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[General](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/categories/general) [Keystone Knowledge](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/blogger/keystone) Thursday, 24 September 2026 794 Hits For academy trusts in England, from 1 October 2026, the time limit for most employment tribunal claims will increase to six months minus one day. A trust normally has 28 days to respond from the date the tribunal sends it the claim form. For a trust where [HR responsibility](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/products/employment-law-hr-advisory "HR support") is shared between schools, central teams and external advisers, the practical issue is whether a decision made in one academy can still be explained months later. The change applies where the relevant act, failure to act or termination takes place on or after 1 October 2026. For a series of acts, the relevant date may be the last act in that series. The position depends on the type of claim, so anything that crosses the change should be checked individually. That means a claim may arrive much later, after people have changed roles, left the trust or forgotten why a decision was made. Use September to check whether your trust could explain its decisions without relying on one person's memory. ## The longer time limit is also a record-keeping issue In a trust, an employee relations case can quickly become spread across different places. Meeting notes might be in the HR system, emails in separate inboxes and a key conversation could exist only in someone's notebook. Take an absence case. The final letter may confirm the outcome, but the supporting records should explain what support was offered, what medical advice was considered, what the employee said, why the decision was reached and what alternatives were considered. Saying that the policy was followed does not explain how those factors were weighed. One useful test is to give the file to someone who was not involved in the case. If they need the original manager to explain what happened, the record is not doing its job. No one has to be acting in bad faith for this to become a problem. Sometimes an email is in one inbox, a note is in another, and everyone assumes somebody else has the full picture. ### Two cases worth remembering In Wright-Turner v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the tribunal found that the probation extension and termination letters had been backdated. The later remedy judgment awarded around £4.6 million after findings of disability discrimination. The amount gets attention, but the lesson for employers is simpler. An incomplete file is an administrative problem. A rewritten file can become a credibility problem. A recent case involving The Kemnal Academies Trust shows how quickly an issue at one school can become a trust-wide evidence exercise. The tribunal considered a 5,028-page bundle and heard from school leaders, HR, the CEO, deputy CEO and a trustee. The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed, but four disability discrimination complaints succeeded. That is not a clean bill of health for every part of the process. Communication, reasonable adjustments, handovers and the records showing why decisions were made can all be examined separately. #### Where the process can break down Before a formal case gets under way, the trust should be clear about who will investigate, who will make the decision and who could hear an appeal. The Acas Code says that, where practicable, different people should investigate and conduct the disciplinary hearing. Appeals should be dealt with impartially and, wherever possible, by someone who was not previously involved. This can be harder in a trust than it sounds. Senior leaders, governors or trustees may be involved in early discussions. By the time an appeal is needed, there may be nobody sufficiently independent left to hear it. The trust's policy and scheme of delegation should make the roles clear before a case arises. The same applies when correspondence arrives. Managers should know whether to contact the headteacher, central HR, the trust's HR lead, an external adviser or the insurer. This is the sort of practical gap that can be missed when a trust has a policy but no tested process. A case may be managed day-to-day by a headteacher, while the authority to make the decision sits with the trust. Both sides need to understand who owns the case, what needs to be recorded and when advice should be sought. The person who receives a claim or Acas notification should know when it arrived and where it needs to go. The named case owner should then confirm the deadline, secure the relevant records and involve the right people. This matters particularly during half-term or the summer holidays. The usual contact may be away, the school may be closed, and the central team may assume somebody else is dealing with it. Annual leave alone is not a cover plan. Do not assume that a request for more time will be accepted. Any extension needs the tribunal's agreement. An internal grievance, disciplinary process or appeal does not change the tribunal time limit, so those dates need to be tracked separately. Early conciliation can last up to 12 weeks. In some cases, that can mean a claim arrives around nine months after the original event, depending on when Acas is notified. That longer period should not become a reason to postpone difficult conversations or decisions. If Acas contacts the trust, use the opportunity to understand the concerns, take advice and consider whether the dispute can be resolved. Keep a clear record of what was discussed, what was offered and why the matter did or did not settle. The trust should also be clear about which records may be needed to respond to or defend a claim, how long they should be kept and why. #### Test your process in practice Take a small sample of recent cases from different schools, including at least one where responsibility changed during the process. Choose cases involving absence or reasonable adjustments, alongside a disciplinary, flexible-working or pay decision. The aim is to see whether somebody else could reconstruct the case if the original manager was no longer available. Start with the decision itself. The file should show the evidence considered, the employee's response and the reason for the outcome. Then look at the people involved: whether responsibility was clear, the decision was authorised, and any appeal was independent. Finally, trace the response route and check that correspondence would reach the right person promptly, with cover in place. A shared HR policy does not prove that cases are being handled consistently. One school may seek advice early; another may involve HR only after a decision has effectively been made. If several cases reveal late HR involvement, unclear authority or incomplete handovers, address the reasons across the trust. Correcting individual files will not prevent the same problems from recurring. #### How Keystone can help Staff should be able to expect a fair process. Leaders should be able to explain who made the decision, what evidence was considered and why the outcome was reached. At Keystone, we support schools and trusts with education-specific HR and employment law advice. Our advice reflects how academy trusts actually operate, where a case may be managed day-to-day by a headteacher while the authority to make the decision sits with the trust. Sometimes the issue is not that a policy is missing. It is that nobody is quite sure who owns the case, when HR should be involved or what needs to be recorded. That is where a clear process makes a difference. We help trusts review how cases are handled, clarify responsibilities and ensure managers have the support they need before a problem becomes harder to manage or a formal claim arrives. The longer time limit makes this worth checking now. A trust should be able to explain its decisions even when the original manager has moved on, and the claim arrives months later. [Find out more about Keystone's Employment Law and HR support ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/products/employment-law-hr-advisory "HR support from Keystone") [ 0 ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/javascript:void(0);) [ ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/javascript:void(0);) [ ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/javascript:void(0);) [ ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/javascript:void(0);) [ ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/javascript:void(0);) [ Is Your Internal Scrutiny Programme Still Based on... ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/is-your-internal-scrutiny-programme-still-based-on-last-years-risks) [ How Keystone’s Internal Scrutiny Gave Aspire Acade... ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/aspire-academies) #### About the author [ ![Keystone Knowledge](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/images/easyblog_avatar/924_keystone-knowledge-blog.png) ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/blogger/keystone) ### [Keystone Knowledge](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/blogger/keystone) [ Keystone Knowledge ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/blogger/keystone) ##### Author's recent posts [More posts from author](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/blogger/keystone) [ Thursday, 24 September 2026 Is Your Internal Scrutiny Programme Still Based on Last Year’s Risks? ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/is-your-internal-scrutiny-programme-still-based-on-last-years-risks) [ Monday, 21 September 2026 How Keystone’s Internal Scrutiny Gave Aspire Academies Trust Greater Confidence in Its Controls ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/aspire-academies) [ Tuesday, 01 September 2026 The September Payroll Health Check ](https://www.keystoneknowledge.com/blog/september-payroll-health-check)