The time limit for an unpaid wages claim

Updated September 2026

Most unpaid-wage claims in the tribunal are unauthorised deduction from wages claims, not a free-floating “they owe me money” action. The clock starts from the deduction, or from the last deduction in a series, and from 1 October 2026 that clock is either three months or six.

What counts as wages

Wages here means the money you were due for work already done: salary, overtime that was actually payable, commission that had been earned, holiday pay that should have gone into a payslip, and some bonuses if they were not truly discretionary by the time they fell due. An employer can only deduct from that if the law allows it, you agreed to it in writing in advance, or it is a recovery of a previous overpayment in the narrow way the statute permits.

A deduction is often just a short-payslip. They do not need to have taken money back out of your account. Paying you £2,100 when the contract said £2,400 is a deduction of £300 on that payday.

The ordinary deadline

Section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 is the usual route. The time limit is three months less a day from the deduction if that payday (or the date the payment should have been made) is before 1 October 2026, and six months less a day if it is on or after 1 October 2026. Same transitional idea as dismissal and discrimination: the date of the act, not the date you finally open the payslip archive.

Acas early conciliation pauses this clock the same way it pauses the others. Start it before you spend a month arguing with payroll. Use the deadline calculator once you know the last relevant payday.

A series of deductions

If the same kind of underpayment repeats, the law can treat it as a series. The deadline is then usually timed from the last deduction in that series, and you may be able to reach back through the earlier ones. Tribunals look at whether the deductions are similar and sufficiently linked, not at whether you used the word “series” in your email.

Two practical points. First, a long gap can break the series, so do not assume three years of quiet underpayments will all come in if the last one was last Tuesday. Second, if the series straddles 1 October 2026, the last deduction is the date that decides the three-month versus six-month regime. Work to the earlier deadline if you are not sure.

Holiday pay is close but not identical

Unpaid holiday can be framed as a wages deduction, a Working Time Regulations claim, or both. The Working Time route has its own wrinkles, including how a “series” of missed holiday pay is read. That is covered separately in the Working Time Regulations claim deadline. If your only problem is holiday, start there. If your only problem is a short basic salary, stay on this page. If it is both, write down every payday and get the two clocks checked rather than assuming they are twins.

National minimum wage

Being paid under the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage is a different enforcement world as well as a tribunal claim. HMRC can investigate, and the arrears look-back is not the same as a three-month wages claim. If the hourly rate is the issue, report it and still protect any tribunal deadline you think you have. Do not pick one door and ignore the other.

What to do this week

1. Download every payslip and the contract. Highlight the short months.
2. Write a short grievance or a payroll email that lists dates and amounts. Keep a copy.
3. If the last deduction is more than a few weeks ago, start Acas early conciliation the same day. The grievance does not pause the clock.
4. Put the last deduction date into the calculator.

If you have also been dismissed, you may have a wages claim and an unfair dismissal claim with different start dates. File thinking is “both clocks,” not “the later one will do.”

This is general information, not legal advice. Scotland and Northern Ireland have some separate contract-claim timing. Confirm anything close with Acas or a solicitor.