Making A Claim To Employment Tribunal

It is important that the claim form is submitted in time and filled in correctly, otherwise the employment tribunal might not hear it and it can be difficult to make changes once the claim has been made. However if you feel that you have been left no other option then this section outlines the first steps that you need to take.

The first thing to note is that there are various time limits and qualifying criteria to bring a employment tribunal claim, please go to the link entitled Time Limits to Bring a Claim to find out how this might affect your claim. For example to bring an Unfair Dismissal claim you have to bring it within three months less one day of the date of the dismissal and you have to have had at least 2 years of continuous service for the employer you are bringing the claim against.

If you decide to make a claim to the employment tribunal you will have to fill out a form entitled ET1. You can get this form from the link below entitled ET1.

You can either fill out the form on-line, and submit it electronically, or you can print the form out and post it. Alternatively you can hand deliver the form to your local Employment Tribunal Service office. To find your nearest office click on the link entitled UK Employment Tribunal Offices.

You have to be very careful when you fill out the ET1 as failure to complete any of the mandatory sections will result in the Employment Tribunal Service rejecting the form. Be particularly careful when writing your personal details, the details of the company you were working for (the correct legal name) and their registered address.

Your claim will not be accepted if:

It is not on the correct form (The correct form is the ET1)

You have not completed all of the mandatory sections which are marked with an asterisk (*)

For a detailed explanation and a step-by-step guide on how to fill out the ET1 go to the factsheet entitled Filling out the ET1.

Section 8 of the ET 1 is a very important section because this is where you set out your version of events. We have got a fact sheet entitled ET 1 Box 8.2 Guidance which gives some practical tips around how you need to set out your case. We also have an ET1 Box 8.2 Example Template factsheet which is a structured step-by-step example of setting out a claim related to unfair dismissal which you could use as a foundation to set out your claim.