Could You Defend a Decision You Made Six Months Ago?

2 months ago

Think back six months.

Could you remember exactly why a manager made a particular decision about an employee?

Could you find the notes from the meeting? The emails? The performance concerns that were raised? Could you demonstrate that the employee was treated fairly and that the correct process was followed?

More importantly, could you prove it?

From 1 October 2026, Employment Tribunal time limits for the majority of claims will increase from three months to six months.

For employers, this makes good HR record keeping and documentation more important than ever.

Employment Tribunal Time Limits Are Changing

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, the time limit for bringing the majority of Employment Tribunal claims will increase from three months to six months from 1 October 2026.

For problems at work occurring on or after 1 October, employees will therefore have a considerably longer window in which to consider bringing a claim.

For employers, there is another side to that change.

By the time a claim arrives, the event at the centre of it may have happened months ago.

Managers may have moved roles. Employees may have left. Memories may have faded. Emails may be buried in inboxes.

That makes the records created at the time a decision is made incredibly important.

“But We Had a Conversation About It…”

We hear this regularly.

A manager has spoken to an employee about their performance. Someone has addressed repeated lateness. An issue during probation has been discussed informally.

Everyone involved knows the conversation happened.

But there is no record of it.

Six months later, relying on someone’s memory of a ten-minute conversation isn’t a particularly strong position to be in.

Good HR documentation helps create a clear timeline of what happened, why decisions were made, what the employee was told and what opportunities they were given to respond or improve.

It doesn’t mean documenting every five-minute conversation or creating mountains of unnecessary paperwork.

It means making sure the conversations and decisions that matter are properly recorded.

What Should Employers Be Recording?

There isn’t one document that magically protects a business from an Employment Tribunal claim.

Instead, good record keeping should run throughout your people management processes.

Depending on the circumstances, this could include:

Notes from probation and performance meetings
Records of concerns raised with an employee
Objectives and improvement measures that have been agreed
Follow-up emails confirming conversations
Attendance and absence records
Investigation notes
Grievance and disciplinary documentation
Evidence considered when making a decision
Records of warnings or previous informal conversations
Copies of relevant correspondence
Notes explaining why a particular decision was reached

The important question is:

If somebody who knew nothing about the situation reviewed your records six months later, would they understand what happened and why?

If the answer is no, there may be a gap worth addressing.

Your Managers Play a Huge Part in This

HR can create brilliant policies, templates and processes.

But your managers are the people having many of these conversations every day.

They’re discussing performance, absence, conduct, probation, behaviour and workplace concerns.

If those conversations aren’t documented, or different managers take completely different approaches, problems can quickly appear.

That’s why the October 2026 employment law changes aren’t something that should sit solely with HR.

Managers need to understand what they should record, when an informal conversation needs documenting, when an issue should be escalated and when they need to involve HR.

A simple manager habit of sending a follow-up email or making an appropriate meeting note can make a significant difference months down the line.

Good Records Aren’t About Preparing for a Fight

There’s a danger that conversations about Employment Tribunal claims make good HR sound defensive.

It shouldn’t be.

Good documentation is part of good people management.

It gives employees clarity about what has been discussed and agreed. It helps managers follow up consistently. It allows HR to understand the history of an issue and give appropriate advice.

It can also help prevent disagreements escalating in the first place.

When expectations, decisions and actions are clear, there is far less room for confusion about what was said or agreed.

Could Your Business Pass the Six-Month Test?

Here’s a useful exercise.

Pick an employee issue your business dealt with six months ago.

Perhaps it was a probation concern, performance issue, disciplinary matter or grievance.

Now try to reconstruct what happened using only the records your business retained.

Can you identify:

What happened?

When was it first raised?

Who was involved?

What conversations took place?

What did the employee say?

What action was agreed?

Were they given an opportunity to improve or respond?

Why was the final decision made?

If you’re relying heavily on someone’s memory to answer those questions, now is a good time to strengthen your HR record keeping.

Get Back on the Front Foot Before October

The October changes don’t mean employers need to start documenting every interaction out of fear of an Employment Tribunal.

They do, however, provide a very good reason to look at whether your current HR processes would stand up to scrutiny months after an event.

Don’t wait until you need the records to discover they aren’t there.

Review your processes now. Make sure managers know what’s expected of them. Check that important conversations are being recorded consistently and that your documentation tells the full story.

How We Can Help

If you’re a Park City client and you’re unsure whether your current HR documentation and processes are strong enough, speak to your HR Business Partner.

We can help you review your current approach, identify any gaps, support your managers and make sure you’re taking practical steps to reduce risk before the October changes arrive.

Not a Park City client? We can still help. Whether you need a one-off review of your HR processes, support getting your documentation in order or ongoing HR advice, our team can work with you to understand where you are now and what needs to happen next.

Because staying compliant shouldn’t mean becoming an employment law expert yourself. That’s what we’re here for.