Current Early Conciliation Timeframe 

Before a claimant can issue a claim in the employment tribunal, they must first register their dispute with ACAS and commence what is known as early conciliation. 

ACAS then offers to help both the claimant and employer resolve the dispute without going to tribunal. A conciliator gets in touch with both sides and tries to help them reach a settlement.  

This process lasts up to a maximum of six weeks. However, if neither employer or employee are interested in seeking settlement, or the employee doesn’t want ACAS to contact the employer, the early conciliation period ends immediately. 

If an agreement is reached, it’s legally binding and the matter ends there.  

If no agreement is made, ACAS issues a certificate that allows the employee to proceed to tribunal.  

If there is no resolution before the end of the maximum early conciliation period of six weeks, ACAS automatically issues the claimant the certificate to enable them to bring a claim.  

Time limits for issuing a tribunal claim are paused whilst there is an early conciliation period, meaning that the time limit for bringing a claim will be extended to reflect the duration of the early conciliation period, and as a minimum a claim must be issued within one month of the period’s end. 

New Early Conciliation Timeframe 

The ACAS early conciliation period is changing from SIX to TWELVE weeks for cases notified to ACAS on or after December 1, 2025. 

WHY? 

The change is intended to give parties more time to resolve disputes and to relieve some of the pressure on the Employment Tribunal system.  

Implications for employers 

Employers will have longer exposure to potential claims because the extended early conciliation period means claims from incidents many months ago may now still be in time. 

ComplexHR have always emphasised the importance of keeping a paper trail, but this is going to be more important than ever given longer potential claim windows. Maintaining accurate and accessible employment records will become even more critical. 

Time limits for unfair dismissal claims 

Time limits to bring an unfair dismissal claim commence on the date that the employee’s employment terminates.  

Any claimant must commence early conciliation within three months (less one day) of termination, and the time limitation clock will then be paused during early conciliation. 

However, the clock is paused during early conciliation. 

Therefore, as the early conciliation period has now doubled to 12 weeks, and tribunal claims must be submitted at least one month after the expiration of early conciliation, the limitation window for unfair dismissal claims has increased from three to seven months.   

For more info – reach out to thehelens@complexhr.co.uk