Losing your job is hard enough when it’s handled properly. When the reason doesn’t add up, or the process was rushed and one-sided, you may have a claim for unfair dismissal. UK law gives employees genuine protection here, but only if you understand the rules and act within the deadlines.
Those rules have also just changed in a big way. Tribunal deadlines doubled in October 2026, and the qualifying period for claims will drop sharply in January 2027. So let’s go through what actually counts as unfair dismissal, the evidence you’ll want to gather in the first week, and why the new six-month deadline shouldn’t tempt you to slow down.
What Counts as Unfair Dismissal in the UK
For a dismissal to be fair, it has to fall under one of five potentially fair reasons:
- Conduct
- Capability
- Redundancy
- A legal restriction that prevents the job continuing
- “Another substantial reason”
Even with a fair reason on paper, your employer still has to follow a fair process. According to GOV.UK guidance, a dismissal could be unfair if your employer didn’t have a good reason for it or failed to follow a proper disciplinary or dismissal procedure.
Some dismissals are automatically unfair regardless of how long you’ve worked somewhere. Being dismissed for whistleblowing, for pregnancy or maternity, or for asserting a statutory right such as the minimum wage all fall into this category. For an ordinary unfair dismissal claim, you’ll usually need two years’ continuous service, although the Employment Rights Act 2025 cuts that qualifying period to six months for dismissals taking effect on or after 1 January 2027.
Get Everything in Writing Before Memories Fade
Your first job is to build a record. If you have two years’ service, you can ask your employer for a written statement of the reasons for your dismissal, and they must provide it. Beyond that, pull together everything that tells the story of what happened:
- Your employment contract and any staff handbook or disciplinary policy
- The dismissal letter and any invitations to meetings
- Notes or recordings from disciplinary and investigation meetings
- Emails, messages and appraisals that support your version of events
- Names of colleagues who witnessed key incidents
Do this early. Once you lose access to your work email and systems, retrieving evidence becomes much harder, so forward or save anything relevant while you still can.
Appeal Internally, Then Get Your Case Assessed
Most employers offer an internal appeal, and you should normally use it. A well-argued appeal will sometimes overturn the decision outright, and even when it fails, it shows a tribunal that you behaved reasonably throughout. Keep your appeal letter factual and tie every point to evidence instead of emotion.
This is also where things get harder to judge on your own. The process is complex, and a dismissal is personal enough that most people are too emotionally involved to see their own case clearly. What looks like obvious injustice to you may rest on weaker legal ground than you think, or be far stronger than you realised. That’s why many people at this stage turn to employment advice services like Belonge, which review the documents and assess the strength of a potential claim honestly and objectively, before you commit to anything formal.
An honest early assessment from a third party can tell you whether to push for a settlement or take the case further, and knowing where you really stand will shape every decision that follows.
Acas Early Conciliation and the New Deadlines
Before you can lodge a tribunal claim, you must notify Acas and go through early conciliation, where a conciliator tries to help both sides reach an agreement without a hearing. Many disputes settle at this stage, often with a financial payment under a COT3 agreement.
The deadlines changed on 1 October 2026. Acas confirms that for most claims where the problem happened on or after that date, you now have six months minus one day to start a claim, up from the old three-month limit. Contacting Acas within your time limit pauses the clock while conciliation runs. Keep in mind that an internal appeal does not pause anything, so never wait for its outcome before checking your deadline.
What a Tribunal Will Actually Decide
If conciliation fails, you’ll submit an ET1 claim form setting out your case. The tribunal will look at two things: whether your employer had a fair reason, and whether dismissing you was a reasonable response handled through a fair procedure.
Win, and the tribunal can order compensation, reinstatement to your old job or re-engagement in a similar role. Compensation is the most common outcome, and the award will reflect your lost earnings and how both sides behaved. Many cases still settle before the hearing, so starting a claim often works as leverage rather than a final destination.
Don’t Let the Longer Deadline Slow You Down
Six months sounds like plenty of time, but strong cases are built in the first few weeks, not the last. Witnesses move on, documents get deleted under retention policies and your own recollection of key meetings will blur faster than you expect. The extended time limit gives you room to get advice and negotiate calmly. It doesn’t mean the problem can wait in a drawer for months.
A simple rule will serve you well: within a fortnight of dismissal, have your evidence saved, your appeal submitted and an honest assessment of your claim’s strength in hand. Do those three things and every option, from settlement to tribunal, stays open on your terms.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
