How to Respond to an Employment Tribunal Claim: ET3 Deadline, Acas, Settlement and Costs

What to do in the first days after a claim arrives

The first job is to diarise the response deadline: 28 days from the date the tribunal sent the claim, not the date it reached you. The tribunal's covering letter gives the date of sending, and the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 explain how to count it: the day of sending is excluded, so a claim sent on 1 October must be answered by 29 October.

Then, in roughly this order:

• Check who has been named. The claim form (ET1) names one or more respondents. In a group, the claimant may have named the parent company, a local subsidiary or an individual manager. The response is where you say who the employer actually was.
• Notify your insurer. Employment practices liability policies usually require prompt notice; late notice can void cover.
• Preserve evidence. Suspend routine deletion of emails, chats and HR records, and collect the contract, handbook, disciplinary papers and pay data.
• Identify the claims. One ET1 often contains several complaints: unfair dismissal, discrimination, unpaid wages, holiday pay, whistleblowing detriment. Each has its own legal test and its own compensation rules.

None of these steps commits you to defending or settling; they keep both options open.

Where the claim came from: Acas early conciliation

Almost every employment tribunal claim starts with Acas, because the tribunal must reject a claim form that does not contain an early conciliation number, a confirmation that the claim institutes no relevant proceedings, or a confirmation that an exemption applies, under rule 12 of the 2024 Rules.

According to Acas guidance updated on 1 October 2026, early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks. If the worker agrees to take part, the conciliator contacts the employer to ask whether it will join the talks. When conciliation ends, or if either side declines, Acas issues a certificate whose reference number the claimant needs for the ET1. A claimant who notified Acas within the time limit has at least one month from receiving the certificate to present the claim.

Declining conciliation does not make the claim go away; it moves the dispute to the tribunal sooner. Nor does conciliation end when the claim is issued: once the tribunal accepts your response, a copy usually goes to Acas and a conciliator will contact you again. Any deal reached through Acas is recorded in a COT3, which Acas describes as a legally binding agreement that the parties must keep to once they have agreed its terms, even before signing.

The ET3 response and the 28-day deadline

The response must be on the prescribed ET3 form, filed online or on paper, and it must reach the tribunal within 28 days of the date the claim was sent, under rule 17 of the 2024 Rules. The GOV.UK guidance for respondents, updated on 9 September 2026, stresses that the respondent must make sure it arrives in time.

The minimum information is the respondent's name and address and whether it resists all or part of the claim, but a response that stops there wastes the best chance to frame the case. A well-drafted ET3 normally:

• corrects the respondent's name and confirms or disputes the dates of employment, pay and job title;
• sets out the employer's account in numbered paragraphs, including the reason for any dismissal and the procedure followed;
• takes every jurisdictional point, such as a claim presented out of time, a claimant without the qualifying service, or a claimant who was not an employee;
• responds to each discrimination allegation separately and, where relevant, pleads the statutory defence that the employer took all reasonable steps to prevent the conduct.

If the claimant has left and has brought a breach of contract claim, the employer can bring its own contract claim, for example to recover a training cost or an overpayment. Under rule 24 it must be included in the response and received within the same 28 days.

Missed the deadline? Extensions, rejection and default judgment

If you cannot file in time, apply for an extension before the 28 days expire. Under rule 21 the application must be in writing, give reasons and say whether you want a hearing; after the deadline it must also enclose a draft response or explain why that is not possible. GOV.UK warns respondents not to assume an extension has been granted until a judge says so.

A late response without an extension must be rejected under rule 19; reconsideration can be sought within 14 days under rule 20, but only if the rejection was wrong or a defect can be cured.

The real risk is rule 22, which governs what happens if a respondent does not respond. Where no response has been received, the tribunal must decide whether it can properly determine the claim on the material it has, and if it can, it must issue judgment. A hearing may still be needed to fix compensation, and the respondent may take part in that hearing only to the extent the tribunal allows. Granting a late extension sets such a judgment aside, but it is a slow, costly way to recover a position a diary entry would have protected.

Assessing the merits of the claim

Start with the threshold points, because a claim the tribunal cannot hear is the cheapest to defend:

• Time limits. Since 1 October 2026 the general limit for presenting tribunal claims is six months, under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. It does not apply where the "relevant date", usually the act complained of or the end of employment, fell before 1 October 2026; those claims keep the three-month rule.
• Qualifying service. Ordinary unfair dismissal currently requires two years' service. That falls to six months for dismissals with an effective date of termination on or after 1 January 2027. Discrimination, whistleblowing and many automatically unfair dismissal claims need no qualifying service at all.

On the substance, test the documents against the claimant's story. Unfair dismissal turns on a fair reason and a reasonable process: investigation, hearing and appeal. In discrimination claims the burden can shift to the employer to explain its conduct, which is why contemporaneous notes matter. Large equal pay claims, such as the equal pay litigation against Tesco, and the Supreme Court's For Women Scotland ruling on the meaning of sex show how quickly Equality Act questions can become complex.

