Unfair dismissal. Get what you’re due.
Tribunal procedure isn’t County Court. ACAS Early Conciliation is mandatory, the ET1 form is its own beast, and your filing window expires fast. CourtPilot is built for the tribunal track — an AI assistant that works from your case file from the day you were dismissed.
Unfair dismissal · 8 yrs service · aged 22–40 · £42k salary
Four claim types — and the
specialist drafting each needs.
Tribunals are subject-matter specialists. The ET1 form for an unfair dismissal looks nothing like a discrimination claim. CourtPilot drafts each to its own claim type.
Unfair dismissal
Usually needs 2 years’ service (6 months where employment ends on or after 1 January 2027). Dismissed without a fair reason or a fair process. No cap on compensation for whistleblowing dismissals.
Discrimination
Age, race, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation, pregnancy. Equality Act 2010, ss.13–19. No minimum service required. No statutory cap on the award.
Unpaid wages
Unlawful deductions, holiday pay not paid, bonuses owed. ERA 1996 s.13. Three months less a day from the deduction — six months where it is on or after 1 October 2026.
Redundancy disputes
Unpaid statutory redundancy pay, or a redundancy that was unfair — disputed selection, no consultation, or a sham redundancy — which is claimed as unfair dismissal.
Median awards from MoJ Tribunal Statistics, compensation awarded April 2023 to March 2024 (discrimination: race £10,253, disability £17,218). These cover awards made at a hearing only — most claims settle or are withdrawn first. Statutory redundancy pay limit from 6 April 2026. Your assessment gives a personalised range based on your salary, service and the strength of the claim.
Four stages. Tight time limits.
The time limit to start is short, ACAS sits in front, and the hearing date is set by the tribunal — often many months after the ET1, longer for complex discrimination claims.
ACAS Early Conciliation
Mandatory before you file. Free, confidential. ACAS contacts the employer, sees if they’ll settle. Pauses your time limit.
Submit the ET1 form
Online filing through gov.uk. The ET1 is the tribunal’s claim form — facts, claims, the remedy you want. Filing is free.
Employer’s ET3 response
Employer has 28 days to file the ET3 (their defence). Tribunal sets directions — what evidence, when to disclose.
The final hearing
Witness statements exchanged, bundle prepared, hearing listed. An employment judge sits alone or with two lay members. Often 1 day for unpaid wages; several days for complex cases.
ACAS Early Conciliation is mandatory — even if you’d rather just file.
In almost every case you need an ACAS certificate number before you can lodge an ET1. The conciliation period pauses your time limit — so it costs you nothing in time, and many disputes settle here without a hearing.
Eight jobs. One case file.
Tribunal procedure is too varied for a one-size-fits-all template. One assistant works from your whole case file and handles each part of the procedure.
Unfair Dismissal specialist
Drafts your ET1 from the facts of the dismissal — fair-reason analysis, procedure failures, BHS v Burchell test.
ERA 1996 s.98Discrimination case-builder
Identifies the protected characteristic, builds the comparator analysis, calculates injury-to-feelings.
EQUALITY ACT 2010Compensation calculator
Basic award + compensatory award + future losses + Vento bands for injury to feelings, where applicable.
VENTO BANDS · APRIL 2026ACAS conciliation prep
Briefs you for the ACAS conciliator call — what to say, a settlement range to have in mind, how to read the room.
EARLY CONCILIATIONDocument review
Reads contracts, dismissal letters, grievance correspondence. Flags procedural breaches and the wording in a dismissal letter that matters.
EVIDENCE ANALYSISWitness statement drafter
Drafts your statement in the format required by ET Rules — chronological, paragraph-numbered, statement of truth.
ET RULES 2024Tribunal bundle assembler
Compiles, indexes, and paginates your bundle ready for the hearing, in the format the tribunal’s orders ask for.
TO THE TRIBUNAL’S TIMETABLEHearing-day rehearsal
Mock cross-examination on your facts — anticipates the employer’s lawyer’s questions and helps you prepare answers.
DAY-OF PREPAn indicative award
before you file.
Knowing what your case is worth is half the negotiation. Our calculator gives you a personalised range — and shows what each element comes from.
The ET is a different forum.
So it needs different tools.
The Employment Tribunal sits outside the County Court system. Different rules, different forms, different remedies. We built a dedicated product instead of bolting ET onto our County Court toolkit.
Employment Tribunal Toolkit
County Court Toolkit
The paperwork the tribunal expects. Without the hourly bill.
Solicitors usually charge by the hour for tribunal work. CourtPilot helps you prepare your own claim — you represent yourself — for £147, one-off. It is not a law firm and does not replace advice from a solicitor where your case needs one.
- ✓ET1 form drafted from your case facts, with the right cause of action named
- ✓ACAS conciliation prep — talking points, settlement bands, what to say
- ✓Compensation calculator with personalised range and breakdown
- ✓Witness statement & tribunal bundle in the format ET Rules require
- ✓One AI assistant for every stage — from ACAS to the hearing, working from your case file
- ✓Hearing-day prep with mock cross-examination based on your facts
Includes everything above. One-off payment, no subscription. 14-day refund policy.
Illustrative example based on the kind of outcome a strong pregnancy-discrimination case can have when settled in ACAS early conciliation. Not a specific customer. Outcomes vary — many claims settle for less, and some don’t settle at all.
Things employees ask before lodging.
What’s the time-bar — exactly?+
From the date of the dismissal (or the act of discrimination) you have 3 months minus 1 day to either lodge an ET1 or notify ACAS. Where the dismissal or act is on or after 1 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 makes that 6 months minus 1 day (breach of contract claims stay at 3 months). Notify ACAS and the clock pauses. The clock restarts when ACAS issues your certificate — and you have at least 1 month from the certificate date to file. Miss it and the tribunal will not hear your claim, save in exceptional circumstances.
Do I need 2 years’ service for an unfair-dismissal claim?+
For most unfair dismissal claims, yes — you need 2 years’ continuous service. That drops to 6 months where your effective date of termination is on or after 1 January 2027 (Employment Rights Act 2025). But there are exceptions (“automatically unfair” reasons), including dismissal for: whistleblowing, pregnancy, asserting a statutory right, trade-union activity, raising a health-and-safety issue. None require any service. Our free assessment screens for these.
Can the employer make me sign an NDA at ACAS?+
Standard practice — most ACAS settlements include a confidentiality clause covering the existence and terms of the agreement. The law limits what it can do: a confidentiality clause can’t stop you making a protected disclosure (whistleblowing), and the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 restricts clauses that would stop you reporting a crime. Don’t sign anything you don’t understand; ACAS conciliators can explain what each clause does.
What if I’ve already missed the deadline?+
The tribunal can extend time if it considers it “not reasonably practicable” to have filed in time — but the bar is high. Don’t assume yours qualifies. The free assessment flags a possible time-limit problem so you can act quickly or take advice. Discrimination claims use a slightly more flexible “just and equitable” test for extending time.
Is there any cost to file with the tribunal?+
No. There is currently no fee to bring an Employment Tribunal claim — the old fees were quashed by the Supreme Court in R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor (2017). Filing an ET1, attending the hearing and getting a judgment are free. Your costs are CourtPilot’s £147 toolkit and, if you use one, a solicitor.
Will the employer pay my costs if I win?+
Usually not. ETs operate on a “no costs” rule — each side pays their own. Costs are only awarded where one side has acted vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or unreasonably. The flip side: you almost never have to worry about paying the employer’s costs if you lose.
Find out what your case
is actually worth.
Free ET assessment. We’ll calculate your indicative compensation range, identify the cause of action, and flag whether you may be running short of time.