Since Thursday 1 October, staff in Great Britain have six months, rather than three, to bring most claims to an employment tribunal. The change was brought into force by The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/954), which say that the relevant provisions of the 2025 Act "come into force on 1st October 2026".
The regulations' explanatory note describes the provisions as ones "which extend time limits for instituting claims to employment tribunals from three to six months."
What changed on 1 October
The longer limit covers the claims security employers see most often, including unfair dismissal, unauthorised deductions from wages, holiday pay claims under the Working Time Regulations 1998, and discrimination complaints under the Equality Act 2010.
It is not retrospective. The regulations state: "The amendments made by Schedule 12 to the 2025 Act do not apply in any case where the relevant date occurs before 1st October 2026." In practice the date that counts is the date of the matter complained of (for unfair dismissal, the effective date of termination; for deductions, the date of the payment), not the date the claim is filed.
What comes next on 30 October
Acas, the statutory advisory service, says: "On 30 October 2026 the law will change so employers will be liable for harassment from third parties." Acas says employers could be liable for harassment by a third party unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it. Its list of third parties includes people at conferences or events and other members of the public. In its worked example of reasonable steps an employer might take, Acas lists extra door supervisors, alarm systems, cameras, code words, safe areas, and tracking and reporting incidents.
What it means for operators
Security businesses run long hours, variable shifts and holiday pay arrangements that generate disputes. With claims now possible for six months, keep timesheets, pay records, grievance notes and disciplinary files for at least that long after any dispute, and deal with complaints early rather than waiting for the old three-month window to close. For door, event and front-of-house teams, the 30 October change means harassment of staff by customers and the public becomes a liability question for the employer: incident logs, briefings and staffing levels are now part of the evidence of reasonable steps.
