Employment tribunal time limits to double: Why it matters for women

Up to 74,000 women every year now lose their job for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave, which is an increase of 37% from 54,000 in 2016, according to research from Pregnant Then Screwed and Women In Data. A third said they were sidelined or demoted.

Yet despite extended legal protections for pregnant women and those returning from maternity leave, just 2% of women who experience discrimination raise a tribunal claim. One key problem is that many run out of time.

You usually have 3 months minus 1 day from the date something happens – such as a discriminatory comment or unfair dismissal – to start an employment tribunal claim. Before making a claim, you must contact Acas to begin Early Conciliation, which pauses the deadline while the process is ongoing.

From 1st October 2026, this timeframe will increase to 6 months minus 1 day.

Jess Morgan, a national sales manager, was told ‘nobody wants to see a pregnant woman’ after she offered to make a presentation to clients. An employment tribunal found that the treatment she had experienced amounted to unfavourable treatment because of her pregnancy, and was therefore discriminatory.

“However, that part of my claim was dismissed because it had been presented outside the statutory time limit and the tribunal declined to extend time,” she says. “My case did not cause this reform, and the change does not retrospectively alter what happened in my proceedings. But having personally experienced how decisive a limitation period can be, I understand very clearly why reform was needed.”

Although the longer time limit is meaningful progress, Morgan emphasises that we should ask whether six months goes far enough – especially in cases involving pregnancy and maternity.

“I struggle to imagine many women preparing to give birth, beginning maternity leave or caring for a newborn who have the headspace or energy to contemplate taking on an employment tribunal claim at that point in their lives,” she says.

Pregnancy and maternity should be a time when women can concentrate on their health, their baby and their family. “Yet if something discriminatory happens at work, a legal clock can already be ticking in the background, potentially before the woman has even recognised that what happened to her may have been unlawful,” says Morgan.

Discrimination can be hard to recognise

Firstly, discrimination doesn’t necessarily announce itself as discrimination. Often, women are made to question whether they are being difficult, oversensitive or overreacting to comments or changes in the way they are treated during pregnancy.

“That resonates strongly with my own experience. I had every intention of continuing my career,” says Morgan. “It was only after the end of my employment, when I sought independent legal advice about what had happened, that I began to understand that I wasn’t simply being oversensitive about some of the treatment I had experienced during my pregnancy and that some of it could amount to pregnancy discrimination.”

Fear can lead to delays

Women may also put off seeking legal advice or starting the tribunal process because they want to protect their careers and incomes. This is especially the case during pregnancy or after having a family, when they’re vulnerable.

The energy required to start a tribunal is enormous, when women are already balancing work, pregnancy, childcare and other responsibilities.

“Taking an employment tribunal claim forward can require an extraordinary amount of time, energy and resilience,” says Morgan.

“I represented myself for much of my proceedings and, with hindsight, I don’t think I could have appreciated at the beginning just how consuming that process could become. Researching the law, preparing evidence and documents, complying with tribunal directions and dealing with correspondence can become almost a full-time job in itself.”

Read more: How employers can better support new mums when they return to work

Cost is a barrier

Affordability is another barrier to accessing justice. “For women on maternity leave, the tribunal process can coincide with one of the biggest reductions in income they may ever experience,” says Morgan.

“In my own situation, I had already been using my savings to supplement Statutory Maternity Pay. When I subsequently needed legal support, I found it incredibly difficult to identify meaningful financial assistance available to somebody in my circumstances.”

So while the time extension is ultimately a positive move, much more needs to be done. 

“Access to justice isn’t simply about giving somebody more days on a calendar. It is about whether they have the time, knowledge, financial resources and emotional capacity to use the rights the law gives them,” she adds. “Six months is unquestionably better than three. But I hope it is viewed as progress rather than necessarily the end of the conversation.”

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