Insolvency tribunal window rises to six months, bar redundancy pay

Employees and directors whose employer has become insolvent, and who dispute an Insolvency Service decision on holiday pay, arrears of pay or loss-of-notice pay, now have six months from the date of the rejection or decision letter to bring a claim to an employment tribunal.GOV On the company-director page the six-month statement carries the qualifier "unless your claim is relating to redundancy pay (as opposed to holiday pay, arrears of pay or loss of notice pay)"GOV, and the old sentence giving the separate redundancy-pay time limit of usually six months from dismissal has been deleted from that pageGOV. Both Insolvency Service guidance pages state a six-month window running from the letter date: the company-director page runs it from the rejection letterGOV, and the redundancy-payments guide runs it from the decision letterGOV.

The change doubles the general window these pages previously stated. The company-director page previously gave three months from the rejection letter, with a separate six-month-from-dismissal limit where the claim included redundancy pay.GOV The redundancy-payments page previously gave three months from the letter with the same redundancy-pay exception.GOV The redundancy-payments guide now states a single six-month period running from the letter dateGOV; the company-director page states six months from the rejection letter but retains the carve-out for claims relating to redundancy payGOV, and its separate sentence giving the old redundancy-pay time limit has been deletedGOV.

The new wording tracks the wider Employment Tribunal time-limit reform. From 1 October 2026 the time limit for most tribunal claims increases to six months minus one dayAcas, applying only where the time limit starts on or after 1 October 2026Acas. Statutory redundancy pay claims, equal pay claims and certain trade-union and armed-forces claims already carried a six-month-minus-one-day limitAcas. Grievance, disciplinary or appeal procedures do not change the limitAcas: Acas must still be notified within itAcas.

Before a tribunal claim can be made, the claimant must first tell the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) of the intention to go to tribunalGOV, and notifying Acas pauses the time limit until early conciliation ends, provided notification happens within the limitAcas. A claimant who decides to proceed is asked for the respondent's details and should list both the former employer and the Secretary of State as respondentsGOV, directing the Secretary of State correspondence to the Insolvency Service's Redundancy Payments Service Employment Tribunal Section in Birmingham.

The six-month window governs challenges to Insolvency Service decisions on the payments it administers for employees of insolvent employers: holiday pay, arrears of pay, notice worked but not paid, loss-of-notice compensation and protective awards.GOV Claims relating to redundancy pay sit outside that six-month statement on the company-director page, which keeps its redundancy-pay carve-out.GOV Statutory redundancy pay remains available to employees with at least two years' serviceGOV, and where the amount owed exceeds the statutory maxima the balance is pursued by registering as a creditor in the insolvency.

Legal basis: the Insolvency Service redundancy-payment guidance as revised, read with the Employment Tribunal time-limit rules applying from 1 October 2026.