The 2024 Rules give two early tools against weak claims. Under rule 38 the tribunal can strike out a claim that has no reasonable prospect of success. Under rule 40, where an allegation has little reasonable prospect of success, it can order the claimant to pay a deposit of up to £1,000 as a condition of continuing, after enquiring into ability to pay.

Employment tribunal compensation limits for 2026

Unfair dismissal compensation is capped; discrimination and whistleblowing compensation is not. The current figures come from the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026, made on 16 March 2026, which applies where the relevant date is on or after 6 April 2026 and raised the limits in line with a 4.5% rise in the retail prices index.

Limit	Before 6 April 2026	From 6 April 2026
Maximum week's pay (basic award, redundancy pay)	£719	£751
Unfair dismissal compensatory award (or 52 weeks' pay if lower)	£118,223	£123,543
Minimum basic award in certain dismissals, including health and safety cases	£8,763	£9,157
Maximum daily guarantee payment	£39	£41
Discrimination and whistleblowing compensation	No statutory cap	No statutory cap

The compensatory award limit in section 124 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 is the lower of £123,543 and 52 weeks' gross pay, and it does not apply to dismissals for making a protected disclosure or for certain health and safety reasons. Section 124 is due to be repealed from 1 January 2027, after which highly paid employees can claim their full loss. US groups used to uncapped damages, as in the California race discrimination trial against Tesla, will see the gap narrow. The Ministry of Justice has suspended its annual tribunal compensation statistics, so there is no current official median award to benchmark against.

Costs orders: who pays the legal bills

In the employment tribunal each side usually pays its own legal costs, win or lose, so an employer that wins at a final hearing will normally not recover its own costs. That shapes every settlement decision.

The exceptions are in rule 74. The tribunal must consider a costs order where a party or its representative acted vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or otherwise unreasonably, where a claim or response had no reasonable prospect of success, or where a hearing was postponed on an application made less than seven days before it. Under rule 76 the tribunal can itself award up to £20,000; larger sums go to detailed assessment. A party without a lawyer can instead receive a preparation time order, set in the Rules at £44 an hour and rising by £1 each April. Representatives can face wasted costs orders, and under rule 82 the tribunal may take the paying party's ability to pay into account.

The same rules bite on employers running unsupportable defences, and claimants may be backed by unions, insurers or third-party litigation funders.

Settling the claim: COT3 or settlement agreement

Most employers settle through one of two documents, depending on whether Acas is involved. Both can waive statutory claims, which an ordinary contract cannot do because the Employment Rights Act 1996, in section 203, makes most agreements to exclude employment rights void.

Feature	COT3 (Acas)	Settlement agreement
Who is involved	An Acas conciliator records the deal	The parties and their lawyers draft it
Independent advice for the employee	Not required	Required from a relevant independent adviser
Formalities	Binding once terms are agreed through Acas, even before signature	Six statutory conditions in section 203(3), including writing and naming the adviser
Typical use	Disputes in early conciliation or live tribunal claims	Exits negotiated before or after a claim, often with wider terms
Cost to employer	No Acas fee	Often a contribution to the employee's legal fees

Either way, list each claim being settled, deal with tax and references, and keep confidentiality clauses within whistleblowing law. The government's timeline signals regulations on non-disclosure agreements in harassment and discrimination cases for September 2027, so drafting habits will need to change.

How the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes tribunal risk

The Act raises tribunal exposure in three steps, and the dates matter for any claim on your desk now. Our Employment Rights Act 2025 employer checklist covers every measure; these are the ones that change how a claim is defended.

• 1 October 2026: the six-month time limit applies to most claims where the relevant date is on or after that day. The Department for Business and Trade timeline, updated on 22 October 2026, puts breach of contract claims in Scotland on 9 November 2026.
• 30 October 2026: the duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and the duty not to permit third-party harassment took effect, shaping harassment claims and ET3 defences.
• 1 January 2027: the Commencement No. 4 Regulations bring in the six-month qualifying period and remove the compensatory award cap. The changes apply where the effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027, even if notice was given earlier, and do not apply where it fell before.

A long notice period given in late 2026 can therefore carry a dismissal into the new regime. Later measures on the government timeline, including fire and rehire protections and pregnancy dismissal protections, are planned for 2027 but remain subject to regulations; our Royal Assent coverage explains how the Act was structured.

Overseas employers: jurisdiction and cross-border claims

A foreign contract or headquarters does not keep a dispute out of the employment tribunal. Rule 10 of the 2024 Rules allows a claim to be presented in England and Wales, or in Scotland, where the respondent resides or carries on business there, where an act complained of took place there, where the work was performed partly there, or where the tribunal has jurisdiction because of a connection with Great Britain.

That last limb can bring in staff posted overseas or peripatetic employees based in Great Britain, depending on the strength of the connection. Equally, a foreign national working in London for an overseas group is usually within reach whatever the contract says.

For contractual claims in the civil courts, section 15C of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 lets an employee sue the employer where it is domiciled in the UK or where the employee habitually works, and limits the employer to suing the employee where the employee is domiciled. A jurisdiction clause pointing elsewhere only binds if it was agreed after the dispute arose or gives the employee extra options.

