71% of tribunals have been avoided through the use of Acas ‘Early Conciliation’

It has been a longstanding statutory duty of Acas to prevent employment claims from proceeding to a full hearing through promoting its service of Early Conciliation. Following the introduction of the new Acas service in April 2014, for the majority of claims, it has now become mandatory for employees intending to submit an Employment Tribunal (‘ET’) claim to contact Acas in the first instance to determine if the matter can be resolved through early conciliation. Although employees do have the right to proceed to the tribunal hearing, should the matter not be resolved, research undertaken by the conciliatory body has shown that at this initial stage, 7 out of 10 potential employment tribunal hearings have been avoided by virtue of Early Conciliation. Acas’ advice is that it is always best to resolve workplace disputes as early as possible. Research has shown that between April 2015 and March 2016, the body dealt with 92,000 Early Conciliation cases. Research also indicated that the number of employers requesting Early Conciliation had increased by almost 60% compared with previous years. Many employers had also reported that they had implemented new policies and procedures as a result of guidance given by their Acas conciliators. Some of the benefits of Early Conciliation:

• Six in ten of the claimants who had contact with Acas and took part in Early Conciliation felt that Acas’ involvement was important in resolving their matter quickly;
• More than 80% of claimants and almost 90% of employers thought that Acas was even-handed in the way it dealt with disputes; and
• Almost two-thirds of claimants who took part in early conciliation felt that the service received prior to submitting the ET claim helped them feel prepared for the employment tribunal claim process after submission.

So with these benefits, it is not difficult to see why 87% of claimants and 92% of employers reported that they would use Acas conciliation services in the future.