Employment tribunal time limits doubled: what it means for care hiring

From 1 October 2026, the time limit for bringing most employment tribunal claims is six months, up from three. That includes discrimination claims from people you didn't hire. A care worker you turned down in October can still bring a claim in April. The practical question for a registered manager is simple: in six months' time, could you show why you made that decision?

What changed on 1 October 2026?

The Employment Rights Act 2025 rewrote the time limits across employment law. The government's implementation timeline confirms that from 1 October 2026 "the time limit for bringing a claim to the Employment Tribunal has increased from 3 to 6 months".

Three details matter for hiring:

It covers discrimination. Schedule 12 of the Act amends section 123 of the Equality Act 2010, the section that sets the time limit for work-related discrimination claims, from three months to six. You can read the amendment on legislation.gov.uk.
It applies to applicants, not just staff. Section 39 of the Equality Act says an employer must not discriminate against a person "in the arrangements A makes for deciding to whom to offer employment" or "by not offering B employment". A rejected applicant has always been able to claim. They now have twice as long to do it.
It depends on when the decision happened. The six-month limit applies where the act complained of happened on or after 1 October 2026. For a series of similar acts, the date of the last one counts. Decisions made before 1 October keep the old three-month limit.

The Acas early conciliation step hasn't changed, and neither has the tribunal's discretion to accept a late claim. Acas has a plain-English summary of every October change.

What else lands this autumn?

Date	Change	Why it matters for care providers
1 October 2026	Tribunal time limits rise from three to six months for most claims	Rejected applicants and leavers have longer to claim. Hiring records need to last longer.
30 October 2026	Employers must take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment, and must not permit harassment of employees by third parties	In care, third parties include the people you support and their families. Policies and induction need to cover it.
October 2026	Regulations to establish the Fair Pay Agreement Adult Social Care Negotiating Body in England	The first formal step towards sector-wide minimum pay and conditions.
1 January 2027	Unfair dismissal qualifying period falls from two years to six months, for dismissals from that date	A poor hire becomes harder to undo after six months. Getting the decision right at the start matters more.

Source: GOV.UK implementation timeline, updated 25 September 2026.

Why does this matter more in care than elsewhere?

Care hiring is high volume. A single home or branch can turn down dozens of applicants a month, many of them after a short phone call. Those are the decisions that are hardest to explain six months later. The person who made the call has moved on, the notes were a line in a spreadsheet, and the advert has been reposted twice since.

Care providers also carry a record-keeping duty that most employers don't. Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 says "recruitment procedures must be established and operated effectively". Schedule 3 information (identity, employment history, references, DBS and the rest) must be confirmed before someone is employed. And if you hire someone despite something in that information, "the provider's reasons should be recorded for future reference".

So two regulators are pointing the same way. CQC wants to see why you hired. A tribunal can now ask, up to six months later, why you didn't.

A third voice joins them if you screen with AI. The Information Commissioner's Office said in March 2026 that "organisations need to be clear with candidates if ADM is being used and explain how it works", and must tell candidates how to challenge a decision and request a human review. Your hiring record needs to show the human in the loop.

What should a care provider keep on file, and for how long?

Keep a record of every hiring decision, including rejections, for at least six months after the decision, plus the Acas early conciliation period. Many employers choose 12 months to be safe. Whatever you pick, your retention policy and your candidate privacy notice need to say the same thing.

Record	What good looks like	Why it matters
Job advert and person specification	The version that was live when each applicant applied	Shows the criteria you measured against
Screening questions and scoring criteria	Same questions, same scoring, for every applicant to the role	Consistency is the core defence to a discrimination claim
Each applicant's answers and score	A transcript or dated notes, with the score	Reconstructs the decision without relying on memory
Who decided, and when	A named person and a date, not "the team"	Six months on, you need to know who to ask
The reason for rejection	One sentence tied to the criteria, not "not suitable"	A vague reason is harder to defend than a specific one
Reasonable adjustments	What the applicant asked for, what you offered	Disability claims often turn on this
Any AI involvement	What the tool did, what the human reviewed and decided	ICO expectation, and it helps applicants who ask
Schedule 3 checks for successful applicants	Confirmed before day one	Regulation 19

How does Lily help?

Lily builds the record as you hire, so nobody has to remember to write it. Every applicant gets the same structured screening interview, scored against the same criteria. The call is transcribed, the answers are stored alongside the questions exactly as they were asked, and the result sits on the applicant's file with the decision and the notes behind it. Applicants hear back either way, which is part of why 92% of applicants get a response and candidate satisfaction sits at 91%.

The decision stays with you. Lily scores and recommends; a person in your team decides, and the file shows that.

The same file carries the compliance checks CQC asks about under Regulation 19: DBS, right to work and references, with the evidence attached. If you want to see how the hiring record and the compliance record fit together, take a look at how the Lily platform works, or read how to stay CQC-compliant through your hiring process.