Practical points for groups: confirm which entity employed the claimant before filing the ET3; check whether the claimant is a sponsored worker, because a sponsor licence carries reporting duties when employment ends; align any parallel claims in other countries, where EU rules such as the Pay Transparency Directive may apply; and, if an award is made against an entity with no UK assets, take advice early on enforcing judgments across borders. Executive contracts with arbitration clauses raise the questions in our guide to arbitration versus litigation.

After the response: case management, hearing and timing

Once the ET3 is accepted, the case moves into case management. GOV.UK estimates about 26 weeks of case management before the final hearing, with judgment usually issued within four weeks of that hearing. Expect a preliminary hearing to agree the list of issues, then orders for disclosure of documents, a schedule of loss from the claimant, a hearing bundle and exchange of witness statements.

With the single-claim caseload at a record 70,000 and disposals down 6% on a year earlier, according to the April to June 2026 statistics, many hearing dates are now being listed well into the future. Delay is not neutral: losses accrue, witnesses leave and memories fade, so take witness notes early and revisit settlement at each stage.

When to instruct an employment lawyer

If you are unsure how to respond to an employment tribunal claim, instruct a specialist as soon as it arrives, particularly if it includes discrimination or whistleblowing allegations, if the claimant is a senior employee whose losses could exceed the cap that disappears on 1 January 2027, if several employees bring linked claims, or if the employer or the claimant is outside Great Britain.

You can compare employment and labour lawyers across more than 150 jurisdictions in the Corporate INTL directory, browse advisers in the United Kingdom or in Scotland, and find dispute resolution specialists for claims that cross into the civil courts. If you would like an introduction, use the form below and we will put you in touch with a member. For more analysis, follow our Employment & Labour coverage.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to respond to an employment tribunal claim?

The tribunal must receive your ET3 response within 28 days of the date it sent you the claim, not the date the claim arrived. You can apply in writing for more time, ideally before the deadline expires.

What happens if a respondent does not respond to an employment tribunal claim?

Under rule 22 of the 2024 Rules, the tribunal decides whether it can determine the claim on the available material and, if it can, issues judgment without a hearing. A hearing may still be held on compensation, but the respondent can take part only to the extent the tribunal allows.

Do I have to take part in Acas early conciliation?

No. Early conciliation is voluntary for both sides, though the claimant must contact Acas before bringing most claims. If you decline, the claimant receives a certificate and can go to the tribunal; Acas usually offers conciliation again once a claim is issued.

What happens after an ET3 is submitted?

If the tribunal accepts the response, it sends a copy to the claimant and usually to Acas. The case then moves to case management: a preliminary hearing, a list of issues, disclosure, a schedule of loss and witness statements. GOV.UK estimates about 26 weeks before the final hearing, with judgment usually within four weeks.

What is the unfair dismissal compensation cap in 2026?

For dismissals where the relevant date is on or after 6 April 2026, the compensatory award is capped at the lower of £123,543 and 52 weeks' gross pay, and a week's pay for the basic award is capped at £751. The cap does not apply to whistleblowing or discrimination claims and is due to be removed from 1 January 2027.

Who pays the legal costs in an employment tribunal?

Usually each side pays its own costs, whatever the outcome. The tribunal must consider a costs order where a party acted vexatiously or unreasonably, where a claim or response had no reasonable prospect of success, or after a late postponement. It can award up to £20,000 itself, with larger amounts sent for detailed assessment.

Is a COT3 binding before it is signed?

Acas says yes. A COT3 is a legally binding agreement, and once the employer and the worker have agreed its terms through an Acas conciliator they must keep to them, even before anyone signs. Settle wording, payment dates and confidentiality before confirming agreement to Acas.

Can an employee working abroad bring an employment tribunal claim?

Sometimes. Rule 10 of the 2024 Rules allows claims where the tribunal has jurisdiction because of a connection with Great Britain, and that can cover employees posted overseas or based in Great Britain but travelling. Whether it is strong enough depends on the facts.

Sources

1. Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, April to June 2026: gov.uk
2. Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 (SI 2024/1155): legislation.gov.uk
3. Acas, How early conciliation works (updated 1 October 2026): acas.org.uk
4. HMCTS, Responding to an employment tribunal claim (T422): gov.uk
5. Employment Rights Act 2025 Commencement No. 5 (Amendment) Regulations (SI 2026/954): legislation.gov.uk
6. Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2026 (SI 2026/310): legislation.gov.uk
7. Employment Rights Act 1996, sections 124 and 203: legislation.gov.uk
8. DBT, Employment Rights Act timeline update (22 October 2026): gov.uk
9. Employment Rights Act 2025 Commencement No. 4 Regulations (SI 2026/559): legislation.gov.uk
10. Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, section 15C: legislation.gov.uk

About this article

Researched and written by The Corporate INTL Newsroom. It has been checked against the 2024 Procedure Rules, the Employment Rights Acts 1996 and 2025 and official HMCTS, Acas and DBT guidance. It covers employment tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland; Northern Ireland has a separate system. This article is general information, not legal advice; for advice on a specific claim, consult a qualified adviser. Last reviewed 2 November 2026. For more analysis like this, visit the Corporate INTL newsroom or subscribe to our newsletter.