Since 1 October 2026, most employment tribunal claims have a six-month time limit instead of three. That's the headline. But there's a catch most of the early coverage glosses over, and it matters a lot to agency drivers: the longer limit isn't backdated. If the thing you want to claim about happened before 1 October, you're probably still on the old three-month clock.
So if you've been sitting on a holiday pay or AWR grievance from the summer, don't assume you've got extra time. You may have less than you think.
What actually changed on 1 October
Section 152 and Schedule 12 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 swap "three months" for "six months" across a long list of tribunal claims. They were switched on by the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/954, which brought them into force on 1 October 2026.
The claims a driver or agency is most likely to see are all on the list:
- Unlawful deductions from wages (Employment Rights Act 1996, section 23). Underpaid hours, unpaid waiting time where you're contractually entitled to it, deductions for fuel, damage or uniforms that your contract doesn't allow.
- Holiday pay and annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 30.
- Agency Workers Regulations 2010 claims, including equal treatment on pay after 12 weeks (regulation 18).
- Unfair dismissal (section 111 of the 1996 Act).
- Discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, section 123.
Breach of contract claims run on a separate track. In England and Wales, a separate order (SI 2026/759) moved them to six months from 1 October 2026 too, but only where the employment ends on or after that date. In Scotland the change comes later, on 9 November 2026. Equal pay and statutory redundancy pay claims already had six months, so nothing changes there.
One more detail people get wrong: the limit is six months less one day, not six months. Acas's own example is a pay problem on 1 October 2026, which gives you until 11:59pm on 31 March 2027.
The bit that isn't retrospective
Regulation 4 of SI 2026/954 is short and blunt. The new limits don't apply "in any case where the relevant date occurs before 1st October 2026." For most claims, the relevant date is the date of the act or failure you're complaining about.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
| When it happened | Time limit | Last day to claim (before any Acas pause) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2026 | 3 months less a day | 14 December 2026 |
| 30 September 2026 | 3 months less a day | 29 December 2026 |
| 1 October 2026 | 6 months less a day | 31 March 2027 |
A one-day difference in when something happened can change your deadline by three months. That's why the date matters more than anything else right now.
There's an exception that helps a lot of drivers. Where you're complaining about a series of similar acts or failures, the relevant date is the last one in the series. So if your agency has been underpaying your holiday pay every month since spring, and the latest underpayment landed on or after 1 October, the six-month limit applies to the claim. Whether a run of underpayments counts as a series depends on the facts, so get that checked rather than assuming.
Worth knowing too: unlawful deductions claims in Great Britain can only go back two years from the date you lodge the claim, whatever the time limit. The longer window doesn't change that cap.
What it means if you drive agency
The old three months was tight for agency work. You might not notice your rate hasn't moved at week 12, or that your holiday pay is being worked out on basic hours only, until two or three payslips have gone by. Then you need to find someone to look at it. By the time you'd done all that, the deadline was often close or gone.
For anything from 1 October onwards, you now have room to spot the pattern, pull your records together and get advice before you have to act. That's the real change.
A few cases where this comes up for drivers:
AWR pay at week 12. After 12 qualifying weeks in the same role with the same hirer, you're entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as a comparable directly recruited driver. If that didn't happen, the gap in each pay packet is the claim. I went through the qualifying-week rules and the breaks that reset the clock in the AWR post for HGV drivers.
Holiday pay. Statutory holiday pay should reflect normal pay for the first four weeks, which for many drivers includes regular overtime, not just basic hours. Rolled-up holiday pay is lawful again, but only for irregular-hours and part-year workers, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, and it has to be shown separately on the payslip. If yours doesn't match that, ask.
Deductions. Money taken for damage, fines, fuel or kit has to be allowed by your contract or agreed in writing in advance. If it wasn't, it's a deductions claim.
What the tribunal doesn't do is enforce the drivers' hours rules themselves. Breaches of EU 561/2006 daily and weekly rest are a matter for DVSA and the Traffic Commissioner. The tribunal deals with the money and the job: pay, holiday, dismissal, discrimination, AWR.
What it means for agencies and hirers
For acts from 1 October, you're exposed for twice as long. A claim you'd once have seen off as out of time can now land in month five.
And AWR liability isn't only the agency's problem. A hirer can be on the hook too if it's responsible for the breach, typically by not telling the agency what its directly employed drivers actually get paid.
The practical question is simple. If a driver you placed this autumn claims next spring, can you show when each assignment started, how many qualifying weeks they'd done, what they were paid and how holiday pay was calculated? If the honest answer is "roughly", fix the records now while the details are recent.
Acas early conciliation still comes first
None of this changes the first step. Before you can lodge a tribunal claim, you have to notify Acas and go through early conciliation. Two things to know:
- You must notify Acas within your time limit. Leave it until the day after and conciliation won't save the claim.
- Once you've notified Acas in time, the clock pauses until early conciliation ends. That's on top of the six months, not part of it.
Acas's time limits page has worked examples and a breakdown by claim type. Check it against your own dates.
A short checklist
If you're a driver and something's not right:
- Write down the date of the most recent underpayment or incident. That's the date that decides whether you're on three months or six.
- If it was before 1 October, treat it as three months less a day and move quickly.
- Gather payslips, your contract or terms of engagement, assignment start dates and your tachograph data. You can make a subject access request to the agency or operator for the records they hold. They usually have a month to respond.
- Get free advice before paying for any: Acas's helpline, Citizens Advice, or your union if you're a member (Unite, GMB and URTU all represent drivers).
- Notify Acas for early conciliation inside the time limit.
If you run an agency or a transport office:
- Check AWR week counts for every driver who's been at the same hirer for ten weeks or more.
- Confirm hirers have given you the comparator pay and holiday terms in writing.
- Review how holiday pay is calculated, especially for drivers who work regular overtime.
- Make sure shift and pay records go back far enough to answer a claim that arrives six months after the event.
This is general information, not legal advice. Time limits turn on the exact facts, so if you think you've got a claim, speak to Acas, your union or an employment solicitor sooner rather than later.
If you want your own dated record of shifts, hours and breaks, rather than relying on the agency's, ShiftOwt keeps it in one place and lets you export your hours to CSV — £5.99/mo for drivers, fleet pricing on request.