How Long Do You Have to Claim Redundancy Pay?

The deadlines are strict and rarely extended

Employment Tribunal time limits are among the strictest in English law. Unlike civil claims, where courts have broad discretion to extend limitation periods, Employment Tribunals can only extend time limits in redundancy cases when it was "not reasonably practicable" to bring the claim in time — and this is interpreted narrowly.

Do not assume that a compelling reason will be enough. Ignorance of the law, being abroad, or being too distressed are generally not accepted as sufficient grounds. The deadlines should be treated as firm.

The primary time limits

| Claim type | Time limit | |------------|-----------| | Unfair dismissal | 3 months less one day from the effective date of termination | | Statutory redundancy pay | 6 months less one day from the effective date of termination | | Unlawful deduction from wages (including holiday pay) | 3 months from the last deduction | | Breach of contract (notice pay) | 3 months from termination (tribunal) or 6 years (civil court) |

The "effective date of termination" is generally your last day of employment — the date your contract ends, not when you were told, not when your notice period began.

ACAS Early Conciliation — what it is and how it affects your deadline

Before you can submit a claim to an Employment Tribunal, you must first notify ACAS and go through Early Conciliation. This is a legal requirement — a claim submitted without a valid ACAS certificate will be rejected.

ACAS Early Conciliation is a free service. You notify ACAS online or by phone (0300 123 1100), and they will contact both you and your employer to see whether the dispute can be resolved without a tribunal hearing.

Crucially, the tribunal time limit clock is paused during Early Conciliation. The clock stops on the day you contact ACAS and restarts when ACAS issues a certificate (either because conciliation failed, or because a settlement was reached).

Once the certificate is issued, you have at least one month from the certificate date to file your ET1 claim — even if the original time limit has already expired.

This means contacting ACAS is always worth doing, even if you are close to a deadline. Notifying ACAS near the end of your time limit pauses the clock and buys you time to either settle or prepare your tribunal claim.

Early Conciliation duration

As of 1 December 2025, ACAS Early Conciliation lasts up to 12 weeks (extended from the previous 6-week period). This gives more time for meaningful negotiation before either party decides whether to proceed to tribunal.

A practical timeline example

Say your last day of employment is 1 April 2026:

• Unfair dismissal deadline: 31 December 2026 (3 months less one day)
• Redundancy pay deadline: 31 September 2026 (6 months less one day) — note: if you contact ACAS on 25 September, the clock pauses

If you contact ACAS on 25 September and they issue a certificate on 10 October, you now have until 10 November to file your ET1 — even though the original 6-month deadline has passed.

What if you miss the deadline?

For unfair dismissal, the tribunal can extend time only where it was "not reasonably practicable" to bring the claim in time. This is a high bar. Accepted examples include postal failures at the tribunal, serious illness preventing any action, or where the employer actively misled the employee about the date of termination.

For redundancy pay claims, there is a small additional window: the tribunal may extend by a further 6 months (to 12 months total) if it considers it "just and equitable" to do so. This is a slightly lower bar than the unfair dismissal test, but it is still discretionary and not guaranteed.

The safe approach is to treat all deadlines as firm.

Steps to take now

1. Write down your effective date of termination
2. Calculate both your unfair dismissal deadline (3 months less one day) and your redundancy pay deadline (6 months less one day)
3. If you believe you have been underpaid, start with a formal letter to your employer first — see our guide on whether your redundancy offer is fair
4. If that does not resolve the issue, contact ACAS before your deadline approaches

ACAS is free, informal, and preserves your options. There is no downside to contacting them early.