To make an employment tribunal claim in England, Wales, or Scotland, you first contact ACAS for early conciliation, then file a form called the ET1 with the tribunal using the certificate number ACAS gives you. There is no filing fee. The whole process is governed by a short deadline: for most claims, three months minus one day from the event you’re complaining about. Miss it and the tribunal will almost certainly refuse to hear your case.
Everything else — the form, the hearing, the compensation — flows from getting those first two steps right and on time.
The Deadline That Governs Everything
For most employment tribunal claims, you have three months minus one day from the date the problem occurred to start the process by contacting ACAS.1Acas. Employment Tribunal Time Limits The starting date depends on the claim: for unfair dismissal, it runs from your effective date of termination (usually your last day of employment or the end of your notice period); for unpaid wages, from the date you should have been paid; for discrimination, from the last discriminatory act.2Legislation.gov.uk. Employment Rights Act 1996 – Section 111
A late claim can only proceed if you convince the tribunal it was “not reasonably practicable” to file in time, and that’s a hard test to meet. Ignorance of the deadline is not enough. Illness or genuinely misleading advice from a professional might qualify, but tribunals take a narrow view.
Contacting ACAS pauses the clock. If you notify ACAS within your time limit, you get at least one month from the date you receive your early conciliation certificate to file the ET1, even if the original three-month window has passed.3Acas. How Early Conciliation Works This extension is automatic, but only if you contacted ACAS before your original deadline expired. The safest approach is to contact ACAS the moment you think a claim might be necessary, even if you haven’t gathered all your evidence yet.
Tribunals handle a defined set of workplace disputes: unfair dismissal, discrimination (including equal pay), unpaid wages and holiday pay, redundancy pay, whistleblowing-related dismissal, breach of contract, parental rights at work, National Minimum Wage failures, and dismissals linked to raising health and safety concerns. If your dispute doesn’t fit one of these, you may need the civil courts instead.
Step One: ACAS Early Conciliation
Before you can file a tribunal claim, you must go through ACAS early conciliation. The requirement comes from section 18A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996, and without a certificate from ACAS, the tribunal will reject your ET1.4Legislation.gov.uk. Employment Tribunals Act 1996 – Section 18A A small number of claim types are exempt. Most are not.
You start by submitting your details and your employer’s details to ACAS, online or by phone. ACAS assigns a conciliation officer who contacts both sides to see if the dispute can be settled without a tribunal. Neither side is forced to agree to anything, but you have to go through the process. Conciliation can last up to 12 weeks.3Acas. How Early Conciliation Works
If a settlement is reached, it’s recorded in a legally binding agreement and the matter ends there. If conciliation fails or the period expires, ACAS issues an early conciliation certificate with a unique reference number. You need that number to complete the ET1. Keep it safe. The tribunal will not accept your claim without it.
Step Two: Completing and Filing the ET1
The ET1 is the official claim form. You can complete it online through the GOV.UK portal or download a paper version and post it to the relevant tribunal central office.5GOV.UK. Make a Claim to an Employment Tribunal The online version lets you save your progress and return before submitting.6GOV.UK. Make a Claim to an Employment Tribunal
You’ll need to provide your name and contact details, your employer’s correct legal name and address, your ACAS early conciliation certificate number, your dates of employment, and your gross and net pay. Get the employer’s legal name exactly right. It appears on your payslips, your contract, or your offer letter. If you name the wrong entity, the claim may be unenforceable against the correct employer, and amending it later isn’t guaranteed.
The most important section is the “particulars of claim,” where you set out what happened. Write a clear, chronological account including dates, the names of people involved, and how the employer’s actions affected you. This doesn’t need to read like a legal brief, but it does need to cover the factual basis for each type of claim you’re bringing. For unfair dismissal, explain how you were dismissed and why you say it was unfair. For discrimination, identify the protected characteristic and describe the treatment.
Reference any formal grievances you raised and their outcomes. Include your normal working hours, any benefits or bonuses that formed part of your pay package, and any financial losses you’ve already suffered. Precise financial information makes it easier for the tribunal to assess compensation if you win. Vague or incomplete forms cause delays and can result in parts of your claim being struck out.
Where to Send a Paper Form
Claims from work in England or Wales go to the tribunal central office in Loughborough. Claims from Scotland go to the Glasgow office.5GOV.UK. Make a Claim to an Employment Tribunal You can also deliver the form in person to a main tribunal office. Keep a copy of everything you send and note the date of posting. If a time limit dispute arises, proof of when you submitted matters.
There Is No Filing Fee
Filing an employment tribunal claim costs nothing. Tribunal fees were introduced in 2013 but struck down by the Supreme Court in 2017 and have not been reintroduced.
What Happens After You File
Tribunal staff check that the form is complete and that your ACAS certificate number is valid. If everything is in order, you receive an acknowledgment letter with your case number, and the tribunal sends a copy of your claim to your employer.
Your employer has 28 days from the date the tribunal sends the claim to file a response using the ET3 form.7GOV.UK. Being Taken to an Employment Tribunal They must state whether they intend to defend the claim and, if so, on what grounds. If the employer fails to respond within 28 days, the tribunal can decide the case without hearing from them.