Five things to do this month

Check your retention policy. If records for unsuccessful applicants are deleted at three months, change it. Update the privacy notice to match.
Write down the reason for every rejection. One sentence, tied to the criteria, by the person who made the call.
Standardise screening questions for each role. Same questions, same order, same scoring, for every applicant.
Record adjustments. If an applicant asked for one, note what you offered and what happened.
Update harassment policies before 30 October. Include harassment by the people you support and their families, and cover it in induction.

If you'd rather the record built itself, book a demo and we'll show you what a hiring file looks like in Lily, from first call to day one.

Frequently asked questions

Can a job applicant bring an employment tribunal claim in the UK?

Yes. Section 39 of the Equality Act 2010 protects applicants from discrimination in the arrangements an employer makes for deciding whom to offer a job, in the terms offered, and by not offering the job. From 1 October 2026 the time limit for those claims is six months.

Does the six-month limit apply to decisions made before 1 October 2026?

No. The six-month limit applies where the act complained of happened on or after 1 October 2026. Earlier decisions keep the three-month limit. Where there is a series of similar acts, the date of the last one decides which limit applies.

How long should we keep records for unsuccessful applicants?

Long enough to cover the six-month claim window plus Acas early conciliation. Many employers settle on 12 months. Say it in your retention policy and privacy notice, and stick to it.

Do we have to tell applicants if AI was used to screen them?

The ICO expects organisations using automated decision-making in recruitment to be clear with candidates that it is being used, explain how it works, and tell them how to challenge a decision and ask for a human review.

What changes on 30 October 2026?

Employers must take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment of their employees and must not permit harassment of employees by third parties. In care, third parties include the people you support and their families.

This article summarises the position as at 9 October 2026 and isn't legal advice. Check GOV.UK for the latest guidance and take advice on any live case.

Editor notes (delete before publishing)

Why now: The Employment Rights Act 2025 tribunal time-limit change took effect on 1 October 2026, and the harassment duties follow on 30 October. GOV.UK confirmed the dates in its timeline update of 25 September 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act/plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act-timeline-update. The Homecare Association is running a webinar on the October changes, so the sector is paying attention. No existing post on the site covers the Employment Rights Act or applicant tribunal claims. It does not overlap with the compliance cluster in Review (hub re-target, right to work, safer recruitment, DBS), and it links to the live right to work post.

Primary keyword and search intent: "employment tribunal time limits" (informational, employer-side), with "Employment Rights Act 2025 October 2026" and "care hiring records" as secondary. Searchers are HR leads and registered managers checking what changed and what to keep.

Sources used:

GOV.UK timeline update (25 Sep 2026): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act/plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act-timeline-update
business.gov.uk, Employment tribunal time limits: https://www.business.gov.uk/campaign/employment-changes/employee/employment-tribunal-time-limits/
Employment Rights Act 2025, Schedule 12, para 18 (Equality Act s.123 "3" to "6"): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/schedule/12
SI 2026/954, Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions (Amendment) Regulations 2026, reg 3 and reg 4: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/954/made
Equality Act 2010, s.39: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/39
Acas, Employment Rights Act 2025: https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025
CQC, Regulation 19: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/regulations-service-providers-and-managers/health-social-care-act/regulation-19
ICO blog, 31 Mar 2026: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2026/03/automated-decisions-can-streamline-the-hiring-process-with-the-right-safeguards-in-place/
BDBF LLP on the extension (secondary, for the "six months less one day" and record-keeping points): https://www.bdbf.co.uk/extension-of-employment-tribunal-time-limits-from-1-october-2026/
Homecare Association webinar listing (sector interest only, not cited in the body): https://www.homecareassociation.org.uk/trainingandevents/get-ready-for-new-employment-rights-october-2026-and-january-2027.html

Check before publishing:

The claim that the six-month limit applies to job applicants is an inference from two verified facts: Schedule 12 amends Equality Act s.123, and s.39 covers applicants. No source I opened says "applicants" in terms. Worth a quick check with an employment lawyer or the compliance lead.
"Many employers choose 12 months" for retention is a common practitioner view, not a sourced statistic. Soften or cut if you prefer.
The third-party harassment example (people you support and their families) is the Homecare Association's framing, not GOV.UK's wording. GOV.UK says "third-party harassment".
The "six months less one day" detail comes from law-firm commentary; the body says "six months" to match GOV.UK.
Product claims to confirm: answers stored with the question text as asked; applicants always hear back after a rejection; the file records who made the decision. I kept these general on purpose.
The /book-a-demo link path: confirm it is the live route.
Pricing is deliberately absent (token-based pricing goes to demo per brand guidelines v2).
The 92% response and 91% satisfaction figures are the approved stats from brand guidelines section 6b.