ACAS Early Conciliation Period Extended To 12 Weeks

The ACAS Early Conciliation Period Has Been Extended From 6 To 12 Weeks

The Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 change the current early conciliation period from six weeks to twelve weeks for all cases notified to ACAS after 1 December 2025.

It is the hope of the Government that this extension to the early conciliation period will help to alleviate the pressure on ACAS and ultimately reduce tribunal backlogs. Many employers are receiving dispute notifications weeks after the 6-week period begins, or even after it has expired. So rather than allowing a longer period to resolve disputes, it will result in fewer employers being notified too late to make a difference.

What Is ACAS Early Conciliation?

ACAS early conciliation is a prerequisite to starting an employment tribunal claim. Starting ACAS early conciliation has the effect of “pausing the clock” on statutory limitation periods for bringing a claim. By increasing the period of early conciliation to 12 weeks, the legislation has effectively doubled the typical 3-month limitation period for most employment tribunal claims.

What Is The Statutory Limitation Period?

Employees currently have a period of 3 months minus one day (12 weeks) to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal. The clock starts ticking the day the event that led to the claim occured so in the case of unfair dismissal; day one would be the last day of employment or the last day of the notice period (which may be a later date). The time limit is then 3 months less one day from that date.

Under the Employment Rights Bill the Government intends to extend the statutory limitation period from three to six months. Under the Delivery Roadmap the change is expected to take effect in October 2026.

Therefore from October 2026, employees could, have up to nine months to bring a claim. This would create longer periods of uncertainty for employers and could mean some claims are not heard at a full hearing until more than two (or more) years after the employee’s departure.

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