By law, your employer must make the payment when or soon after you are dismissed. There is no need for you to make a claim unless your employer does not pay or says that you are not entitled to a payment. If this happens, you should write to your employer asking for payment or take the matter to an employment tribunal, or both. You must act within six months of the date your employment ended. If you do not make a written claim, or do not apply to an employment tribunal within six months, you may lose the right to a payment. But a tribunal will still have the power to decide whether you should receive a payment if you apply to it within a further six months and it is satisfied that there were good reasons for the delay.

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