academy trusts should also take legal advice as soon as possible once notified of early conciliations or claims to enable early assessment of claims and agree a strategy for a response.

Record keeping

The extended time limit to bring claims makes contemporaneous record-keeping more important than ever. School leaders should record the rationale for key employment decisions clearly and promptly, including the evidence considered and the reasons for the outcome. This will be particularly important in relation to dismissals, grievances, disciplinary sanctions, flexible working decisions, reasonable adjustment requests, sickness absence management and pay disputes.

Any policies, template letters and internal guidance which refer to Employment Tribunal time limits should be updated to reflect the change.

Schools and academy trusts should also review their record-keeping. Appropriate HR files, investigation notes, disciplinary and grievance paperwork, appeal records, absence management documents, settlement correspondence, pay records and relevant emails may need to be retained for longer than before.

Data retention

From a data protection perspective, schools and academy trusts should review their document retention practices in light of the extended time limits. The longer limitation period means that employment records which might previously have been deleted could now be relevant if a claim is brought later. Schools should therefore check their retention schedules to make sure key employment-related documents are kept for long enough to support the defence of a future claim.

Schools and academy trusts should consider whether existing retention periods remain appropriate and, where necessary, amend policies and procedures to reflect the increased risk of claims being brought later.

Schools and academy trusts must be able to justify why they are keeping personal data and not hold it for longer than necessary. However, where employment records are retained so that schools can respond to, or defend, a possible Employment Tribunal claim, an extended limitation period for claims is likely to support a longer data retention period.

Privacy notices may also need to be reviewed to ensure that these reflect the updated retention schedules.

Finally, schools and academy trusts should make sure that day-to-day processes are updated to match any revised retention procedure. For example, where email accounts, HR files or other records would usually be deleted after a set period, those deletion processes will need to be adapted in line with the updated retention schedules.

Settlement

From 1 January 2027, employees with 6 months’ continuous service will be eligible to bring unfair dismissal claims. This change, coupled with the extended deadline to bring claims means that schools and academy trusts are likely to receive more claims than previously.

Whilst many academy trusts are members of the Department for Education’s risk protection arrangement for schools (RPA), there is an annual limit on costs which the RPA will cover. If several claims are received in a year, the RPA funding could be exceeded, and legal costs or Tribunal awards may need to be directly funded by the academy trust.

From a practical perspective, facilitating witnesses to give evidence in Tribunal claim proceedings can also create staffing and other resource issues for schools and academy trusts and impact upon teaching.

Consideration of settlement of claims at an early stage is therefore likely to become important. Academy trusts are required to follow the requirements set out in the Academy Trust Handbook before making settlement proposals. Academy trusts and schools should also ensure that any decision to offer a settlement is authorised and follows their financial protocols.

The Academy Trust Handbook states that confidentiality obligations cannot be included in settlement or COT3 agreements with prior permission from the Department for Education (DfE). If confidentiality is of particular concern, academy trusts should ensure that they seek permission in good time.

Wrigleys’ employment team regularly advises academy trusts and school employers on employment tribunal claims and understands the complexities and challenges which are particular to the sector. If you would like specific advice on an employment tribunal claim or on improving your processes to mitigate the risks of claims in light of recent and upcoming changes to employment law and DfE guidance, do not hesitate to get in touch. 

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this article further, please contact our Education team on 0113 244 6100.

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The information in this article is necessarily of a general nature. The law stated is correct at the date (stated above) this article was first posted to our website.

Specific advice should be sought for specific situations. If you have any queries or need any legal advice, please feel free to contact Wrigleys Solicitors.