Mr P Colton v Allma Construction Ltd — 2025

The tribunal held that Mr Colton’s claim was presented out of time. It found that the ordinary three-month limit expired on 13 November 2023 and that, even allowing for ACAS Early Conciliation under s207B ERA 1996, the extended time limit expired on 15 November 2023. The ET1 was not lodged until 17 June 2024, more than seven months later.

The claimant had been dismissed on 14 August 2023 when Allma Construction ceased trading. He was in hospital with heart failure at the time and later continued to have health problems, including depression. He started ACAS Early Conciliation on 12 September 2023 through his granddaughter, and he also made a separate Insolvency Service claim for redundancy pay, notice pay and other wages, which were paid around December 2023. He only came to seek a protective award after reading a newspaper article about former employees receiving one.

Applying s111(2)(a) and s111(2)(b) ERA 1996, the tribunal accepted that the delay was caused by the claimant’s lack of knowledge of his rights, but found that this ignorance was not reasonable. It noted that he had not sought legal advice or made enquiries about his rights, and that he had been able, with family assistance, to use ACAS Early Conciliation and pursue payments through the Insolvency Service. The tribunal therefore concluded that it was reasonably practicable to present the claim in time and that it had no jurisdiction to hear it out of time.

Because the claim was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, the application to amend was academic. The tribunal nevertheless said that, had it needed to decide the point, it would have refused the amendment under Selkent because it sought to add a new claim, was subject to the same time-bar problem, and the lateness was determinative on the facts of the case.