The employment tribunal time limit for most claims doubled on 1 October 2026, from three months to six. For a care service, where a shift dispute or a dismissal can sit quietly for weeks before anyone writes a letter, that changes how long you need to be ready to explain yourself. Add the unfair dismissal change coming on 1 January 2027 and the records you keep this winter will decide cases heard well into 2028.
This is written for the registered manager of a homecare, supported living or residential service who handles staff issues without an HR department down the corridor. It covers what has changed, the dates that matter and what to put in place this month.
What the employment tribunal time limit is now
Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 and its commencement regulations, a claim for unfair dismissal, discrimination or unlawful deductions from wages can now be brought up to six months after the act complained of. The longer limit applies where that date falls on or after 1 October 2026. A few claims, such as equal pay and statutory redundancy pay, already had six months and are unchanged. In Scotland the change for breach of contract claims follows on 9 November 2026.
Where the complaint is a run of incidents, such as a pattern of comments from a senior carer, the clock usually starts from the last one. So an incident in October can bring a whole year of earlier behaviour back into view.
Why six months is really closer to ten
Before a claim reaches the tribunal, the worker has to notify Acas for early conciliation. Since 1 December 2025 conciliation can run for up to 12 weeks, and the time limit stops while it does. After the certificate is issued there is at least a month left to file.
Take a support worker dismissed on 15 October 2026. Her six months end on 14 April 2027. If she contacts Acas the day before, the full conciliation period and the month that follows take her deadline into August 2027. Ten months after the event, the people involved may have moved on, the rota may have been rewritten twice and the agency staff on that night may be working somewhere else.
The unfair dismissal change on 1 January 2027
From 1 January 2027 an employee needs six months of service to claim ordinary unfair dismissal, down from two years, and the cap on the compensatory award goes, both the fixed figure and the 52 weeks of pay. The new rules apply where the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027.
Two things catch care employers out here. First, the change counts everyone already on the payroll. A carer who started with you in May 2026 will have more than six months behind her on New Year’s Day. Second, statutory notice can push the effective date forward for qualifying service, so dismissing someone without notice in the last week of December may not keep the case on the old rules.
None of this stops you dismissing someone who is not working out. It means the decision needs a fair reason, a fair process and a paper trail, much earlier than most services are used to.
Records that hold up ten months later
Tribunals decide on documents. In care, the useful ones are usually already being made somewhere and simply not kept together.
Supervision notes are the first. If a concern was raised about medication errors or lateness, the supervision record should say what was discussed, what was agreed and when it would be looked at again, signed or acknowledged by the worker. A line in a manager’s diary is not the same thing.
Rotas and timesheets are the second. Many deduction claims turn on whether a sleep in, a handover or travel between calls was paid as it should have been. Keep the published rota, the changes made on the day and the hours actually paid, not just the final version.
Holiday records are the third, and here there is a legal duty, not just good practice. Since 6 April 2026 employers must keep adequate records of holiday and holiday pay for six years. With the Fair Work Agency taking over holiday pay enforcement, this is the record most likely to be asked for first.
The fourth is the dismissal file itself: the invitation to the meeting, the notes, the outcome letter and the appeal. Store it where it can be found by someone other than the manager who ran it.
What to change in probation
Most care providers set a three or six month probation. From January, the end of a six month probation is the point at which unfair dismissal protection starts, so the review has to happen on time and say something real.
Book reviews at the start of employment rather than when the period ends. At each one, record what is going well, what is not and what support has been given, such as shadow shifts, medication competency checks or moving and handling refreshers. If a probation is extended, say why in writing before the original end date. A probation that quietly runs past six months with nothing on file is the weakest position you can be in.
Harassment complaints have a longer tail too
From 30 October 2026 employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their staff, and protection from harassment by third parties, such as residents’ relatives or visitors, widens to other protected characteristics. Discrimination and harassment claims are open to workers from their first day, agency workers included, and they now have the same six months. Log every complaint, what you did about it and when, even if it was resolved over a cup of tea. Our article on what changed in October 2026 sets out the wider picture.
A practical start this week
Pull the list of everyone who joined since January 2026 and mark who passes six months before the end of March 2027. Check each has a current supervision record and a booked probation review. Then check that holiday records for the last tax year can be produced in one go. If any of that takes more than an afternoon, it is the gap to close before January.
If you are covering shifts while you sort this out, Flamingo Workforce supplies vetted support workers and care staff across England and Wales. Get in touch and we will talk through what you need.