The Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Made: 3rd November 2025

Laid before Parliament: 4th November 2025

Coming into force: 1st December 2025

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 18A(11) and (12)(c) and 41(4) of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and extent

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on 1st December 2025.

• (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

Amendment to the Schedule to the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014

2

In the Schedule to the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014[^f00002], in rule 6 at paragraph (1) for “six” substitute “12”.

Transitional provision

3

The amendment to the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014 made by regulation 2 applies when a prospective claimant has presented an early conciliation form to ACAS or telephoned ACAS in accordance with rule 1 of the Schedule to the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions And Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014 on or after 1st December 2025.

Signed

Kate Dearden — Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State — Department for Business and Trade — 3rd November 2025

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Explanatory Note

These Regulations amend the Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2014 (“the 2014 Regulations”) to provide for a twelve-week period for early conciliation. These Regulations come into force on 1st December 2025.

Regulation 2 amends rule 6 of the Schedule to the 2014 Regulations to provide for a twelve-week period for early conciliation.

Regulation 3 provides for a transitional arrangement in relation to the period for early conciliation.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. A de minimis impact assessment is available on request from the Department for Business and Trade, Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London, SW1A 2DY.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1996 c. 17; by virtue of the Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) Act 1998 (c. 8) industrial tribunals were renamed employment tribunals and references to “industrial tribunal” and “industrial tribunals” in any enactment were substituted with “employment tribunal” and “employment tribunals”. Section 18A was inserted by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (c. 24), section 7(1). Section 18A(11) and (12) were amended by the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (c. 35), Schedule 5, paragraph 15.

[^f00002]: S.I. 2014/254, amended by S.I. 2020/1003; there are other amending instruments but none is relevant.