Employment tribunals explained: the complete guide

If things have gone badly wrong at work, the employment tribunal is where employment disputes are finally decided. It is less formal than a court, cheaper than most people fear, and far more common than most people realise. But it has strict rules, strict deadlines and a process that punishes the unprepared.

This guide covers the whole picture: what tribunals do, who can claim, the deadlines that catch people out, what it costs, what happens at the hearing and what you can win. Each section links to a deeper guide if you need the detail.

What an employment tribunal actually is

An employment tribunal is an independent judicial body that decides disputes between workers and employers. It sits below the courts, and its judges specialise in employment law. Most hearings are decided by an employment judge sitting alone, with two lay members (one from an employer background, one from an employee background) joining for some discrimination and more complex cases.

Tribunals are not a complaints service and they are not mediation. They make legally binding decisions. If you win, the tribunal can order your employer to pay you compensation, and in some cases give you your job back. If you lose, you normally walk away with nothing, but you do not normally have to pay your employer's legal costs either.

What you can claim for

The common claims break down into a few groups:

• Unfair dismissal. You were dismissed and the reason or the process was not fair. Normally needs two years' service, though some dismissals (for example pregnancy, health and safety or asserting a statutory right) are automatically unfair from day one. See our guide to what unfair dismissal actually means.
• Discrimination. Poor treatment because of age, disability, sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, pregnancy or another protected characteristic. No qualifying period, and compensation is uncapped.
• Pay claims. Unpaid wages, holiday pay, notice pay, deductions from pay and redundancy pay.
• Constructive dismissal. You resigned because your employer's conduct left you no real choice. Treated as a dismissal, and usually needs two years' service.
• Detriment and victimisation. Being punished for raising a grievance, supporting a colleague's complaint or asserting your rights.

One claim often contains several of these. A badly handled redundancy can be an unfair dismissal, a discrimination claim and a pay claim at the same time.

Before anything else: ACAS early conciliation

You cannot simply send a claim to the tribunal. Almost every claim must go through ACAS early conciliation first: you notify ACAS, a conciliator contacts both sides, and if it does not resolve you get a certificate that lets you submit your claim. It is free, confidential and does not commit you to anything.

Early conciliation also pauses your time limit while it runs, which makes it a protective step as much as a settlement step. Our guide to ACAS early conciliation explains how it works in practice.

Time limits: the deadline that decides most claims

Most tribunal claims must be started within three months less one day of the dismissal or the act you are complaining about. Miss it and your claim is normally dead, however strong it is. Tribunals have a narrow discretion to extend, and they use it sparingly.

From 1 October 2026 the limit for most claims doubles to six months under the Employment Rights Act 2025, for incidents happening on or after that date. Anything arising before then stays on the three-month clock. The detail, and why we still tell people to act fast, is in our guide to employment tribunal time limits.

The claim process step by step

A typical claim runs like this:

1. Early conciliation. You notify ACAS. Conciliation usually lasts up to six weeks.

2. The ET1. You submit your claim form setting out what happened and what you are claiming.

3. The ET3. Your employer has 28 days to respond with their defence.

4. Preliminary hearings. A judge deals with case management: lists of issues, disclosure, witness statements, hearing dates.

5. Preparation. Documents are exchanged, a bundle is agreed, witness statements are swapped in advance.

6. The final hearing. Evidence is given, witnesses are cross-examined, the judge decides.

The full walkthrough is in our guide to the employment tribunal process, and our guide to how long a tribunal takes sets out realistic timescales. Most straightforward unfair dismissal claims currently take the best part of a year to reach a final hearing, and busy regions take longer.

What it costs

There are no tribunal fees. They were abolished in 2017, so issuing a claim costs nothing. The real cost is legal help if you choose to use it, plus the time the process takes. Cost orders, where one side pays the other's costs, are rare in tribunals and usually need genuinely unreasonable behaviour.

The honest numbers, for employees and for employers defending a claim, are in our guide to employment tribunal costs.

Preparing your case

Tribunal claims are won on documents and witnesses, not on how wronged you feel. The cases that go well tend to have:

• A clear timeline. Dates, who said what, what happened next, written while it is fresh.
• The documents. Contract, handbook, emails, messages, notes of meetings, payslips. If it exists in writing, it matters more than what anyone remembers.
• A realistic schedule of loss. What you have actually lost in pay and benefits, and what you have done to find new work.
• Witnesses who will actually come. A supportive colleague who will not give a statement helps nobody.

The hearing itself

Hearing day is more structured than dramatic. Each side's witnesses give evidence on their written statements and are cross-examined, the judge asks questions, and both sides sum up. Many straightforward hearings finish in a day or two; discrimination claims often take longer.

Knowing the running order in advance removes most of the fear. Our guide to what happens at an employment tribunal hearing walks through the day from arrival to judgment.

What you can win

For ordinary unfair dismissal, compensation has two parts: a basic award calculated like statutory redundancy pay, and a compensatory award for your actual financial loss, capped at the lower of 52 weeks' pay or the statutory cap (£123,543 for 2026/27). The cap does not apply to discrimination or whistleblowing claims, which can also include an award for injury to feelings.

The average unfair dismissal award is far below the cap, because most people find new work and their actual loss is limited. Our guide to unfair dismissal compensation shows how the numbers are really built.

Settlement: how most claims actually end

The majority of tribunal claims never reach a final hearing. They settle, through ACAS conciliation, direct negotiation or a settlement agreement. Settlement gives both sides certainty: you get a guaranteed payment without the wait and the risk, and your employer closes the matter without a public hearing.

A sensible settlement figure reflects what you might win, discounted for the risk of losing and the months the process takes. That is a judgement call, and it is where early advice earns its keep.

If you are the employer

Defending a tribunal claim is expensive in management time even when you win, and most defences are decided by what happened before the claim: the fairness of the process, the quality of the paperwork and whether warnings and consultations were genuine. Early, honest advice on the strength of the claim usually saves money in every scenario, whether that means defending robustly or settling early. Our specialist panel handles tribunal defence for employers as well as claims for employees.

Appeals

Either side can appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, but only on a point of law: that the tribunal applied the law wrongly or reached a decision no reasonable tribunal could reach. You cannot appeal simply because you disagree with the outcome. The deadline is 42 days from the decision.

Do you need a solicitor?

You are allowed to represent yourself, and plenty of people do. The honest answer on when that works and when it costs you is in our guide to whether you need a solicitor for a tribunal. The short version: the earlier you get advice, the more options you have, and the first conversation with one of our panel firms costs nothing.

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