Preliminary Hearings
After both sides have filed their forms, a judge may schedule one or more preliminary hearings.8GOV.UK. Being Taken to an Employment Tribunal – Before the Hearing A case management hearing (held in private) deals with practical matters: setting a timetable for exchanging documents and witness statements, deciding how long the final hearing needs, and clarifying which legal issues the tribunal will determine. An open preliminary hearing may resolve a threshold question that could dispose of the case early, such as whether your claim was filed in time, whether you qualify as an employee, or whether the tribunal has jurisdiction.
At a preliminary hearing, the judge can strike out a claim that has no reasonable prospect of success, or has been pursued in a vexatious or unreasonable way. For a claim that is weak but not hopeless, the judge may instead order a deposit of up to £1,000 as a condition of continuing. Failure to pay results in that part of the claim being struck out. Most cases proceed to a final hearing without either side facing a strike-out application.
Preparing for the Hearing
The tribunal issues directions setting out what each party must do before the hearing. This normally includes exchanging relevant documents in an agreed bundle, exchanging written witness statements by a set date, and agreeing a list of legal issues. Your witness statement is your evidence. It should cover everything you want the tribunal to know, because at the hearing itself you won’t be asked to read it aloud. The panel reads all statements in advance.
The Final Hearing
A judge, sometimes with two lay members, hears the case. Each side’s witnesses are cross-examined by the other party or their representative. The other side will ask questions designed to challenge your version of events, highlight inconsistencies, or suggest alternative explanations. You then have the chance to do the same with their witnesses.
After all the evidence has been heard, both sides make closing submissions. Hearings typically run from 10 a.m. to around 4:30 p.m. each day and can last anywhere from one day for a straightforward claim to several weeks for complex discrimination cases. You don’t need a lawyer, but if the other side has legal representation and you don’t, the imbalance can be significant.
The tribunal may give its decision orally at the end of the hearing or reserve judgment and send written reasons later. You can request written reasons within 14 days if they weren’t provided automatically.
What You Can Win
If you succeed, the tribunal can order reinstatement, re-engagement, or compensation. Compensation is by far the most common outcome.
Reinstatement puts you back in the same job on the same terms, with seniority, missed pay rises, and continuity of employment restored. Re-engagement means a comparable role rather than the identical position. Tribunals rarely order either, because by the time a hearing concludes the working relationship has usually broken down, but the tribunal must consider them before moving to compensation.
The Basic Award
For unfair dismissal, the basic award is calculated using a formula based on your age, length of service (capped at 20 years), and weekly pay (capped at £751 per week as of April 2026).9Legislation.gov.uk. The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026 For each complete year of service, you get:
- Under 22: half a week’s pay
- Aged 22 to 40: one week’s pay
- Aged 41 or over: one and a half weeks’ pay
The maximum basic award is 30 weeks’ pay, which at the current cap works out to £22,530. The calculation is mechanical; the tribunal has no discretion to increase it.
The Compensatory Award
The compensatory award covers financial losses you actually suffered because of the dismissal: lost earnings, lost pension contributions, loss of statutory rights, and expenses incurred looking for new work. The tribunal assesses what you would have earned had you not been dismissed, minus anything you’ve earned since or should reasonably have earned if you’d tried harder to find work. The compensatory award is capped at the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay.10Legislation.gov.uk. Employment Rights Act 1996 – Section 124 The cap does not apply to certain dismissals, including whistleblowing and health and safety cases.
Injury to Feelings in Discrimination Claims
Discrimination claims attract an additional award for the emotional impact of the treatment, using a framework called the Vento bands. As of April 2025:11Judiciary.uk. Vento Bands Presidential Guidance April 2025 Addendum
- Lower band (£1,200 to £12,100): less serious one-off incidents or isolated acts
- Middle band (£12,100 to £36,400): serious cases that don’t warrant the highest awards
- Upper band (£36,400 to £60,700): the most serious cases, with the most exceptional cases exceeding £60,700
Injury to feelings sits on top of any financial losses. Discrimination compensation has no overall statutory cap.
What About Costs If You Lose?
Employment tribunals work differently from civil courts on costs. The general rule is that each side bears its own, regardless of who wins. Costs orders are the exception. The tribunal will only consider one where a party has acted vexatiously or unreasonably, where a claim or response had no reasonable prospect of success, where a party breached a tribunal order, or where a hearing had to be postponed because of one party’s actions. Even then, the tribunal has discretion.
Bringing a tribunal claim therefore carries relatively low financial risk compared to civil litigation. You won’t face a six-figure costs bill if you lose a genuine claim. Pursuing a hopeless claim or conducting the case unreasonably does expose you to a costs order, so the protection isn’t absolute.
If You Disagree With the Decision
You have two routes. First, you can apply to the same tribunal for a reconsideration within 14 days of the decision being sent to you. Reconsideration is only granted where the interests of justice require it, such as new evidence emerging that couldn’t reasonably have been available at the hearing. It is not a second bite at the same arguments.
Second, you can appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, but only on a point of law. You have 42 days from the date written reasons were sent to lodge your appeal. A point of law means arguing that the tribunal applied the wrong legal test, ignored relevant evidence, or reached a conclusion no reasonable tribunal could have reached. You cannot appeal simply because you think the tribunal weighed the evidence wrongly. The EAT filters out appeals that are really just disagreements with findings of fact.